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Barcelona distinguishes Eduard Batlle's metastasis research

ICREA research professor Eduard Batlle

ICREA research professor Eduard Batlle
1 Feb 2019

Awards for outstanding creation, research and production developed in Barcelona

The Barcelona City Council acknowledges the impact of his studies in cancer and metastasis

The Barcelona City Council has announced the names of the winners of the 2018 Premi Ciutat de Barcelona, the highest accolade bestowed by the city on its citizens. Eduard Batlle, ICREA researcher, group leader and coordinator of the Cancer Science Programme at IRB Barcelona, has been given this prize in the  “Life Sciences” category.

Eduard Batlle receives this institutional recognition for his recent article published in the journal Nature, which describes the discovery of the new mechanism that allows cancer cells to evade detection by the immune system and to form metastases. This finding reveals new approaches through which to increase the success of immunotherapy treatments in advanced stages of certain kinds of cancer.

The award ceremony for the 2018 Premis Ciutat de Barcelona will be held on Thursday 14 February at 18:00, in the “Saló de Cent” of the Barcelona City Council, and will be chaired by the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, and the Commissioner for Culture of the Council, Joan Subirats, and led by the actress Àgata Roca.

This is the third time that an IRB Barcelona researcher has been given this prize: the first scientist to receive it was Ernest Giralt (Head of the Peptides and Proteins Laboratory), in 2014, followed  by Salvador Aznar (Head of the Stem Cells and Cancer Laboratory), in  2016.

The “Premis Ciutat de Barcelona” have been given yearly since 1949 by the Barcelona City Council in  recognition of excellence in a variety of fields, including research and production, by creative individuals and groups working in these areas or by organisations in Barcelona that devoted to them or promote them.

 

More information about the Premis Ciutat de Barcelona.

About IRB Barcelona

Created in 2005 by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia) and University of Barcelona, IRB Barcelona is a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence, a seal that was awarded in 2011. The institute is devoted to conducting research of excellence in biomedicine and to transferring results to clinical practice, thus improving people’s quality of life, while simultaneously promoting the training of outstanding researchers, technology transfer, and public communication of science. Its 25 laboratories and seven core facilities address basic questions in biology and are orientated to diseases such as cancer, metastasis, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and rare conditions. IRB Barcelona is an international centre that hosts 400 employees and 32 nationalities. It is located in the Barcelona Science Park. IRB Barcelona forms part of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) and the “Xarxa de Centres de Recerca de Catalunya” (CERCA).

Ciutat de Barcelona
metastasis
colorectal cancer
inmunotherapy

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<p>Eduard Batlle (right) with Daniel Tauriello, at IRB Barcelona (Llibert Teixidó)</p>

How to prevent colorectal cancer from metastasizing?

The “Preguntas Big Van” section of the newspaper La Vanguardia interviewed Eduard Batlle, ICREA researcher and head of the Colorectal Cancer Lab at IRB Barcelona, about his collaboration with the Centro de Análisis Genómico regarding the study of colorectal tumour samples using the new unicellular analysis method. “This technique allows us to see what is happening inside the tumour at a level of detail that was unimaginable 5 years ago,” says Batlle.

<p>Roger Gomis, head of the Growth Control and Metastasis Laboratory, IRB Barcelona.</p>

The most common breast cancer under siege

The newspaper ABC has reported on a new project to be launched by IRB Barcelona researcher Roger Gomis thanks to a grant from the Fundación Fero y Mango. Focusing on luminal breast cancer, one of the most common subtypes, the project aims to decipher the “dialogue” between tumour cells and bone stem cells. This information can then be used to design therapeutic targets and to limit the capacity of these cells to metastasize. “This is a groundbreaking approach to tackle metastasis in this kind of cancer,” says Gomis.

<p>Manuel Serrano, ICREA researcher at IRB Barcelona, during his talk at the Barcelona Biomed Conference.</p>

Immunotherapy paves the way beyond cancer

The newspapers El País and ABC, among other media, have echoed on the last Barcelona Biomed Conference, called “Immunotherapy beyond cancer.