Here you have a link to a piece of news on the ERC Starting Grant (2014) given to Ignacio Varela on his project entitled Molecular characterization of the role of intra-tumor heterogeneity in cancer progression and metastasis (INTRAHETEROSEQ): http://www.eldiariomontanes.es/sociedad/ciencia/201412/16/ibbtec-logra-millones-europa-20141216143120.html
He was born in Oviedo (26th of March 1981), graduated in Biochemistry (2003) and then obtained his PhD by the University of Oviedo (2008).
He moved to the IBBTEC in 2011 as a postdoctoral fellow coming from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (Hinxton, United Kingdom). Then, in 2012, he continued working at the IBBTEC as Ramón y Cajal researcher.
At present he is starting his own research group thanks to funding by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Fundamental Plan for No Oriented Research), the European Research Council (Starting Grant 2014) and the Ramón Areces Foundation (Funding for Research Projects on Life and Material Sciences, 2014).
His research lines focus on the genomic study of cancer, both on humans and mice models. The main aim of these research lines is the identification of molecular mechanisms implied in the development of tumors that may be useful as therapeutic targets.
Total number of publications: 41, h index: 20.
More relevant publications:
Gerlinger M et al. “Intratumor heterogeneity and branched evolution revealed by cancer sequencing”.NEJM 366:883-892 (2012).
Varela I et al. “Exome sequencing identifies frequent mutation of the SWI/SNF complex gene, PBRM1, in renal carcinoma.” Nature 469:539-542 (2011).
Pleasance ED et al.“A comprehensive catalogue of somatic mutations from a human cancer genome.” Nature 463:191-196 (2010).
Varela I et al. “Combined treatment with statins and aminobisphosphonates extends longevity in a mouse model of human premature aging.” Nature Med 14:767-772 (2008).
Varela I et al. “Accelerated ageing in mice deficient in Zmpste24 protease is linked to p53 signallingactivation”. Nature 437:564-568 (2005).