Scientific Director
Xosé R. Bustelo, Ph.D.
Dr. Xosé R. Bustelo is a Full Research Professor at the Spanish National Research Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC), the main scientific institution of the Spanish central government. He also holds a principal investigator position at the Cancer Biomedical Research Center (Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cáncer, CIBERONC), a Spanish government–sponsored multicenter initiative aimed at promoting cooperative work in both basic and clinical research among the 50 top–rated cancer labs in Spain.
Dr. Bustelo’s scientific training includes a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Galicia, Spain, 1990) and a postdoctoral stint at the Bristol–Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute (Princeton, NJ, USA; years 1990–1993). He then worked as Staff Scientist at the Bristol–Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute (Princeton, NJ, USA; years 1993-1996), as Assistant Professor at the Department of Pathology of the State University of New York at Stony Brook (Stony Brook, NY, USA; years 1996–2000) and, subsequently, as both CSIC Tenured (1999–2004) and Senior Research (2004–2005) scientist at the Cancer Research Center (Centro de Investigación del Cáncer, CIC) of Salamanca (Spain).
Dr. Bustelo’s work has been traditionally focused on the understanding of signal transduction processes initiated by Rho GTPases during both physiological and pathological conditions. His group has made key findings on the regulation of these proteins, the isolation of upstream GTPase regulators, and the elucidation of the role of these proteins in normal physiological contexts and high–incidence pathologies such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and metabolic syndrome. This work also allowed to unveil new biological programs, drug targets, and diagnostic signatures of clinical interest for patients. These and other contributions have been published in top journal such as Cancer Cell (2017), Cell (1998), Cell Metab (2013), Cell Rep (2022), EMBO J (1998, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2021), J Clin Inv (2008, 2010), Nature (1992, 1997), Nat Comm (2014, 2018, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c, 2022), Nat Med (2006, 2017), PLoS-Biol (2013), Science (1992), Sci Adv (2023), and Science Sig (2012, 2014). Dr. Bustelo’s scientific output includes so far 170 scientific articles and six patents. His h factor is 65 with a total of citations of more than 16,300. He has been listed in the Stanford University ranking of 2% more highly cited scientists in the world in the years 2019, 2021, and 2023.
His work has been recognized by a number of both Spanish and international scientific awards, including the Catacosinos Young Investigator Award for Cancer Research (USA), the Sinsheimer Scholarship (USA), the Carol M. Balwin Award for Breast Cancer Research (USA), the Echevarne National Oncology Award (Spain), Pfizer Award on Basic Research (Spain), the Severo Ochoa Award on Biomedical Research (Spain), the Ramiro Carregal International Oncology Award (Spain), and the Legacy Award for Trajectory (Spain). He is also a member of the Royal Galician Academy of Science, the Royal Academy of Pharmacy of Galicia, and Fundación Gadea.
In addition to the foregoing scientific activity, Dr. Bustelo is currently the Scientific Director of the CIC of Salamanca, a member of the CIBERONC Executive Committee, the coordinator of the CIBERONC Mechanisms of Tumor Progression Program, and the President of the Spanish Federation for Oncology Societies (FESEO). He is also an active member of a large number of advisory scientific committees and editorial boards.
For his publication list, check this link.