Dr. Núria López-Bigas: “Studying healthy tissue helps us to understand the onset of cancer”

Barcelona, 25 April 2024, Dr. Núria López-Bigas, ICREA researcher, head of the Biomedical Genomics group at IRB Barcelona , and full professor of the Pompeu Fabra University, has been named a full academic member of the Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales (RAC). 

In her inaugural speech on the future of cancer research, the Catalan researcher emphasised that understanding the disease will also require the analysis of healthy tissues: "The definition of which genes and mutations are causative of cancer will be refined in the coming years using information from healthy tissue." 

With Dr. López-Bigas's admission, the RAC welcomes its first expert in bioinformatics, the 12th woman to be appointed a full academic member of the institution.

In her speech entitled "Cancer: A Darwinian Evolutionary Process", the computational biologist explained that "by pinpointing mutations in healthy tissue, we can gain a more accurate insight into which genes and mutations are directly involved in tumour development." This research is made possible through the application of new technologies such as "high-precision sequencing," which allows direct observation of mutations present in tissues that are still healthy.

The induction ceremony, held this Wednesday evening at the RAC headquarters in Madrid, was attended by the rector of the Pompeu Fabra University, Dr. Laia de Nadal, who is also the head of a Group Leader at IRB Barcelona.