Susana de la Luna holds a PhD in Biology from the Autonomous University of Madrid (1989), with a thesis on the biology of the influenza virus. She carried out postdoctoral research at the National Center for Biotechnology (Madrid), the National Institute for Medical Research (London), and the University of Glasgow. In 1999, she joined the Institute of Oncology Research in Barcelona, and since 2002 she has been an ICREA Research Professor and group leader at the Centre for Genomic Regulation. Her research has focused on the functional characterization of the DYRK kinase family, which is involved in essential cellular processes and in pathologies such as DYRK1A haploinsufficiency and various types of cancer. Her work has contributed to identifying their role in tyrosine kinase receptor-mediated signaling and gene regulation, as well as their potential as therapeutic targets.
With the incorporation of de la Luna, IDIBAPS currently has six ICREA researchers (Josep Maria Llovet, Iñaki Martin-Subero, Albert Pol, Antonio Postigo, Mavi Sánchez-Vives, and Susana de la Luna) and three ICREA Academy members (Elías Campo, Antoni Torres, and David Bartrés-Faz).
