Líneas de investigación

• 1. Breast cancer (Dr. Aleix Prat)

  • To evaluate the impact of the identification of the intrinsic molecular subtypes of breast cancer in the clinical setting.
  • To study the mechanisms of drug resistance and tumor progression across the intrinsic subtypes breast cancer.
  • To identify novel biomarkers predictive of survival and/or treatment response to targeted therapies in breast cancer.

• 2. Cancer immunotherapy (Dr. Aleix Prat)

  • To establish an adoptive T-cell therapy program using Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes (TIL) across cancer types.
  • To identify novel biomarkers of response to immunotherapy across cancer-types.
  • To develop novel immune cell therapy strategies such as novel CAR-T treatments.

• 5. Lung cancer (Dr. Noemí Reguart)

  • Validate novel molecular technologies to streamline the screening of targetable biomarkers in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
  • Identification of novel fusion gene variants in NSCLC: phenotypic characterization of targeted population and prospective clinical validation of their predictive value to targeted treatments.
  • Characterize the “stroma-tumor cell” crosstalk in NSCLC and the role of tumor fibroblasts in the tumorigenesis of both major NSCLC subtypes: adenocarcinoma (ADC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SQC).

• 4. Upper gastrointestinal tumors (Dr. Tamara Saurí)

  • To identify novel biomarkers predictive of survival and/or treatment response in pancreatic cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, esophagus cancer and gastric cancer.
  • To study the mechanisms of anti-HER2 therapy sensitivity and resistance in gastric cancer.
  • To better characterize upper GI cancers from a molecular perspective.

• 3. Urologic cancer (Dr. Mellado)

  • To study the molecular mechanisms of resistance to taxanes and novel hormone-therapies in preclinical models, circulating tumor cells and patients with castration resistant prostate cancer.
  • To investigate the role of the androgen receptor variants in epithelial to mesenchymal transition and progression and therapy resistance in castration resistant prostate cancer.
  • To investigate mechanisms of resistance to anti-angiogenic therapy and identification of new therapeutic targets in renal cell carcinoma.

• 6. Colorectal cancer (Dr. Joan Maurel)

  • To evaluate intrinsic and acquired mechanisms of resistance to chemotherapy and targeted agents in metastatic colorectal cancer, in the three genotypes (KRAS/NRAS mutant, BRAF mutant and triple-WT).
  • To characterize epithelial and mesenchymal phenotypes in resectable and metastatic pancreatic carcinoma and its correlation with drug resistance.

• 7. Brain tumors (Dr. Estela Pineda)

  • Identification and characterization of new factors involved in NSC maintenance and differentiation, with a special emphasis on factors that mediate the localization of NSC to their niches.
  • Functional characterization of the factors identified above in the initiation, maintenance and invasiveness of gliomas and
  • Design of new, alternative therapies for gliomas.

• 8. Melanoma (Dr. Ana Arance)

  • To identify novel biomarkers predictive of survival and/or treatment response to targeted therapies in melanoma.
  • To better understand the mechanisms of sensitivity or resistance to immunotherapy and BRAF/MEK inhibitors in melanoma.

• 9. Early drug development (IntherUnit) (Dr. Gª Corbacho)

  • To recommend the dose and schedule for novel drugs in First-in-Human clinical trials.
  • To determine the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of novel drugs.
  • To perform molecular screening of tumors to guide therapy in trials with novel drugs.
  • To guide de decision to explore dose expansion cohorts and to design the next generation of trials.