Introducing VHIO
Who we are and what we do

Introducing VHIO

Who we are and what we do

María Abad

Susana Aguilar

Joaquín Arribas

Judith Balmaña

Marta Beltran

Francesc Bosch

Francesc Canals

Joan Carles

Cristina Casal

Isabel Cidoncha

Rodrigo Dienstmann

Imma Falero

Enriqueta Felip

Elena Garralda

Jordi Giralt

Alena Gros

Teresa Macarulla

Joaquin Mateo

Mate Maus

Susana Muñoz

Lara Nonell

Paolo G. Nuciforo

Ana Oaknin

Héctor G. Palmer

Ángeles Peñuelas

Raquel Perez-Lopez

Alejandro Piris

Gemma Sala

Cristina Saura

Joan Seoane

Jose A. Seoane

Violeta Serra

César Serrano

Laura Soucek

Josep Tabernero

Josep Villanueva

Ana Vivancos

VHIO's Organigram 2022

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In order to translate cancer discovery into real benefits for an increasing number of our patients, we adopt a purely translational, multidisciplinary research model. Organized into three main programs – Preclinical & Translational, Clinical, and Core Technologies, our research focuses on achieving a deeper understanding of the fundamental biology of human cancer, from cellular and molecular biology and genetics through to therapeutics.

Our optimal organizational structure enables VHIO’s research talents to anticipate and tackle the many unresolved questions that currently hamper efforts aimed at solving cancer sooner.

VHIO in 2022: Advancing cancer care through transformative team science

Josep Tabernero, VHIO’s Director and Head of the Medical Oncology Department, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital – HUVH (Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus).

Under the leadership of Josep Tabernero, the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) has established itself as a comprehensive cancer center of proven excellence internationally and continues to grow from strength to strength. It is thanks to VHIO’s optimal organizational structure and multidisciplinary, translational research model that we continue to anticipate and tackle the many challenges posed by this multifaceted, heterogeneous and hugely complex disease.

This transformative approach was pioneered by José Baselga, our Institute’s founder and first director, who very sadly passed away from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a rapidly progressing, neurodegenerative disease, at the age of 61 on 21 March, 2021.

From the outset, José had one guiding principle for VHIO. Namely, to seamlessly bridge preclinical and clinical research in order to foster a continuous virtuous cycle of knowledge from bench to bedside and back. This translational approach continues to be at the very core of VHIO’s philosophy and is passionately pursued by our multidisciplinary teams and research talents.

In honor of José Baselga’s incredible legacy, we collectively strive to apply the same dedication and fight in beating cancer, each and every day.

Without the generous support we receive from our Institutional Supporters, public funding, private institutions, companies, and individuals, as well as through International and National Competitive Grants, our Institute would simply cease to exist.

We are also truly grateful for the tremendous backing that we continue to receive from our dedicated patrons: the Generalitat de Catalunya, Fundació Privada CELLEX, Fundación FERO, ”la Caixa” Foundation, and the Fundación BBVA.

Just some of their many contributions include the following:

Our public Patron, the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia) – together with the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (HUVH) – represented by its Departament de Salut (Department of Health), and Departament de Empresa i Coneixement (Department of Industry and Knowledge), has from the very outset been a dedicated supporter of VHIO’s cancer science and medicine.

As a devoted ambassador of VHIO and our various research programs and projects, it has been institutionally and financially supporting us from the very start, with the Catalan Minister of Health as the President of our Board of Trustees.

VHIO’s translational and multidisciplinary approach to cancer research is greatly facilitated through the connectivity and tremendous collaboration we have with the entire spectrum of oncology professionals at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (HUVH), the Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, and the rest of the Catalan Public Health System.

The Departament de Salut has played an essential role in integrating VHIO’s research activity into the Catalan Health System, through the Institut Català de la Salut – ICS (Catalan Institute of Health), representing a successful example of how the public and private sectors can work closely together for the benefit of science, patients and society.

