2013_09_17_CIE_entrevista-carlos-tirado

Carlos A. Tirado, professor at the University of California Los Angeles, and expert in cancer cytogenetics, explained the latest advances in this technique, which deals with the study of the structure, function and behavior of chromosomes, at the School of Sciences of the University of Navarra. On his specialization program, solid tumors and hematological neoplasms, he stressed that"progress is slow due to the Degree of genetic alterations in these diseases, unlike what is happening in the field of myelodysplastic syndromes, where much progress is being made".

Professor Tirado visited the academic center on the occasion of the closing of the Master's Degree in research Biomedical, of which he has acted as sponsor: firstly because of his links with Professors Francisco Javier Novo and Guillermo Martínez de Tejada, and secondly because he recommended the Master's Degree to several of his students who finished the programs of study at UCLA (one of them is currently studying the program). He highlights"its quality professor, the good scientific training that students receive and the personalized attention that reminds him of his way of working at UCLA".

In the professor's opinion, the importance of cytogenetics lies in the fact that it is a tool that can determine which chromosomal translocations (displacement of a segment of a chromosome to a new location in the genome) are present in malignant cells, which facilitates diagnosis and makes it possible to predict susceptibility to treatment. Moreover, it is a technique that continues to advance. "The latest," he points out, "is molecular biology, and the most recent contribution of this is whole exome sequencing, a technique that consists of determining the complete sequence of all the "informative" portions of the genetic material, i.e., those fragments of the genome that are used to manufacture proteins. It is estimated that the exome of an individual corresponds to 1% of its genome.

More than 20 years of research on pancreatic cancer.
Regarding his research on cancer, "his passion" as he describes it, he is currently focused on several lines: on the one hand,"the study of new markers that allow us a better prognosis in acute lymphocytic leukemias in pediatric patients". As he points out, every day we see that the involvement of the JAK2 gene (involved in the genesis of some hematological neoplasms) seems to be crucial in the development of this subject of leukemias. "I am conducting a retrospective study to try to see how these patients who have rearrangements in the short arm of chromosome 9, specifically the JAK2 locus, have evolved."

On the other hand, his programs of study of postgraduate program and doctorate on the use of cytogenetics in pancreatic cancer have led him to research, for more than twenty years, in this field. "attention to create a very specific panel for diagnosis and prognosis in patients with a family history of this subject cancer," he explains.

The expert also referred to the cuts in research "as a generalized problem". In his opinion there are budget cuts in all countries but there are ways to raise money. "In the U.S. we have marathons and solidarity marches. In the last one they managed to raise 3 million for anthrax."