«Why do we get sick? “A cancer is a cell that has lost its identity.”

Biophysicist Eva Nogales leads a molecular and cellular biology research laboratory at the University of Berkeley (United States), where she searches for pieces that answer a big question: why we get sick. «The organism is made up of tissues with different cells, which use complexes of biological molecules. They have evolved to do their job but, from time to time, something goes wrong,” explains Nogales, who was born in Colmenar Viejo (Madrid) and emigrated from Spain 35 years ago. The scientist will participate in Women Now, which will be held in Madrid on June 19 and 20.

-Why do we get sick?

-The more we study biological processes, the more surprised I am that we don’t get sicker. We are a super complex system that works well in most cases. We have molecular systems that compensate, fix or replace damaged parts of DNA with new ones. But over time they start to fail. We have evolved to have an impressive immune system, which fights pathogens in some cases without realizing it or with minimal effect. But pathogens also evolve. It is a constant struggle. What is exceptional and surprising is how well we function for how extremely complex we are.

-How is therapy achieved for an incurable disease?

-In many cases, the idea is to try to compensate for those defects that begin to occur in the cell with the use of medications, which are very small chemical molecules that change the way cellular components function. There is a new technique, gene editing (known as ‘Crispr’) that uses a protein system (called ‘Cas9’) and RNA to enable bacteria to fight the viruses that infect them. Now biotechnologists can use it to make genetic changes to our cells, so that a gene that doesn’t work or isn’t expressed can be deleted or replaced. I study the fundamental processes of cells to understand how their molecules act; It is primordial science.

-How long does it take for this knowledge to reach a patient in a public health system?

-It depends, there are fast cases and others slower. Knowledge accumulates until, suddenly, a critical biotechnological development occurs that makes it reach us. For example, RNA vaccines, which in months reached the people who were able to inject them in the covid pandemic. It happened in months, but before that there were many discoveries over a century that allowed RNA to be used to vaccinate us. Nothing that arises now is isolated. The Crispr technique has only been around for a dozen years, since it was proven that bacterial components can be used in any organism, including humans, to change its genetics, and there is already a therapy for a type of anemia. It is already in operation and there are people who have been cured.

-Could cancer be treated like this?

-It is one of the greatest scourges in terms of loss of life. But it is not one disease, there are thousands. There are many types of cancer that also differ from one patient to another. We are learning how they work. Now there are therapies that seek to push our immune system to attack cancer; without exhausting yourself, without giving up, which is what is happening now. There are already therapies, developed in recent years, that help it fight more, but they do not work for all cancers. It is not an ideal disease to cure with Crispr, but in my laboratory we also work with systems that are targets for different types of cancer.

-How?

-The cells decide, during the embryogenic process, what they are going to be. Neural, muscular…? They are constantly making decisions that silence one part of the genome or activate another. I study one of the cellular components that does that. And a cancer is a cell that has forgotten what it is, that has lost its function and all it does is divide and consume nutrients and displace the cells that are doing their job. He has lost his identity, he no longer does his job. It is like a virus, which only reproduces itself.

Leave a mark

-You have won the Shaw Prize, one of the greatest current recognitions for scientists. What is a prize for?

-Especially to focus on science in a more general way, because it makes more people know you. Having the attention of the general public allows me to talk about current scientific events. It also lets me feel the support of the scientific community and is a morale booster.

-It is said that you could win the Nobel Prize, do you expect it?

-No, what I hope is to continue having the curiosity of wanting to understand nature and make the discoveries that motivate us to continue working. An award does not compare to what I felt when I realized that we finally had answers to the questions about how molecular complexes work, and knowing that we left a mark that others can use to go further. The prize is the icing on the cake, but science is not done for that.