As an active member of the Institució CERCA–Centres de Recerca de Catalunya (CERCA Institute of Research Centers of Catalonia), this collaboration affords us access to the Catalan Research System and the fiscal and legal benefits that this represents. The financial support it has provided has consequently contributed majorly to VHIO’s structural overheads, allowing us to center our efforts on our core research activities. Additionally, our groups also receive funding from various calls promoted and supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya.

In 2022, the recipients of the ICS Research Awards included Enriqueta Felip, co-Director of VHIO’s Clinical Research Program and Principal Investigator of our Thoracic Tumors & Head and Neck Cancer Group, and Raquel Perez-Lopez, Principal Investigator of our Radiomics Group.

Enriqueta Felip received the ICS Research Career Prize. This recognition honors investigators at hospitals belonging to ICS who have made exceptional contributions to biomedicine. Raquel Perez-Lopez received this year’s ICS Young Investigator Prize for her research focused on the application of imaging biomarkers in radiomics for the detection of cancer and the development of precision imaging techniques toward improving patient outcomes.

It is thanks to one of our private patrons, the Fundació Privada CELLEX (CELLEX Private Foundation), that we have been able to build new facilities that have subsequently spurred our efforts aimed at advancing precision oncology and providing optimal patient treatment and care.

As a first example, it is thanks to this Foundation that the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital’s Oncology Department’s Oncology Day Hospital and Outpatients Facility opened its adjoining doors in 2008, with a subsequent and final phase of reforms in 2012. This carefully planned expansion and integration of various units and services, resulted in uniting all specialties and disciplines involved in the treatment and care of our patients in the same place and in so doing, helps to spur purely translational and multidisciplinary research for which VHIO is famed.

The CELLEX CENTER: the home and hub of translational & transformative research at VHIO.

The Fundació Privada CELLEX also financed the construction and infrastructures of our state-of-the-art building – the CELLEX CENTER – that was completed back in 2015. Marking a new chapter at VHIO, our then new premises provided the necessary space and amenities for us to expand our research activities and further foster our multidisciplinary connectivity and exchange by bringing all VHIO research teams together under the same roof.

Providing our teams with the valuable space through which to grow, the CELLEX CENTER has not only enhanced collaborations and accelerated our dedicated efforts to combat cancer, it has also allowed us to strengthen our teams, pursue and develop new emerging research areas, and strengthen our research structure.

As importantly, thanks to this Foundation, our cutting-edge Animal Facility that we share with other colleagues across the Vall d'Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, enables our investigators to further develop and finely-tune our predictive cancer models. Incorporating the latest platforms and technologies, this facility has helped to establish VHIO as a reference in preclinical cancer modelling.

Fundació Privada CELLEX’s continued support of our building and infrastructures enables our teams to work together in close connectivity to drive scientific advances in cancer discovery and precision oncology.

Support received from the Fundación FERO (FERO Foundation), has from the very outset promoted science of excellence at VHIO and supported the careers of up-and-coming talents in oncology through its annual research grants and fellowships.

As examples, Josep Villanueva, PI of our Tumor Biomarkers Group, Laura Soucek, PI of VHIO’s Mouse Models of Cancer Therapies Group and ICREA Research Professor, Violeta Serra, PI of VHIO’s Experimental Therapeutics Group, Joaquín Arribas, PI of our Growth Factors Group, also an ICREA Research Professor, Sandra Peiró, formerly a PI of VHIO's previous Chromatin Dynamics Group, and César Serrano, PI of our Sarcoma and Translational Research Group, have all been able to grow their labs, groups and advance their pioneering research lines thanks to FERO.

FERO has also contributed to the expansion of our facilities. As an example, this Foundation was a sponsor of our Breast Cancer Center Endavant i de Cara, along with a personal donation received from Maria Àngels Sanahuja.

