RESEARCH INTERESTS

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      The molecular signaling cascades that take place inside the cells are essential to respond to changes in their environment or to alter their homeostasis, for example, at the level of cell proliferation, movement, growth or metabolism. Understanding how these mechanisms of signal transduction work can explain how biological processes are controlled in a normal physiological context, but also, the alterations that take place in many pathologies. Thus, changes in signaling can be used to detect the presence of many diseases and signaling molecules are targeted by many drugs. In addition, these signaling pathways are affected in response to therapies used to treat for example, cancer, and will participate in the generation of drug resistance.

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     Our group investigates the role of different signaling pathways in physiological processes, as members of the families of TGFbeta and EGFR control angiogenesis, or the role of different ubiquitin ligases regulating the function of signal proteins.

A second block corresponds to projects on ovarian epithelial cancer. We studied the role of different receptor tyrosine kinases (such as PDGF or c-Kit receptors) and cytokine receptors (such as CXCR4) in the development and metastasis of this type of cancer, as well as the importance of metabolic adaptations in this tumor type.

Finally, a third aspect of our research is how different signaling pathways participate in the generation of resistance to chemotherapy in testicular and epithelial ovarian cancer.