Mariano Barbacid


Mariano Barbacid Montalbán is a Spanish molecular biochemist who discovered the first oncogene.

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.

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". 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 enzyme CDK2, until then believed to be indispensable in cellular division, was not necessary in order for DNA replication to take place.

Publications

His scientific career has been awarded with prizes such as the Distinguished Young Scientist Award, the King Juan Carlos I Science award, the Rhodes Memorial award and the Charles Rodolphe Brupbacher. His effort has also been acknowledged with the Great Cross of the Order of 2 May.
Other awards include: