Biography

Anna Bigas holds a PhD in Cell Biology from the University of Barcelona (1993). Dr. Bigas has a double affiliation with IMIM (since 2009) and IJC (starting 2020) and she is currently the Scientific Director of CIBERONC. She has a long-standing interest in hematopoietic stem cells and leukemogenesis. Her work as a post-doctoral fellow (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle 1993-1997) was pioneering in identifying a role of Notch in the regulating hematopoietic differentiation, a highly influential contribution to the field of hematopoiesis (PNAS 1996, Mol. Cell. Biol 1998). Since starting her independent research group in Barcelona, Spain (IRO/IDIBELL, 1998-2008); she has sought to decipher the molecular mechanisms that regulate stem cell commitment, maintenance, differentiation and oncogenic transformation, mainly focused in the hematopoietic system. Through refined genetic studies her group has demonstrated crucial roles for Notch and Wnt in the generation of hematopoietic stem cells in the mouse embryo (Development, 2005, EMBO J 2008, JEM 2012, 2013, 2014, Nat Comm 2015, EMBO J 2020). In addition, her group has uncovered a role of Notch in regulating programmed cell death in erythroid lineages (Leukemia 2007), and the contribution of Notch and Wnt to T-ALL and CTCL (Leukemia 2016, Leukemia 2018) or intestinal development and cancer (PNAS 2009, Development 2015). More recently, a collaboration with Dr. Lopez-Bigas (IRB) and Dr. Ribera (IJC) groups has contributed to the understanding of leukemic relapse in adult T-ALL (Genome Biology 2020).