One of our three Institutional Programs, FERO’s Institutional Advanced Molecular Diagnostics Program (DIAMAV), catalyzes precision medicine at VHIO by supporting our Molecular Prescreening Program. Serving as a core VHIO platform, our expert team focuses on the clinical implementation of advanced molecular diagnostics to optimize the selection of therapies for patients being considered for enrolment in clinical trials, as well as continued medical education on emerging cancer biomarkers for precision cancer therapy.

Our investigators perform molecular profiling in over 1,100 patients each year as potential candidates for inclusion in our phase I clinical trials at our Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM) – CaixaResearch, directed by Elena Garralda. Patients’ suitability for enrolment in a particular clinical study is assessed based on their respective, individual genomic profile and pathologic features.

Regarding FERO’s Annual Awards for Translational Research in Oncology, a total of sixteen of our investigators have been prized to date: Laura Soucek (2011), Héctor G. Palmer (2012), Ibrahim Yasir – formerly an investigator of VHIO’s Experimental Therapeutics Group directed by Violeta Serra (2013), César Serrano (2015), Beatriz Morancho (2016), María Abad (2017), Alena Gros (2018), Joaquin Mateo, Violeta Serra and Judith Balmaña through the first FERO-ghd funded project (2019), Raquel Perez-Lopez, Cristina Saura and Miriam Sansó – the second annual FERO-ghd award (2020), Nicolás Herranz (2021), and José A. Seoane and Tian Tian (2022).

This year, Tian Tian, Senior Researcher Preclinical Team Leader of our recently established Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Translational Research Group directed by Teresa Macarulla, received the XXII FERO Award for Translational Research in Oncology, supported by the Fundación Ramón Areces. His two-year project will explore epigenetic features hidden in the plasma of cholangiocarcinoma patients by liquid biopsy.

The IV FERO-ghd Award for Breast Cancer Research, sponsored by the ghd hair styling product company, was presented to José A. Seoane, Principal Investigator of our Cancer Computational Biology Group, for his two-year project focused on the epigenetic differences associated with hormone treatment resistant breast cancer heterogeneity.

Thanks to the support received from the ”la Caixa” Foundation, VHIO’s Research Unit for Molecular Therapies of Cancer (UITM) – CaixaResearch, opened its doors in 2010 to pioneer early drug discovery and clinical studies tailored to the specificities of patients. Research at this Unit has contributed to the development of several targeted therapies including trastuzumab, pertuzumab, cetuximab, panitumumab, ramucirumab, trifluridine/tipiracil, gefitinib, osimertinib, ceritinib, crizotinib, loratinib and everolimus, among others. Current focus also centers on the early drug development of immune-based treatment strategies including new cytokines, bispecific antibodies, intratumoral agents, immunomodulatory checkpoint inhibitors, and combinatorial treatment approaches.

The UITM – CaixaResearch, under the direction of Elena Garralda, co-Director of VHIO’s Clinical Research Program and Principal Investigator of our Early Clinical Drug Development Group, has subsequently established itself as a leading reference in developing novel therapies based on the molecular profile of each tumor and optimizing treatment strategies using combinations of new agents with already existing ones. It also pioneers the design and development of novel, adaptive clinical studies including multi-modular basket studies and umbrella trials. Elena’s team is dedicated to studying the efficacy of treatment approaches and anti-cancer medicines by allowing for the ‘real time’ and necessary adaptation in tune with the rapid pace of cancer discovery - especially in the academic setting. Our portfolio of early phase clinical studies continues to expand, with 86 new studies opened in 2022. To sustain this continued growth and continue to provide optimal quality care to our patients, in 2022 we increased our treatment room facilities as well as space for the processing of patient samples.

By advancing clinical trial study design, VHIO continues to make important progress in tackling the current challenges in oncology including the globalization of clinical research and the implementation of emerging health technologies in the clinical setting. One major development in this direction, was the launch of the EU-funded, multi-site project, Cancer Core Europe Building Data Rich Clinical Trials - CCE-DART, which is coordinated by Elena Garralda.

