Mariano Barbacid Montalbán (born 4 October 1949 in
Madrid)[1] is a Spanish molecular biochemist who discovered the first
oncogeneHRAS.
Academic career
He completed his higher education in the
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where he studied chemical sciences, and in the United States, where he started as an intern; years later he was appointed director of the
National Cancer Institute. He then moved back to his native Spain to lead the newly created
CNIO (Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas). He also served on the Life Sciences jury for the
Infosys Prize in 2011.
Scientific Research
Barbacid is credited for isolating the human oncogene
HRAS in bladder carcinoma. His discovery was published in
Nature in 1982 in an article titled "A point mutation is responsible for the acquisition of transforming properties by the T24 human bladder-carcinoma oncogene".[2] He spent the following months extending his research, eventually discovering that such oncogene was the mutation of an
allele of the
Ras subfamily, as well as its activation mechanism.
In 2003 he proved that the
enzymeCDK2, until then believed to be indispensable in cellular division, was not necessary in order for
DNA replication to take place.
Publications
«A point mutation is responsible for the acquisition of transforming properties by the T24 Human Bladder-Carcinoma Oncogene.» (1982).[2]
«Direct mutagenesis of HA-RAS-1 oncogenes by N-Nitroso-N-Methylurea during initiation of mammary carcinogenesis in rats.» (1985).[3]
His scientific career has been awarded with prizes such as the Distinguished Young Scientist Award (1983), the King Juan Carlos I Science award (1984), the Rhodes Memorial award (1985) and the Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher (2005). His effort has also been acknowledged with the Great Cross of the Order of 2 May (2011).
Other awards include:
King Juan Carlos I Award (Spain, 1984)
Rhodes Memorial Award (USA, 1985)
Joseph Steiner Award (Switzerland, 1988)
IPSEN Prize in neuronal plasticity (Austria, 1994)
Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher Cancer Prize (Switzerland, 2005)
International Agency for Research on Cancer Medal of Honor (France, 2007)