Dr. Alonso-Curbelo studied Pharmacy at the Complutense University of Madrid and completed her PhD at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) in Dr. Marisol Soengas' laboratory, where she investigated lineage-specific mechanisms of melanoma progression, identifying a key role for endolysosomal trafficking (Cancer Cell, 2014). She subsequently pursued postdoctoral research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC, New York, USA) in Dr. Scott W. Lowe's laboratory. There, she uncovered epigenetic mechanisms regulating cellular senescence and immune surveillance (Cancer Discovery, 2016) and demonstrated how oncogenic mutations cooperate with tissue damage to establish early epigenetic programs that initiate pancreatic cancer (Nature, 2021).
In 2022, she established the Inflammation, Tissue Plasticity & Cancer laboratory at IRB Barcelona, where her team investigates how non-genetic mechanisms govern cancer initiation, evolution, and immune escape, aiming to uncover tumor-specific vulnerabilities that can inform new strategies for early cancer interception and selective immune modulation. Combining mouse genetics, functional genomics, and single-cell technologies, her lab explores how physiological processes such as tissue regeneration are co-opted to alter cellular identities, reshape premalignant and malignant ecosystems, and promote cancer development, with a particular focus on pancreatic and liver cancers. Her scientific contributions have helped define how epigenetic plasticity and cell–cell interactions reciprocally shape pancreatic tumorigenesis (Science, 2023; CMGH, 2026), and how senescence- associated rewiring of these processes can enhance antitumor immune control (Cancer Discovery, 2023).
Her scientific trajectory has been recognized with several distinctions, including the Blavatnik Regional Award for Young Scientists (2021), a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship (2023, ranked first in Biomedicine), the AACR Cancer Discovery Early Career Award (2024), an ERC Consolidator Grant (2024), and an ICREA Research Professorship (2026). Beyond her research, she is committed to mentoring and training the next generation of scientists, as well as engaging in outreach initiatives that promote diversity and strengthen the connection between scientific discovery and society.