Street in Spain named in honour of former Dundee scientist

Ana on the calle Ana Cuenda Mendez
Ana on the calle Ana Cuenda Mendez

Ana Cuenda, who carried out postdoctoral research in the Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation Unit at the University of Dundee from 1994 to 1999 has had a street in Spain named after her (named Calle Ana Cuenda).

Ana Cuenda has been honoured in this way by the village of Torremayor in the Extramadura region in the South West of Spain in recognition of both her scientific career and the contributions that she has made to enhance the status of women in science. Ana is also a co-founder of the Spanish organisation “Apadrina la Ciencia”, a platform to promote the understanding of science in society, by making it more accessible to everyone. By naming a street after her, Torremayor Council were not only honouring Ana Cuenda’s scientific career, but the efforts made by all Extremaduran women working in science.

Since returning to Spain, Ana Cuenda has become a leader in the field of cell signalling and its connection to multiple diseases, work that she initiated when she was in Dundee. In particular, Ana Cuenda worked out how members of a family of key controller enzymes, called “p38MAP kinases” regulate the immune system. She currently heads a research team in the Spanish Biotechnology Centre (CNB) in Madrid, which is funded by Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

While in Dundee, Ana was a postdoctoral researcher in Sir Philip Cohen’s lab. Commenting of Ana’s scientific achievements Sir Philip said “Ana carried out very important research during her time in Dundee. Only one year after arriving, she published a paper characterising the first drug developed against a p38MAP kinase in collaboration with researchers at the pharmaceutical company SmithKline Beacham (now GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)). This paper has subsequently been quoted over 2,400 times by other scientists in their research papers. Currently, drugs targeting p38MAP kinases are undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimers. Since returning to Spain Ana has continued to do outstanding research on two other forms of p38MAP kinases defining their functions in the immune system."

Commenting on Ana’s award, Philip said “having a street named after is like achieving immortality and most unusual. Indeed, to my knowledge, this is the first time that any life scientist at the University of Dundee has had a street named after them since it became an Independent University in 1967!”

Ana at the celebration
Ana Cuenda (second from left) at the ceremony in Spain naming the street after her