he Metabolic Syndrome is associated with an increased risk of developing an important number of prevalent diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and cancer.

The main research interest of the group is to provide deeper knowledge of the novel resistance, tumor invasion and metastasis mechanisms in solid tumors as well as in the identification of new targeted therapies against biomarkers previously characterized by our group. The team headed by Dr. Gema Moreno-Bueno has a clear translational orientation and led to the characterization of new prognostic/ predictive markers in breast and gynecological tumors as well as in gastric carcinomas and carcinosarcomas.

Our group studies human colon cancer. We use primary cultures of fibroblasts and stem cell-derived organoids established from healthy and tumor tissue of colon cancer patients to investigate the role of the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway, the contribution of the tumor microenvironment, and the antitumor action of vitamin D in this neoplasia.

Study of mechanisms and genes involved in anti-tumour protection in mammals, with a special focus on cellular senescence.

The research activity of our group is focused on the identification of new genes responsible for rare developmental disorders and the study of the underlying molecular physiopathology. We aim to improve diagnosis of rare diseases and provide information that can be useful for the innovation of new therapies.

Gastric cancer (GC) is still the fourth main cause of cancer related death all over the world. Its high prevalence and the lack of efficient personalized treatments make it a mayor cause of public health concern. In GC, adenocarcinomas gastrectomy is the only curative treatment currently available, and it is frequently combined with adjuvant radio/chemotherapy. Thus, despite of recent improvements in care, there is still an imperative need to improve GC available treatments.

Most of our projects are centred in the study of rare diseases related to the maintenance of the telomeres, named telomeropathies or telomere biology disorders (TBDs). Among them are dyskeratosis congenita and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Our group contributes to the molecular diagnosis of these patients by determining telomere length as diagnosis biomarker. In addition, the genetic bases of the disease are determined by exome sequencing. From an experimental view, a functional study of the mutations found in the patients is made.

Our work is focussed on the study of the molecular mechanisms that regulate the development, cell differentiation and function of pancreatic islets. We are interested in the mechanisms of transcriptional regulation of gene expression and their implications for the etiopathogenesis of diabetes mellitus and for the regulation of metabolic homeostasis in the organism. In addition, we are interested in the study of the developmental alterations of the central nervous system related with gestational diabetes.

Study of the molecular basis of hearing, pathology of hypoacusis and myelinopathies Hearing loss is one of the most prevalent medical problems. It is estimated that up to 8% of the population of the developed world suffers from it and its index is expected to increase due to aging, noise and other environmental factors. In Spain 200 deep deaf people are born every year and more than one and a half million people suffer chronic hearing problems of greater or lesser degree.