In addition to various grants supporting several VHIO groups and projects, ”la Caixa” Foundation also supports one of VHIO’s four major Institutional Programs. Our CaixaResearch Advanced Oncology Research Program 2020-2023, enables our teams to accelerate the development of novel, more effective anti-cancer medicines, fortify existing research lines as well as initiate new projects to lead frontier research in some of the most relevant and rapidly emerging fields in precision oncology.

Aimed at delivering on the true promise of personalized medicine for an increasing number of patients and within the scope of this program, our teams have performed several clinical trials with patients selected based on molecular alterations: mutations in AKT1, EGFR, IDH1, ALK, ROS1, BRAF, NRAS, KRAS, FGFR1 and 2, MET, HER2, HER3, RET; ATM; BRCA, amplifications in HER2, AKT 1, 2, and 3, FGFR1, MET, NOTCH1-4, rearrangements of NTRK1-3 ROS1, ALK, BRAF, RSPO2/3, RET, NRG and FGFR1-3.

2022 marked the launch of a new platform: The UNIQUE - UNderstanding cancer through sIngle cell sequencing. Also supported by the ”la Caixa” Foundation, this initiative represents a valuable tool that will help us to generate insights into complex biological processes (including intra- and inter-tumor heterogeneity), through state-of-the-art single cell sequencing technologies. The implementation of this platform will also lead to new research collaborations as well as further strengthen innovation and technology transfer at VHIO.

It is also thanks to the ”la Caixa” Foundation that VHIO’s Clinical Research Oncology Pharmacy Unit’s new home was completed in 2019. Providing the much-needed additional space and equipped with the very latest technologies, the Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM) – CaixaResearch Clinical Research Onco-Hematology Unit enables Isabel Cidoncha’s team to provide even higher quality pharmaceutical care and services, as well as continue to meet all the regulatory requirements.

Two new VHIO projects received funding from the ”la Caixa” Foundation in 2022. Francesco Grussu, a Postdoctoral Fellow of our Radiomics Group, received a Junior Group Leader Grant for his project, New-generation oncological MRI (New-OncoMRI): development, validation and application, under the mentorship of Raquel-Perez Lopez.

Under the scope of the ”la Caixa” Predoctoral InPhinit Retaining program, Cayetano Galera, a Graduate Student of VHIO’s Gene Expression and Cancer group, received funding to study the molecular mechanisms underlying the tumor microenvironment in bone metastasis to identify novel therapeutic targets, to be mentored by Joan Seoane.

Finally, through our VHIO – CaixaResearch Scientific Seminars Series we continue to welcome internationally renowned researchers and clinical investigators to VHIO to share, discuss and debate latest insights, discovery and next directions in oncology with our students, postdocs and senior faculty from our preclinical, translational and clinical research groups. In 2022, a total of 26 seminars took place, some of which took place remotely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Driving programs to spur VHIO’s avant-garde translational research in precision oncology, the Fundación BBVA financed our Tumor Biomarkers Research Program back in 2011. This five-year framework agreement supported collaborative science to develop personalized therapies for cancer patients through biomarker research.

Building on the successes of this very first program, our second BBVA-VHIO Institutional Program: Fundación BBVA Comprehensive Program of Cancer Immunotherapy & Immunology – CAIMI, focuses on developing therapies that inhibit checkpoint regulation of the immune system, advancing insights into mechanisms of resistance and response to immune-based strategies, and prioritizes the early clinical development of the most promising novel therapies. It also supports various research lines across other VHIO groups.

