Atherosclerosis, inflammatory diseases, biomarkers

Dr. Isabel Varela-Nieto graduated and earned her doctorate in Chemistry, Biochemistry Section, at the University Complutense of Madrid (Spain). She has been a visiting guest scientist at the Medical Schools of Uppsala (FEBS Fellow, Sweden) and San Diego (MEC Sabbatical, USA). She is Professor of Research at the CSIC and group leader at the CIBER of rare diseases (CIBERER, ISCIII) in Madrid. From the early 1990s she has been studying hearing neurobiology and IGF-1 actions. She was the first Chair of the SEBBM Science for Society working group with which she actively collaborates, and member of the FEBS Network working group. She is currently the president of the SEBBM, a member of the FEBS Science and Society Committee and of the ISC Finances Committee.

I became an MD in 1972, then decided to do research in biomedical sciences and received my PhD in immunology in 1978. I spent 3 years as a postdoctoral fellow at NIH, USA, then started a university carrier in Debrecen where became professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in 1988 at the Faculty of Medicine, then chairman of this department between 1993 and 2013. My research group has focused on molecular mechanisms in cell death, structure and function of transglutaminases with clinical implications, inflammation, differentiation and functions of white and brown adipocytes. I was visiting professor at the University of Texas and the University of Rome, coordinated major European projects of COST, ESF and EU-Frame Work programs. I was rector (1999-2001, 2007-2010) and president of the Medical and Health Science Center (2001-2007) of the University of Debrecen. Elected to chair the Hungarian Accreditation Committee for Higher Education (2004-2007), the Hungarian Biochemical Society (2005-2015) and became a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1998 where chaired the Science and Ethics Committee and currently chair the Biology Section of the Academy. In 2010 I was elected to be the member of the Committee on Science and Ethics of All European Academies (ALLEA) and participated in the drafting group of the recently published new European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. . Since 2012 I chair the Publications Committee of the Federation of European Biochemical Societies and I am member of FEBS Executive Committee.