Zubiaga Elordieta, Ana Maria

Ana María Zubiaga Elordieta is a Professor in the Genetics Department of the UPV/EHU. She obtained her degree in Biological Sciences from the School of Sciences at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) in 1981, and received her Doctorate from that same University in 1986.

She conducted her pre-doctorate research at the UPV/EHU, and her post-doctorate work was undertaken at Tufts and Harvard Universities (1986-1994), where she specialised in studying the regulation of the genes involved in the development of cancer. In 1995, she became a professor at the UPV/EHU.

Her area of research revolves around the confluence between the Biology and Genetics of Cancer. Experimental designs include a combination of classic molecular biology and cellular models, genomic and proteomic approaches, as well as animal genetic models. Since she joined the UPV/EHU, she has received continuous financing as the lead researcher on more than 20 national and regional projects. Noteworthy is her participation on the Consolider-Ingenio projects (2007-2012).

Since 2001, Ana Zubiaga has led a consolidated research group financed by the Basque Government and comprised of professors, pre-doctorate and post-doctorate researchers, and Ikerbasque researchers. Her group has contributed to the field with relevant publications (Cell, Immunity, J Clin Invest, Nucleic Acids Res) in which the physiological and pathological functions of E2F factors have been described.  Likewise, they have dissected the underlying mechanisms of EF2 transcriptional activity and their involvement with cancer and tissue degeneration. This group actively cooperates with national (CNIO, U. Barcelona) and international research groups (NKI, Harvard, Karolinska, U. California-San Diego).  This includes prolonged laboratory visits by group members.

She has published more than 60 articles, the majority in leading journals in the area of Genetics and Molecular Biology, and her work has been cited more than 3,900 times. She has directed 17 doctoral theses, and more than 27 Master's theses.

In terms of institutional responsibilities at the UPV/EHU, she has served as a member of the Ethics Committee on Animal Wellbeing (2009-2014), the Research Commission (2006-2009), and the Post-Graduate Commission (2013-2014); coordinator of the Molecular Genetics Doctorate Programme (2005-2010) and the Biomedicine and Molecular Biology Master's Programme (2008-2014), director of the Molecular Biomedicine Training and Research Unit, and advisor for the general Genomic service (2003-present).

As an expert, she has worked as a Coordinating Associate for the National Agency for Assessment and Forecasting: Department of Genetic, Molecular, and Cellular Biology (2005-2008) and the Department of Biomedicine (2015-2018); ad hoc reviewer for the Assessment Commissions of various state and international programmes; as well as a reviewer for international scientific journals and guest editor of the journal Genes (2018-19).