Molecular Oncology Group

Dr. Lara P. Fernández Álvarez

Postdoctoral researcher

Lara P. Fernández Álvarez, obtained her PhD in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biomedicine from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) and the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), Spain, in 2009. Her thesis focused on the characterization of genetic susceptibility to malignant melanoma. Since 2010, she had conducted postdoctoral research at the Molecular and Cell Biology of the Thyroid group in the Biomedical Research Institute (IIBm-CSIC-UAM), in Madrid. In December 2014 she joined IMDEA Molecular Oncology Cancer Group where her research is focused on the study of molecular biomarkers of cancer risk, prognostic factors and resistance to treatment. She has a solid and multidisciplinary professional experience in Cancer biology, Cancer Susceptibility, Oncology, Melanoma, Human Genetics and Molecular Endocrinology. Additionally, she has published more than twenty research articles in international journals, thirteen of them as first author.

Email: lara.fernandez@imdea.org
Phone: +34 91 727 81 00, ext. 212

Silvia Cruz Gil

Predoctoral researcher

Silvia Cruz Gil obtained her Biochemistry Degree at Universidad Complutense de Madrid in 2013. During the last two years of her degree she collaborated with the Biochemistry II Department at Pharmacy School in Universidad Complutense de Madrid studying the molecular biology of hepatocellular carcinoma. Later, she continued her training by obtaining a Master in Molecular Biosciences at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 2014. Meanwhile, Silvia joined ALGENEX (Alternative Gene Expression S.L.) in association with I.N.I.A. (National Institute of Agricultural and Food Research and Technology) for an internship. During this period she worked in the development of vectored vaccines. In October 2014, she started studies conductive to her PhD Degree at IMDEA Food Institute in the Molecular Oncology Group. Her research primarily focuses on the role of the lipid metabolism in tumor progression. In April 2016 she obtained a Boehringer Ingelheim Travel Grant to perform a short research stage in the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus(Dresden, Germany) to learn organoids technique under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Stange. Her thesis oral defense will be held at the beginning of 2019 titled “Lipid metabolism alterations in colorectal cancer: potential clinical relevance in the prognosis of the disease”.

Email: silvia.cruz@imdea.org
Phone: +34 91 727 81 00

Carolina Maestre

Dr. Carolina Maestre studied Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Salamanca, where she also obtained her PhD in Molecular Biology (2009) under the supervision of Dr. Ángeles Almeida and Prof. Juan P Bolaños. During her predoctoral period, she studied neurodegeneration and its relationship with alterations in the regulation of the cell cycle, for which she received an Extraordinary PhD Award. She was also involved in other projects about bioenergetic metabolism in neurons. In 2011, she moved to the laboratory of Prof. Salvador Moncada at the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research (UCL, London) to study the regulation of metabolic enzymes during the cell cycle, focusing in the metabolic switch at the restriction point. From 2014 to 2019, she joined Dr. Marcos Malumbres´group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) where she went in depth in the study of mitotic regulation and its implications in cancer. Her main project was focused on deciphering the in vivo role of a mitotic kinase and its relevance as a therapeutic target in liver and lung cancer, for which she generated mouse models. In addition, she studied the regulation of the metabolism during mitotic arrest. The results of her research have been published in prestigious journals such as EMBO Journal, Nature Cell Biology, Nature Communications or Journal of Neuroscience, and she has presented her work in several national and international meetings. She has also participated in the training of degree and master students. In December 2020, she incorporated at IMDEA Food Institute as a senior postdoctoral researcher in the Molecular Oncology group and the start up Precision for Health”.

