This year, the AECC awarded nearly 24.5 million euros to help finance 195 projects. There were four beneficiaries from the Hospital Clínic-IDIBAPS: Martí Duran-Ferrer, Josep Maria Llovet, Alba Rodríguez-García and Marta García de Herreros.
Martí Duran-Ferrer, postdoctoral researcher in the IDIBAPS Biomedical Epigenomics group, led by José Ignacio Martín-Subero, received 160,000 euros to develop a clinically applicable epigenetic clock to predict the growth of each patient's tumour. This will make it possible to measure the proliferative history of the cancer and apply personalised treatments according to the biological risk of the tumour.
Josep Maria Llovet, leader of the IDIBAPS group Translational Research in hepatic oncology, and his team will use the 300,000-euro AECC grant to find biomarkers that can help to identify patients with liver cancer who respond to immunotherapy. The project results will enable specialists to select the best treatment in each case.
The work of Alba Rodríguez-García, postdoctoral researcher in the IDIBAPS Cellular immunotherapies for cancer group led by Sònia Guedan, focuses on developing cellular therapies. The 200,000 grant she receives from the AECC will enable Rodríguez-García to work on improving CAR-T therapy and replicating the success achieved in haematological cancers in patients with solid tumours.
The AECC also awards grants to junior clinicians. Among the beneficiaries in this category is Marta García de Herreros, an oncologist at Clínic Barcelona who received a 2022 AECC Alumni Training Clinic grant to train in cancer research in the clinical field.
