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Gloria Pascual receives a prize for her research into the relation between fats and metastasis

Gloria Pascual, Research Associate at IRB Barcelona. Picture: Fundación Pfizer
Gloria Pascual, Research Associate at IRB Barcelona. Picture: Fundación Pfizer
19 Feb 2019

The Pfizer Foundation has awarded the IRB Barcelona scientist a prize within the “Basic Research” category.

Gloria Pascual, a member of the Stem Cells and Cancer lab, will receive €10,000 to continue her research

Gloria Pacual, associate researcher at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), has been awarded a Scientific Innovation Prize from the Pfizer Foundation, within the “Basic Research” category. Her work ‘Targeting metastasis-initiating cells through the fatty acid receptor CD36’ paves the way to tackle various kinds of metastatic cancer.

Published in the journal Nature and headed by IRB Barcelona’s Stem Cells and Cancer lab, the study has identified a subpopulation of cells that are responsible for the development of metastasis. The main conclusion drawn from the work is that only cancer cells that express the protein CD36 on their surface have the capacity to colonize and grow in other organs.

“This protein is a fatty acid receptor, and we have discovered that, during metastasis, cells that have this molecule use lipids from their microenvironment, thus conferring them the capacity to migrate to and grow in distant organs,” explains the scientist.

Thanks to this discovery, the researchers have been able to use monoclonal antibodies that target CD36, obtaining good results in animals. “Using this anti-CD36 treatment, we have been able to inhibit the onset of metastasis in mice with a primary tumour but that have not yet developed metastasis,” concludes Gloria Pascual.

Acknowledgement of scientific progress

This year’s awards, each worth €10,000, mark the 20th year in which the Pfizer Foundation has acknowledged scientific progress in the fields of life sciences in the categories “Basic Research” and “Clinical Research”. The other prize was given to Belén Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez, from the Hospital Virgen Macarena in Seville, for her work on multi-resistant bacteria.

Both scientists received their prizes yesterday in a presentation ceremony held in Madrid.

 

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 27 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 more than 30 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).

Women in Science
Women researchers
basic research
metastasis
CD36
fatty acids

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