MARIA ELENA FERNANDEZ SANCHEZ

I completed my studies in Biology, Genetics, in 1999 at the Complutense University of Madrid (Spain). Afterwards, I did my doctorate in the Biological Research Center (CIB/CSIC) in Madrid on the study of the genetic and molecular mechanisms of Lafora's Epilepsy. I then carried out a first post-doctorate at the Institut Pasteur in Paris (France) where I elucidated the mechanism of action of the COP9 Signalosome complex and its role in the regulation of the cell cycle. During my second post-doctorate at the University of Dundee (Scotland), I worked on the function of the cMyc oncogene in the process of RNA messenger methylation. My third post-doctorate, carried out at the Institut Curie in Paris, was directed towards the study of the mechanical activation of the b-catenin signaling pathway by tumor growth pressure. I obtained an Inserm position here as a Research Fellow in 2005 and nowadays my project focuses on the therapeutic inhibition of the mechanical activation of the oncogenic b-catenin pathway.