Hector Viadiu studied Biology at the Faculty of Sciences in the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He later studied a Master in Biotechnology from the Institute of Biotechnology also at UNAM studying in-vitro evolution and enzyme kinetics of beta-lactamases. He carried out his doctoral studies at Columbia University studying the specificity of restriction endonucleases by X-ray crystallography. He realized his postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School in several projects learning cryo-electron microscopy. Later on, he started his career as independent investigator at the University of California. He recently rejoined his alma mater UNAM as a Faculty in the Chemistry Institute. he Honored in 2010 NSF Career Award USA, National Science Foundation, 2008 Hellman Award USA, Hellman Foundation, 2001 Damon-­Runyon Fellowship USA, Damon-­Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, 1993 Fulbright-­CONACYT Fellowship, USA, 1992 University of California-­UNAM Fellowship, USA.

Dr. Viadiu is an expert in protein structure determination by electron microscopy single particle analysis, electron crystallography, and X-ray crystallography. His work has focused mainly on proteins that bind DNA and, in a lesser degree, on membrane proteins. In particular, he has focused on understanding the structure of proteins involved in cancerous processes. Dr. Viadiu is a leader in the study of the transcription factors of the p53 protein family. His research group has solved the structure of the protein most frequently mutated in cancerous cells, p53, at an unprecedented resolution to explain differences in its ability to trigger differential gene expression. His research group also solved for first time the DNA-binding domain of p73, a p53-related protein. In order to suggest new cancer treatments, his work aims to understand how the p73 protein can replace the function of the mutated p53 protein in cancerous cells. He has defined the differences in the specificity profiles of these two important proteins.