Juan Bautista Kourí Flores

Outstanding researcher from the Department of Infectomics and Molecular Pathogenesis at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies (Cinvestav), he passed away on July 17, 2019 at the age of 77.

Juan Kourí Flores son of the eminent scientist Dr. Pedro Kourí Esmeja, founder of tropical medicine in Cuba.

He graduated in the field of medicine from the University of Havana in 1966 and at this same academic institution he obtained his doctorate in biological sciences in 1973 at the National Center for Scientific Research in Havana, Cuba.

He conducted postdoctoral studies in Paris and Moscow. He was General Director of the National Center for Research in Cuba (1975-1984). Vice Minister of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Public Health of Cuba (1985-1990).

In the researcher's scientific trajectory, he stands out as general secretary of the Inter-American Committee on Electron Microscopy from 1995 to 2001; general director of the National Center for Scientific Research in Cuba from 1975 to 1984 and vice minister of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Public Health of his country from 1985 to 1990.

He joined Cinvestav in 1996, where he served as a senior researcher and from 2003 to 2006 he served as head of the Department of Infectomics and Molecular Pathogenesis.

Reviewer of arthritis and rheumatism, osteoarthritis and cartilage, biomarkers and apoptosis journals. He has presented more than 150 presentations at national and international congresses.

He has participated as a guest speaker at national and international events in more than 50 events. In total he has presented and/or published more than 250 papers. In total he has graduated more than 20 doctoral and postdoctoral students.

Molecular biologist, he directed the National Center for Scientific Research (CNIC) for 20 years and was vice minister of Public Health for Science and Technology in the nineteen eighties.

He also wrote books for secondary and higher education on the island, gave lectures and collaborated with renowned scientific institutions in many countries.

At the time of his death he was working at the Advanced Science Center in Mexico.

RESEARCH LINES: Etiopathogenesis of osteoarthritis. Characterization of degenerative processes and cell death in articular cartilage degradation. Characteristics of programmed cell death by apoptosis in different pathologies and cellular systems.

His scientific work focused on the study of cellular and molecular mechanisms of osteoarthritis in humans with the aim of seeking new therapeutic and diagnostic approaches to the disease. He was a pioneer in reporting the presence of cell death by apoptosis in this degenerative condition, as a variant of classical apoptosis, which has been termed chondroptosis.

Likewise, he identified a molecule related to the destruction of joint cartilage and with it developed a method to diagnose osteoarthritis in a timely manner.

BOOKS:
OSTEOARTHRITIS
Part II Chapter 7. Osteoarthritis and Apoptosis, pages 209-213.
Juan B. Kourí Flores and Dragoslav Mitrovic. University of Los Andes Publisher, Venezuela. Ministry of Health. 2005

He received the decoration for the Order for Cuban Education and belonged to several associations such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, was an Honorary member of the Bulgarian Society of Morphology and the Mexican Society of Microscopy, among others.