The teams from Epigenetics and Metabolism, led by Marcos Pérez, and Protein Design and Modelling, directed by Enrique Marcos, will collaborate on two key research lines. Pérez's project focuses on deciphering internal cell communication mechanisms in rhabdoid tumors, an aggressive childhood cancer. Meanwhile, Marcos's group will work with the Hospital Clínico of the Valencian Community to improve the detection of colorectal cancer, the most common in Spain.
La Marató de TV3, one of the country's leading citizen science initiatives, held its award ceremony on November 5th for 38 selected projects, including the two IBMB teams. This year's campaign, themed «Let's detect it, let's fix it», focused on cancer.
Regarding colorectal cancer, Enrique Marcos's group will collaborate with Dr. Javier Hernández Gil's group at INCLIVA. Their goal is to develop new tools based on computationally designed proteins to improve tumor detection using positron emission tomography (PET), targeting the HER3 receptor.
The project on rhabdoid tumors, coordinated by Alexandra Avgustinova from the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital, will also involve collaboration with Ana Victoria Lechuga-Vieco from IRB. They will investigate the communication between the cell nucleus and mitochondria to identify potential therapeutic pathways.
Both research endeavors, to be conducted over the next three years, aim to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment, highlighting the importance of scientific collaboration and public engagement.