Email:carolina.maestre@imdea.org
Phone: +34 91 727 81 00  

María José Barrero

Dr. Barrero obtained her PhD in Molecular Biology at the University of Barcelona, where she studied the transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation of genes involved in lipid metabolism. Later, she obtained a Fulbright fellowship to carry out postdoctoral studies at the Rockefeller University where he specialized in transcription and chromatin biochemistry. In 2007 she joined the Center for Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona (CMRB) as a Ramón y Cajal researcher aiming to understand the contribution of epigenetic factors to the pluripotency and differentiation of human embryonic stem cells. In 2013, Dr. Barrero moved to the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) to direct the CNIO-Lilly Epigenetics group, which aimed to validate epigenetic targets against cancer. She joined IMDEA in December 2020 where she focuses on the study of nutritional epigenetics and the effects of nutrition on gene expression. Dr. Barrero has significantly contributed to the epigenetics’ field with more than forty publications, including research articles in high impact scientific journals such as Nature and Cell Stem Cell.

Email:maria.barrero@imdea.org
Phone: +34 91 727 81 00  

Cristina María Fernández

Cristina Mª Fernández Díaz obtained her PhD in Biomedical Research from the University of Valladolid and the Institute of Biology and Molecular Genetics (IBGM) in 2019. She also holds a degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics and two master's degrees in Biomedical Research and Nutrition. Her thesis focused on the targeting of proteolytic enzymes in the course of diabetes mellitus and other metabolic diseases. In 2018 she was awarded with an European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) Short-Term Fellowship to learn new metabolic analysis techniques at the Oxford Center for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Oxford (Oxford, UK) under the supervision of Dr. Patrik Rorsman. She has published several peer-review manuscripts in high impact international journals in the area of metabolism and nutrition. In June 2020 she joined the Molecular Oncology and Nutritional Genomics of Cancer Group (Precision Nutrition and Cancer) at IMDEA Food Institute, where she focuses her research on the study of metabolic alterations in chronic diseases such as obesity and cancer. Additionally, she explores gene-nutrient interactions applied to the prevention of pathologies and health promotion.

Email:cristinamaria.fernandez@imdea.org
Phone: +34 91 727 81 00  

 Carlos Rodríguez Ponte

   Laboratory Technician

Senior Laboratory Technician in Analysis and Control and Technician in Pharmacy and Parapharmacy. Carlos Rodríguez has been working since 2007 in the BioFarma research group at the University of Santiago de Compostela where he had the opportunity to collaborate with major pharmaceutical companies such as Almirall and even form part of the ESTEVE-USC MIXED UNIT. Extensive experience in cell culture using high and low yield techniques (suspension and adherent culture) at small and large scale. Experience in molecular biology techniques. Development of high-throughput pharmacological assays using HTS techniques. Miniaturisation and development of new assays (96 and 384 well). Functional assays. Maintenance and culture of bacteria "He/She was graduated in Técnico Superior de laboratorio en Análisis y Control de Calidad in 2007 at CIFP Politécnico de Santiago de Compostela''.

Email: carlos.ponte@imdea.org
Phone: +34 91 727 81 00  

Macarena Palacios Ramos

Research Assistant

Macarena Palacios Ramos completed her degree in Biotechnology at Francisco de Vitoria University in Madrid in 2017. For her bachelor’s thesis, she did a 6-month internship at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, MA. Here she worked under the supervision of Prof. John Leong studying the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia Burgdorferi. Her work focused on identifying the proteins of Borrelia that play a role in serum survival and complement inhibition. Upon graduation, she had the chance to continue her research working as a Laboratory Technician at Tufts, thus she committed one more year to the Lyme Disease project. In September 2019 Macarena moved to Barcelona in order to study for a Master’s in Translational Biomedical Research at the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research. For her thesis, she joined Sandra Peiro’s lab at the VHIO, whose work focuses on the dynamics of chromatin in cancer. Her master's thesis project aimed to halt the activity of LOXL2 – a protein whose activity is increased in several types of cancer – using a therapeutic peptide in triple-negative breast cancer cells. In April 2021, Macarena joined the Molecular Oncology Group at IMDEA as a Research Assistant in order to discover targeted nutritional formulae for colon cancer therapy.

Email: macarena.palacios@imdea.org