2009/07/27

Joaquín Castilla joins the Proteomic Unit at CIC bioGUNE to research prions, the agents responsible for spongiform encephalopathies.

Thanks to the Basque Government's Ikerbasque Programme, CIC bioGUNE's Proteomic Unit has just gained a new Group Leader, Joaquín Castilla, who will focus his research on the study of the molecular mechanisms involved in the transmission of prions between different species. The laboratory directed by Castilla aims to gain a better understanding of why prions are able to infect some species and not others. The work will involve the study and design of new molecules which block prion replication and which can be used to treat prion-related diseases.

Prions are the pathological agents responsible for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), also known as prion diseases. TSEs belong to a group of fatal neurodegenerative diseases which affect both humans and animals and for which no effective treatment has yet been developed. These diseases may have a number of different origins and may be hereditary, sporadic (supposedly spontaneous) or infectious.

After graduating in Pharmacy in 1992 and gaining his PhD in Biology in 1996, Castilla worked for 5 years on the development of genetically modified animals which expressed monoclonal antibodies in their milk. It was during this time that he first came into serious contact with an infectious agent, in this case a porcine coronavirus. Staying within the field of infectious diseases, Castilla switched from coronaviruses to prions, a group of infectious agents that were, at that time, little known. For five years he worked at the Animal Health Research Centre (INIA-CISA), studying prion transmission mechanisms and generating bio-trials based on genetically modified animals. In 2003 he joined the Swiss biotechnology firm known as the Serono Research Institute, where he continued his scientific work on prions. That same year, he was invited to become an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas (USA), within the medical department. In 2006 he became director of his own laboratory in Scripps, Florida.

His principal aim in joining CIC bioGUNE is to do "good science". In other words, he hopes to "be able to carry out serious basic and applied research that will be accepted by the whole scientific community working in the field and will help improve our knowledge of prion diseases, and ultimately contribute to finding a cure."