The Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) in Madrid has announced the “AECC 2025 Grants”, a funding program that supports some of the most promising cancer research projects in the Madrid region and contributes to the goal of achieving a 70% cancer survival rate by 2030. Among this year's recipients are two predoctoral researchers from the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Sols-Morreale (IIBM), CSIC-UAM, as well as two students from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), who will carry out their summer internships at the institute thanks to these grants.
Two of the awards correspond to the AECC Madrid 2025 Predoctoral Grants, awarded to Carlos Amenábar and Thomas Glynn to support their PhD research in the groups led by Wolfgang Link and Júlia Baguña, respectively. In addition, two UAM students have received AECC Summer Internship Grants and will join Cristina Rodríguez-Antona's research group in July.
Carlos Amenábar is carrying out his PhD project, "New Cell Signaling Pathways in Melanoma Research." His work focuses on the study of two proteins, TRIB2 and TRIB3, which play a key role in melanoma progression and treatment resistance. Using advanced molecular biology and gene-editing techniques, the project aims to better understand the mechanisms driving the aggressiveness of this tumor and to identify new therapeutic targets. The findings could contribute to the development of more effective combination therapies and improve survival outcomes for patients with melanoma.
Thomas Glynn is conducting his PhD research through the project "RadioSomes: Harnessing Cancer Cell Communication for High-Precision Radiotherapy in Pancreatic Cancer." This research proposes an innovative strategy based on extracellular vesicles capable of delivering radioisotopes directly to tumors. The goal is to improve the precision of radiotherapy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, one of the deadliest cancers, with a five-year survival rate below 5%. This approach could open new avenues for treating a disease for which effective therapeutic options remain extremely limited.
The AECC has also awarded two Summer Internship Grants to Gala Álvarez and Héctor Rojas, fourth- and third-year Biochemistry students at UAM, respectively. They will join Cristina Rodríguez-Antona's laboratory this summer to participate in research projects focused on renal cell carcinoma.
During their internships, Héctor Rojas will investigate mechanisms underlying drug sensitivity targeting metabolic vulnerabilities in renal tumors, while Gala Álvarez will study the functional consequences of chromosome 14q loss in renal cell carcinoma. Both students will combine experimental work using cellular models with genomic data analysis, gaining training in both laboratory techniques and bioinformatics tools.
The IIBM celebrates this recognition of young scientific talent and welcomes a new generation of researchers who will contribute to advancing our understanding of cancer and to the development of new strategies to combat the disease.