biology

Núria López Bigas

Núria López Bigas is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Núria López Bigas rather than just read about it. In short: Núria López Bigas is a Spanish biologist and research professor with expertise in medical genetics, computational biology, and bioinformatics. She is an ICREA (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies) professor at Pompeu Fabra University and she also leads the Biomedical Genomics Research Group at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona, Spain.

Key takeaways

Núria López Bigas belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Núria López Bigas to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Núria López Bigas from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Núria López Bigas is a Spanish biologist and research professor with expertise in medical genetics, computational biology, and bioinformatics. She is an ICREA (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies) professor at Pompeu Fabra University and she also leads the Biomedical Genomics Research Group at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona, Spain. Her research is focused on developing computational approaches to investigate cancer genomes.

Education and early research López-Bigas received her Ph.D. in biology from the University of Barcelona. Her Ph.D. work consisted of studying the molecular causes of hereditary deafness in Dr. Xavier Estivill's laboratory. She then moved to Cambridge, UK where she worked on computational genomics at the European Bioinformatics Institute in Christos A. Ouzounis's group. When she moved back to Barcelona, she was involved in the pilot phase of the ENCODE project at the Centre for Genomic Regulation. In April 2006, López-Bigas joined Pompeu Fabra University and was appointed an ICREA research professor in 2011. In 2016, her lab moved to the Institute for Research in Biomedicine where she leads the Biomedical Genomics Research Group.

Genomic research projects and contributions López-Bigas' lab has contributed to the identification of genes that drive abnormal growth of malignant cells, known as cancer driver genes. During tumorigenesis, positive selection of mutations that activate the tumorigenic potential of oncogenes occur. Her lab has developed computational methodologies to detect these signals of positive selection in the pattern of somatic mutations observed in tumors. They developed pioneer methods to identify cancer driver genes through the creation of IntOGen. This web platform supports cancer researchers by providing a systematic analysis of oncogene data across various sequencing projects to aid in clinical decision-making. The lab is also involved in advancing precision medicine by using targetable gene alterations to help determine therapeutic options for cancer patients. They have developed an approach that uses bioinformatic resources to identify therapeutically actionable genomic alterations in tumors, which is accessible through another online database called the Cancer Genome Interpreter. She has also published over 100 papers in her line of work.

Professional affiliations and awards López-Bigas has been awarded several scholarships, prizes, and awards. Most recently, she won the XI Banco Sabadell Foundation Award for Biomedical Research. 50,000 euros is awarded to an individual who has developed a career in Spain as a promising scientist, and López-Bigas was recognized for her contributions to the development of new bioinformatics methods to study cancer genomes. Amongst other awards, she has also received the Proffered Paper Award in 2014 at the European Association for Cancer Research meeting and the Catalan National Award for Young Research Talent in 2012. In 2021, she was elected as a Fellow of the International Society for Computational Biology.

See also Oncogenomics Linker histone H1 variants

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Núria López Bigas

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Núria López Bigas claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Núria López Bigas before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Núria López Bigas ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Núria López Bigas

In research: Núria López Bigas appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Núria López Bigas in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Núria López Bigas is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1975 births, Living people, Spanish biologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Núria López Bigas outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Núria López Bigas in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Núria López Bigas means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Núria López Bigas out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Núria López Bigas in simple terms?

Why does Núria López Bigas matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Núria López Bigas?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Núria López Bigas.