The Personalized Oncology Research Group (IBS-A13) is a multidisciplinary research team of ibs.Granada, led by Dr. Martinez Galan, composed of basic, translational and clinical researchers belonging to the Medical Oncology Service of the University Hospital Virgen de las Nieves and the University of Granada. With a track record of more than 10 years, we specialize in the identification of prognostic and predictive biomarkers of response to treatment in pancreatic cancer patients. In addition to numerous publications in the field, our results have generated several patents that are licensed by a Spanish diagnostic company.

Recently, we have initiated a new line of research that focuses on the mediating role of platelets and the extracellular vesicles (EVs) they generate during the process of carcinogenesis. In recent years, several studies have indicated that platelets play a crucial role in the progression of pancreatic cancer.

Using human cell models generated by in vitro gene editing and in vivo animal models, we explore the molecular mechanisms that regulate the communication between platelets and tumor cells. This communication process is mainly mediated by EVs released by both cell types.

Finally, we have begun proteomic analyses aimed at revealing the protein content of tumor cells, platelets and their EVs in pancreatic cancer patients at various stages of the disease. We strongly believe that this methodology will provide us with the opportunity to better understand the communication signals that are exchanged, thus allowing us to identify new early diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers that can be translated into clinical practice.