Eppendorf Young Investigator Award 2009 goes to Spain

23-Nov-2009 - Germany

The 2009 award is the 15th research prize conferred by Eppendorf to honor outstanding work in biomedical research in Europe. This year, the prize was awarded to Dr. Óscar Fernández-Capetillo, Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), Madrid, Spain.

OskarCNIO

Dr. Óscar Fernández-Capetillo

Dr. Óscar Fernández-Capetillo, born in Bilbao in 1974, won the prize for his groundbreaking research showing that endogenous DNA damage can through replicative stress (RS) lead to accelerated ageing. Replicative stress is intrinsically associated with DNA replication and prevented mainly by the ATR kinase. By developing a murine model of the Seckel syndrome characterized by a severe deficiency in ATR, it was shown that Seckel mice suffer high levels of RS during embryogenesis and age rapidly because of accumulating DNA damage.

The results of Óscar Fernández-Capetillo support that RS, particularly in utero, contributes to the onset of ageing in postnatal life, this being balanced by the activities of the checkpoint proteins ATR and p53.

Dr. Óscar Fernández-Capetillo received the prize during a gala dinner attended by guests from the scientific community and related industry.

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