25/06/2026 - General information
Dr. Toni Celià-Terrassa, Principal Investigator and Head of the Cancer Cell States and Metastatic Immunity Research Group at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute (HMRIB), has been awarded one of the European Union's prestigious ERC Advanced Grants. The grant provides €2.5 million to develop a project focused on generating new therapeutic strategies for breast cancer. The project, named PLASTWIRE (Re-wiring Tumor Immune-Evasive Plasticity with mRNA Therapy), will explore over the next five years the possibility of modifying the immune-evasive cellular states of tumour cells. Tumour heterogeneity is one of the main drivers of treatment resistance and therapeutic failure.
18/06/2026 - Press release
A study in mice by the Hospital del Mar Research Institute and the IIBB-CSIC, published in Science Advances, identifies inhibition of the PARP2 protein as a therapeutic target for treating pancreatic cancer, the third leading cause of cancer death worldwide. The study analyses the role of this protein in tumour development and protection, and describes how its elimination leads to tumour cell death and activation of the immune system. Specifically blocking this protein may be a useful strategy for treating a large number of patients with pancreatic cancer and could even be applicable to other types of tumours.
15/06/26 - Institutional news
The European Network of Comprehensive Cancer Centres (EUnetCCC) has designated fourteen Comprehensive Cancer Centres (CCCs) across Spain, representing a significant step towards more coordinated, equitable, and accessible cancer care throughout Europe. In Catalonia, the EU-Designated CCCs are Hospital del Mar and the North Catalonia Comprehensive Oncology Consortium. The other designated centres are CCC Euskadi-Basque Country, Hospital Universitario Regional de Málaga, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío in Seville, Hospital Reina Sofía in Córdoba, CICCAR of Cantabria and La Rioja, Complejo Asistencial Universitario de Salamanca, the Murcia Health Service, Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe in Valencia, the Aragón Comprehensive Oncology Network, ASTUR-CCC in Asturias, the Comprehensive Cancer Centre of Galicia, and Hospital Universitario de Navarra.
11/06/2026 - General information
A new project investigating the mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) receives funding from the Deutsche José Carreras Leukämie Stiftung. The study is co-led by Dr Anna Bigas, Group Leader at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute and the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, and Professor Christoph Plass of the German Cancer Research Center. T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL) is an aggressive haematological malignancy that affects both children and adults. Although current treatment regimens achieve remission in a high proportion of patients, resistance to chemotherapy remains the leading cause of relapse and is associated with poor clinical outcomes. Understanding the biological mechanisms that enable certain leukaemic cells to survive treatment is therefore a major unmet medical need and essential for the development of new therapeutic strategies.
22/04/2026 - Press release
The project, led by INCLIVA, the Hospital del Mar Research Institute and the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology, has developed models based on artificial intelligence and the use of liquid biopsy to molecularly characterize patients with a more aggressive phenotype. It has also been discovered that the tumor microenvironment influences resistance to chemotherapy, opening new avenues for treatments targeting both tumor cells and their surrounding environment. Among its most outstanding results, the project has enabled the development of a relapse prediction system for patients in different scenarios using artificial intelligence and deep learning, which uses models called artificial neural networks inspired by the functioning of the human brain, together with the analysis of visual images of biological tissues observed under the microscope. This helps identify high-risk patients
17/04/2026 - Press release
After more than a decade of research, a new-generation CAR-T therapy developed by VHIO, in collaboration with the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, has been administered to patients for the first time in a phase 1 clinical trial. This breakthrough has been made possible thanks to continued funding from the Spanish Association Against Cancer (Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer), with the support of Ausonia, and from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation to the laboratory of Dr Joaquín Arribas at VHIO. This CAR-T combines recognition of the p95HER2 protein, which is specific to one third of HER2+ tumours, with the secretion of a bispecific antibody to activate the immune system and enhance the anti-tumour response in HER2+ solid tumours. The academic phase 1 clinical trial CATHERINE will test this therapy for the first time in patients with solid tumours overexpressing HER2 who have exhausted all therapeutic options and are candidates to receive a cell therapy. The aim is to assess safety and preliminary efficacy. The study, to be carried out at VHIO and Hospital del Mar, is funded by the Spanish Association Against Cancer, with the support of Ausonia and the Carlos III Health Institute.
10/03/2026 - Press release
The absence of a protein, the kinase IKKα, enables tumor cells to cluster and survive during dissemination. The findings, published in Nature Communications, open the door to new prognostic markers and potential therapeutic strategies. Targeting tumor cell adhesion impairs their ability to migrate and form metastases. The study was conducted using a preclinical mouse model
Més informació "Researchers identify a key mechanism that promotes colorectal cancer metastasis"
03/03/2026 - Press release
They are part of the sixty research grants awarded by the organization, with total funding of more than thirteen million euros. The Spanish Association Against Cancer has awarded three of its research grants to projects led by researchers from the Hospital del Mar Research Institute (HMRIB). In total, sixty grants have been awarded: 54 to research projects and six accreditations to research centers. Altogether, this represents an investment in research of more than thirteen million euros.
17/02/2026 - General information
The Spanish Association for Metastatic Breast Cancer (AECMM) has decided to grant one of the awards in the seventh edition of the M. Chiara Giorgetti Award for research into metastatic breast cancer to a project led by Dr. Toni Celià-Terrassa, a researcher in the Cancer Stem Cells and Metastasis Dynamics Research Group at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute. The project has received the second prize, endowed with €80,000. The award ceremony will take place next June. The project will build on the findings of a recent study by the same research group, published in the journal Cancer Cell. It will analyze the role of the protein TIM-3 in the development of resistance to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and how residual disease may serve as a predictor of metastasis. The expected results are intended to pave the way for the launch of a clinical trial led by the Medical Oncology Department at Hospital del Mar.
16/01/2026 - Press release
Researchers from the Hospital del Mar Research Institute and the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology have demonstrated, in animal models, the role played by these cells in the development of cancer cells. The study, published in Science Advances, shows that eliminating these cells at an early stage of tumor growth promotes tumor proliferation and the formation of metastases. By contrast, combining their elimination with an inhibitor of the CCL2 molecule reduces tumor size and eliminates metastases.
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