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María A. Blasco
Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO)
Molecular Oncology Programme
Telomeres and Telomerase Group
Madrid, Spain |
Research
interests and relevant experience of responsible scientist
María
Blasco’s group focuses on the biology of telomeres, loss
of telomeric sequences or telomere binding proteins triggering
a series of events including chromosomal fusions and genomic instability
that compromise cell viability and contribute to ageing. She and
her group have cloned both components of mouse telomerase and
have generated genetically modified mice, which either lack or
over-express these components.
María
Blasco has been awarded several honours, such as the FEBS Award,
the Swiss Bridge Award to Research in Cancer, and the National
Oncology Award. Most recent recognition for her outstanding work
in the field has included the Josef Steiner Cancer Research Award
(2003) and the “Carmen y Severo Ochoa” Award for research
in Molecular Biology (2005), and the EMBO Gold Medal (2004), and
she also serves on the Highlight Advisory Panel of Nature Reviews
Cancer.
She
has been an elected EMBO Member since the year 2000, and a Young
Global Leader by the World Economic Forum since 2006.
Staff
Maria
Blasco, Staff Scientist and Head of Molecular Oncology Program
Ignacio Flores, Senior Scientist
Susana Gonzalo, Senior Scientist
Purificación Muñoz, Senior Scientist
Roberta Benetti, Postdoctoral fellow
Maria Luisa Cayuela, Postdoctoral fellow
Constanza Contreras, Postdoctoral fellow
Rebecca McCrakan, Postdoctoral fellow
Gerdine Stoud, Postdoctoral fellow
Agueda Tejera, Postdoctoral fellow
Raquel Blanco, Graduate Student
Andres Canela, Graduate Student
Isabel Jaco, Graduate Student
Irene Siegl, Graduate Student
Antonia Tomas, Graduate Student
Rosa Serrano, Technical Assistant
Relevant
publications
Flores
I, Benetti R, Blasco MA. Telomerase regulation and stem cell behaviour.
Curr Opin Cell Biol 2006;18:254-60
Gonzalo
S, Jaco I, Fraga MF, Chen T, Li E, Esteller M, Blasco MA. DNA
methyltransferases control telomere length and telomere recombination
in mammalian cells. Nat Cell Biol 2006; 8:416-24.
Geserick
C, Blasco MA. Novel roles for telomerase in aging. Mech Ageing
Dev 2006; 127:579-83
Munoz
P, Blanco R, Flores JM, Blasco MA. XPF nuclease-dependent telomere
loss and increased DNA damage in mice overexpressing TRF2 result
in premature aging and cancer. Nat Genet 2005; 37:1063-71.
Blasco
MA. Telomeres and human disease: ageing, cancer and beyond. Nat
Rev Genet 2005; 6:611-22
Flores
I, Cayuela ML, Blasco MA. Effects of Telomerase and Telomere Length
on Epidermal Stem Cell Behavior. Science 2005; 309:1253-6.
Gonzalo
S, Garcia-Cao M, Fraga MF, Schotta G, Peters AH, Cotter SE, Eguia
R, Dean DC, Esteller M, Jenuwein T, Blasco MA. Role of the RB1
family in stabilizing histone methylation at constitutive heterochromatin.
Nat Cell Biol 2005; 7:420-8.
Espejel
S, Martin M, Klatt P, Martin-Caballero J, Flores JM, Blasco MA.
Shorter telomeres, accelerated ageing and increased lymphoma in
DNA-PKcs-deficient mice. EMBO Rep 2004; 5:503-9.
Garcia-Cao
M, O'Sullivan R, Peters AH, Jenuwein T, Blasco MA. Epigenetic
regulation of telomere length in mammalian cells by the Suv39h1
and Suv39h2 histone methyltransferases. Nat Genet 2004; 36:94-9.
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