Begoña Díez Cabezas

Begoña Díez Cabezas (ORCID No.: 0000-0003-0083-1034) graduated in Biological Sciences from Universidad Autómona from Madrid in 2008 after completing her final degree project at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom, within ERASMUS program, studying cell signaling pathways in the context of a rare disease, myotonic dystrophy type I, led by Dr. Jeremy Rhodes. Subsequently, she took courses for the doctorate in Genetics and Cell Biology at the Universidad Autómona from Madrid, collaborating in a project for chromatin characterization in Holstein breeders sperm at the genetics department of the science faculty at the same university, led by professor Jaime Gosálvez. She performed her DEA working at CNIC's celomics unit, where she participated in a project to identify molecules involved in tumor invasion using high-content screening techniques led by Dr. María Montoya, a study that gave rise to a scientific article publication. Finally, she began her doctoral thesis, thanks to a FPU grant, in the Laboratory of Innovative Therapies in Hematopoietic System at CIEMAT, under the direction of doctors Paula Rio and Juan A. Bueren. During her doctoral thesis, she investigated techniques to treat, through gene editing, a rare disease, Fanconi anemia. During its development, she stayed at TIGET in Milan, Italy, in the laboratory of Professor Luigi Naldini, under the supervision of Doctors Angelo Lombardo and Pietro Genovese. During this period she collaborated in the production of three scientific articles, being the first author of one of them, in different international scientific magazines, and a chapter of a book. Moreover, during her predoctoral period, she participated in six oral communications and eight posters at different national and international congresses. Finally, in 2015, she obtained the doctorate in Genetics and Cell Biology from the Universidad Autómona from Madrid with the qualification of outstanding Cum Laude and the European doctorate mention. In 2016 she moved to London, United Kingdom, where she did her first post-doctoral degree at the UCL GOS ICH focused on the development of a gene therapy approach based on T lymphocytes for the treatment of a primary immunodeficiency led by Dr. Claire. Booth, which gave rise to the publication of a scientific article. In 2017, and for a brief period, she joined the Cell Therapy Catapult LT company in London where she worked as a process development scientist in different gene therapy projects. Since October 2017, she has continued her work as a post-doctoral scientist in the Biomedical Innovation department at CIEMAT, focused on the production of different gene and cell therapy drugs in the GMP Clinistem facility, as a production supervisor, for which she has been training since 2016; and also collaborating in the development of new CART therapies for the treatment of different neoplasms. During this period she has participated in the production of a scientific article, six oral communications and seven posters in different national and international congresses. She has directed a final degree project, has developed more than 150 hours of teaching in different programs of public and private universities. She has collaborated in three editions of the Theoretical-Practical Flow Cytometry course organized by CIEMAT as a professor of the practical part of it, and carries out scientific dissemination activities through her participation in the cycle of talks in institutes organized by CIEMAT since in 2019. She has also been trained to work with experimental animal models and currently has the functions B, C and D to develop this work.

Publications:

1.- F. J. Roman-Rodriguez, L. Ugalde, L. Alvarez, B. Diez, M. J. Ramirez, C. Risueño, M. Corton, M. Bogliolo, S. Bernal, F. March, C. Ayuso, H. Hanenberg, J. Sevilla, S. Rodriguez-Perales, R. Torres-Ruiz, J. Surralles, J. A. Bueren, P. Rio (2019). NHEJ-Mediated repair of CRISPR-Cas9-induced DNA breaks efficiently corrects mutations in HSPCs from patients with Fanconi anemia. Cell Stem Cell. 25(5):607-621. IF (2019): 20.86; Q1 (Cell Biology)

2.- N. Panchal, B. Houghton, B. Diez, S. Ghosh, I. Ricciardelli, A. J. Thrasher, H. B. Gaspar, C. Booth (2018). Transfer of gene-corrected T cells corrects humoral and cytotoxic defects in patients with X-linked lymphoproliferative disease. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 142(1):235-45. IF (2018): 14.11; Q1 (Immunology)

3.- B. Diez, P. Genovese, F.J. Roman-Rodriguez, L. Alvarez, G. Schiroli, L. Ugalde, S. Rodríguez-Perales, J. Sevilla, C. Diez de Heredia, M.C. Holmes, A. Lombardo, L. Naldini, J.A. Bueren, P. Rio (2017) Therapeutic Gene Editing in CD34+ Hematopoietic Progenitors from Fanconi Anemia Patients. Embo Mol Medicine. 9(11):1574-88. IF (2017): 10.293; Q1 (Medicine, Research & experimental)

4.- Bravo-Cordero JJ, Cordani M, Soriano SF, Díez B, Muñoz-Agudo C, Casanova-Acebes M, Boullosa C, Guadamillas MC, Ezkurdia I, González-Pisano D, Del Pozo MA, Montoya MC (2016). A novel high-content analysis tool reveals Rab8-driven cytoskeletal reorganization through Rho GTPases, calpain and MT1-MMP. J Cell Sci. 129(8):1734-49. IF (2016): 4.431; Q2 (Cell Biology)

5.- A. Cuesta-Domínguez, D. León-Rico, L. Álvarez, B. Díez, I. Bodega-Mayor, R. Baños, MA. Martín-Rey, M. Santos-Roncero, ML. Gaspar, P. Martín-Acosta, E. Almarza, JA. Bueren, P. Río, E. Fernández-Ruiz (2015). BCR-JAK2 drives a myeloproliferative neoplasm in transplanted mice. J. Pathol. 236(2):219-28. IF (2015): 7.381; Q1 (Oncology)

6.- P. Rio, R. Baños, A. Lombardo, O. Quintana, L. Alvarez, Z. Garate, P. Genovese, E. Almarza, A. Valeri, B. Díez, S. Navarro, Y. Torres, J.P. Trujillo, R. Murillas , J.C. Segovia, E. Samper, J. Surralles, P.D. Gregory, M.C. Holmes, L. Naldini, J.A. Bueren (2014). Targeted Gene Therapy and cell reprogramming in Fanconi Anemia. Embo Mol Medicine. 6(6):835-48. IF (2014): 8.665; Q1 (Medicine, Research & Experimental)