Lucas José

Prof. Lucas José is a Research Professor at the Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Centre (CBMSO) in Madrid, part of Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He also serves as Principal Investigator at CIBERNED (Neurodegenerative Diseases Research Network). His career includes tenured roles at CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) since 2000, with postdoctoral training at Columbia University (1994–1997). His work focuses on neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s, emphasizing mechanisms like tau pathology, proteostasis, and RNA regulation. Key achievements include pioneering reversible mouse models for neurodegeneration and discovering tau nuclear rods as a Huntington’s biomarker.

Education:

• PhD in Molecular Biology, Cajal Institute (Madrid), 1993
• Postdoctoral Fellowships: Columbia University (USA) and René Hen Lab (France)

Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms underlying Huntington’s, Alzheimer’s, autism, and schizophrenia; conditional transgenic models; RNA binding proteins (e.g., CPEB4); ubiquitin-proteasome system; glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) pathways.

Awards:

• 2019 Prize Ciencias de la Salud (Granada)
• 2018 Carmen & Severo Ochoa Molecular Biology Award
• 2010 Spanish Royal Academy of Pharmacy Membership

Advancing Science: Pioneered reversibility studies in neurodegeneration via conditional mouse models. His group explores therapeutic targets like GSK-3 inhibitors and links autism genetics to environmental factors through CPEB4 research. Collaborates with CIBERNED and international labs.