Maria Blasco
Courtesy of Life Length
Spanish molecular biologist María Blasco, 45, will take the leadership of Spanish National Centre for cancer research (CNIO) in Madrid, where she is now a deputy director. The announcement, made today by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, ending a search for 2 years that has become mired in controversy over the current director, Mariano Barbacid.
Blasco, was chosen unanimously by the board this morning CNIO, has a PhD in Molecular Biology Center Severo Ochoa in Madrid. She did a postdoc at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York with the Nobel prize and Carol W. Greider joined CNIO in 03 to head the Group telomeres and telomerase and leading center of Molecular Oncology Program. She became Deputy Director for Basic Research 2 years later.
Blasco is best known for his research on enzymes that maintain telomere-repeat styling DNA sequences of the chromosomes and their role in cancer and aging. She co-founded a company called Life Length, which measures the telomeres for patients, companies and researchers.
Replacing founding director Mariano Barbacid, which in September 09 announced his intention to resign and focus on research, was not easy. A search by an international jury gave two foreign candidates and two others inside the CNIO came to an abrupt end last month when the international group resigned because the candidates' names were leaked to the press. The leaks occurred during a high-profile spat on Barbacid intend to establish a business partnership to fund the development of an anticancer drug, which the Ministry has declared illegal.
José Jerónimo Navas Palacios, who heads the Health Institute Carlos III in Madrid and as vice president of the CNIO Board, oversaw the selection process, said it is " satisfied "with the appointment. Blasco 'scientific relevance appropriate, sufficient knowledge of the context and adequate international relations, "said Navas Palacios. It is "the best [director] for our project."
But others hoped an outsider at the helm, if only to make a break with the reputation of Spanish science of institutional nepotism. Manel Esteller the director of epigenetics and cancer biology program at the Bellvitge biomedical research Institute of Barcelona, said it was "good news" that a woman has been elevated to a higher position, but is said Blasco "not the right person for the job. "Esteller would have preferred an external candidate selected by the international group The appointment of Blasco" is a typical image of the Hispanic inbreeding, "he wrote in an e-mail to Science Insider
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