1) Values
The Pharmacogenomics and Tumor Biomarkers Group is dedicated to fostering a supportive, collaborative, and fun environment. We believe that meaningful scientific progress arises when diverse minds work together toward shared goals.
Our laboratory is guided by four core values: professional excellence, integrity, respect, and collaboration. We seek individuals who are scientifically talented, passionate about research, and aligned with our mission and values.
As scientists, we are privileged to advance the understanding of disease and, through our work in pharmacogenomics and tumor biomarkers, contribute to developing safer and more effective treatments tailored to patients’ genetic profiles and tumor characteristics. Beyond pioneering research, we are committed to training the next generation of scientists and creating an inclusive environment where every team member can thrive and contribute to our collective goals.
2) Our Team
Cristina Rodriguez-Antona (ORCID: 0000-0001-8750-7338)holds a degree in Chemistry from the University of Kent and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Hudson Prize; Second National Award). She completed her PhD on drug metabolism at Hospital La Fe in Valencia (European PhD, Premio Extraordinario). She then joined Magnus Ingelman-Sundberg’s lab at the Karolinska Institute to specialize in pharmacogenetics, supported by a Marie Curie Fellowship. In 2005, she returned to Spain with a Ramón y Cajal contract and a Marie Curie European Reintegration Grant, joining the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO). From 2012 to 2023, she served as a Research Scientist at CNIO, leading pharmacogenomic projects in oncology. In October 2023, she became Head of the Pharmacogenomics and Tumor Biomarkers Group at the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Sols-Morreale (IIBM) CSIC/UAM.
Dr. Rodriguez-Antona’s scientific goal is to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying inter-individual variability in drug response to develop more precise and effective anticancer therapies. Her major contributions include: i) Personalization of renal cell carcinoma treatment, by elucidating factors influencing variability in response to current therapies; ii) Identification of novel cancer susceptibility, prognostic, and predictive biomarkers using omics technologies; and iii) Discovery of germline variations that increase the risk of adverse drug reactions.
She has authored over 160 scientific articles with more than 9,100 citations. She ranks among the world’s top scientists (Stanford University, Top 2% Scientists 2021–2023) and is 44th–46th in Oncology & Carcinogenesis in Spain. She has an h-index of 51 (ISI Web of Science), with first or last authorship in 40% of her most cited papers.
Beyond research, she is committed to advancing personalized medicine in healthcare. She serves on multiple national and international boards, including the Executive Board of the GenitoUrinary Alliance for Research and Development Consortium (GUARD), President of the Spanish Society for Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics (SEFF), member of the Commission of Personalized Medicine of the Spanish Society of Human Genetics (AEGH), Advisory Board of the European Society of Pharmacogenomics and Personalised Therapy (ESPT), and Vice-Chair Expert Panel of the international Pharmacogenetic Variation Consortium (PharmVar). Dr. Rodriguez-Antona is also dedicated to training young researchers. She has supervised nine PhD theses, with two more ongoing, in addition to mentoring multiple TFM and TFG students.
The current Group members have complementary skills and a good critical mass that allows us to pursue our scientific objectives while working in a welcoming and supportive environment. In addition to gender balance, the Group welcomes members of diverse backgrounds. The current lab members provide expertise in mechanistic studies using in vitro and in vivo models, “omic” technologies, and bioinformatic analyses.
- Miguel A. Zaballos(ORCID:0000-0001-8940-6477). Staff researcher. He joined the Group in 2025 and is an expert in molecular oncology and in vitro/in vivo cancer models. He leads the design and execution of mechanistic studies.
- Alicia Arenas (ORCID:0000-0002-6626-4434). Bioinformatician. She specializes in cancer and provides the expertise for diverse somatic and germline “omic” analyses (WES, RNAseq, methylome).
- Carlos Valdivia (ORCID:0000-0002-8934-6627). Student. He is doing his PhD Thesis focusing on clear cell and chromophobe RCC, he has experience in diverse molecular biology as well as renal cancer murine models.
- Javier de Nicolás (ORCID:0000-0001-5398-7177). Student. His PhD Thesis is focused mainly on papillary RCC research. He is expert in genomic data analyses and molecular biology expertise in RCC cellular models.
- Students in training. We welcome students at different stages of their careers (performing their TFM, TFGs, Erasmus, summer students). Usually, two students join the Group every year to learn and contribute to the diverse projects running in the lab.
In addition, we have had the privilege of contributing to the scientific careers of past Group members. Some have leading roles in the pharma industry, hospital departments, or docent activity at the University, and some obtained Junior leader fellowships (La Caixa Junior Leader, Ramon y Cajal). We are in debt to them and are now colleagues and part of our collaborators.
3) Our Network
- Clinical cancer groups
To achieve our scientific goals in RCC, we have to acknowledge our collaboration with National Clinical Cancer Groups, such as the GenitoUrinary Alliance for Research and Development Consortium (GUARD; https://guardconsortium.org/). We also have the support of multiple oncology departments in hospitals (key collaborators include Jesus García-Donas at HM Madrid; Guillermo de Velasco at Hospital 12 de Octubre, Ignacio Duran at Hospital Marqués de Valdecilla) and of uropathologists (key collaborators include Eduardo Caleiras at CNIO and Ainara Azueta at Hospital OSI Basurto-Bilbao). Through the PROCURE study, which focuses on trastuzumab deruxtecan toxicity, we collaborate with the Spanish clinical research group on breast cancer SOLTI (https://www.gruposolti.org/) and the oncologist Rodrigo Sánchez-Bayona from the Hospital 12 de Octubre. As collaborators, we participate in the International Consortia of Ovarian Cancer OCAC-OTTA (https://ottaconsortium.org/).
- Basic collaborators
We have the privilege of having excellent collaborations that complement our expertise and that provide additional tools to our lab. Among them, we count James Brugarolas who has the largest patient-derived xenograft platform in RCC (UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA) and Nicole Bechmann, an expert in the application of metabolomic analyses (Technische Universität Dresden, Germany). In Spain, we include, among many others, Mercedes Robledo’s Group expert in Krebs cycle defects in pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma (Spanish National Cancer Center, CNIO), Pedro López Casas expert in genitourinary PDX models (Instituto de Investigación Imas12 of the University Hospital 12 de Octubre) and José Luis Ayala who is a specialist in computational sciences (Architecture and Technology of Computing Systems Group of UCM). At IIBM, we have common interests with Luis del Peso through hypoxia response and HIF and Miguel Fernandez-Moreno who is an expert in mitochondrial alterations in cancer.