Javier León (Madrid, 1955) was Graduated in Biological Sciences and Graduated and in Pharmacy. He also holds the title of Specialist in Microbiology (FIR, Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla, Santander). He defended his PhD Thesis in 1983 and did the postdoctoral research in New York University Cancer Center (1984- 1986). In 1986 got the position of “Profesor Titular” of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the University of Cantabria and in 1994 the position of “Catedrático”. In 2007 he moved to the Instituto de Biomedicina y Biotecnología (IBBTEC), a joint center UC-CSIC. He has also worked as visiting scientist for a total of 2.5 years in Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Seattle) and Dana Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Cancer Center (Boston).
Dr. León’s group was established has been funded since 1988 by 13 consecutive grants form “Plan Estatal de I+D” as IP, as well as equipment and local grants. He has supervised 21 PhD Thesis and published 94 research papers in indexed journals, being first or corresponding author in 62 of them. His H-index is 34 with more than 3600 citations (Scopus).
His research interests over the last 20 years have been:
a) MYC oncogene roles in cell cycle regulation and interactions with p53 and p27.
b) MYC oncogene in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and in chronic myeloid leukemia.
c) Currently, his research is focused on the roles of MYC and MNT oncogenes in lymphoma
J. León teaches in the courses “Biochemistry” and “Molecular Biology of the Cell” of the Medicine Degree and inthe Master of Molecular Biology and Biomedicine. He is a correspondent member of the Real Academia Nacional de Farmacia. He has co-authored a textbook (“Manual de Genética Molecular”, Ed. Síntesis, Madrid) and filed three patents. He has served as Head of the Department of Molecular Biology, Director of the IBBTEC and Vice-chancellor for Research. He has also served in evaluation panels of Spanish Plan Estatal and Cancer Research-UK. He has served as peer reviewer for multiple journals, ANEP and international cancer research agencies.