CAIMI counts on the expertise of VHIO’s Elena Garralda, co-Director of Clinical Research at VHIO, Principal Investigator of our Early Clinical Drug Development Group, and Director of our Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM) – CaixaResearch, who heads up the program’s clinical research. Alena Gros, Principal Investigator of our Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Group, leads CAIMI’s translational research. This work is also carried out in collaboration with VHIO’s Molecular Prescreening Program, supported by the Fundación FERO’s Advanced Molecular Diagnostics Program – DIAMAV.

Main objectives of CAIMI include achieving a deeper understanding of naturally occurring T-cell response to cancer and establishing novel ways to exploit these anti-cancer responses to develop more effective, powerful, and personalized immune-based strategies against several tumor types. In 2022 this program continued to expand with various translational projects linked to the early clinical development phases of immunotherapy underway.

Just some research areas include the characterization of hyperprogressive disease with immunotherapy to advance insights into this phenomenon, led by Elena Garralda, and the validation of a radiomic signature to predict response to immunotherapy and the correlation of the results with the genomic evolution observed in patients. This work is carried out in collaboration with Raquel Perez-Lopez, Principal Investigator of our Radiomics Group.

Importantly, also thanks to the funding received through CAIMI, Elena Garralda’s team and Alena Gros’ group worked together to finalize the clinical grade validations of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) expansion for the treatment of different tumor types at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (HUVH). This work was carried out in collaboration with the Banc de Sang i Teixits - BST (Blood and Tissue Bank), a public agency of the Catalan Department of Health.

The NEXTGEN-TIL phase I trial at our Institute is now recruiting patients to assess the safety and tolerability of neoantigen-selected TIL therapy in advanced epithelial tumors and solid tumors, in patients with metastatic or unresectable epithelial tumors and immune checkpoint blockade resistant solid tumors.

A little more on how we did it in 2022

VHIO’s multidisciplinary and translational model: the seamless, unrestricted flow of discovery in oncology.

Located within the Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, our researchers and clinical investigators work together as multidisciplinary teams. Also carried out in collaboration with physician-scientists and other professionals as well as disciplines in oncology at our Vall d’Hebron University Hospital – HUVH, our preclinical, translational, and clinical research investigators advance cancer care through transformative team science.

This privileged environment affords VHIO direct access to patients as well as the entire spectrum of oncology professionals who care for them, and a second-to-none appreciation of how cancer science can translate into more powerful, targeted treatments to improve patient outcomes. We also firmly believe in combining strengths through cross-border collaborations and national and international consortia of excellence. These partnerships continue to further spur advances against cancer drug resistance, disease progression and recurrence.

Preclinical Research
From the preclinical side, results from the laboratory are rapidly applied to patients.

Translational Research
Translational research is the fastest route to offering effective alternative treatments to patients. This type of research is only possible thanks to the coexistence of researchers from two distinct areas: clinical research, closely involved with the patients and their treatments; and basic research, carried out in laboratories.

Clinical Research
From the clinical side, samples from patients are analyzed and studied in the laboratory.

Main focus areas of research at VHIO:

Precision oncology.
Development of sophisticated preclinical humanized models.
Mechanisms/signatures of sensitivity, primary and secondary resistance to oncology treatments.
Big data (molecular, clinical, RWD). of sensitivity, and primary and acquired resistance.
Early drug development/clinical trials with innovative agents.
Immune therapeutics (including cell therapies), radiomics, microbiome, machine learning-AI, single-cell sequencing studies, cell dormancy, senescence, computational biology, etc.

Advancing cancer care through transformative team science

The Fundació Privada CELLEX, one of VHIO’s Patrons and Institutional Supporters, financed the construction of our state-of-the-art building – the CELLEX CENTER – that was completed back in 2015. Also supporting our infrastructures, the CELLEX Foundation enables us to advance translational cancer science through our purely multidisciplinary research model and interconnected facilities and platforms.

In 2022, 412 scientific articles were published by VHIO researchers as corresponding, senior or co-authors. To read about some of these contributions that made headlines this year, please see to our Director’s Foreword.

To view each Principal Investigator’s Paper Pick 2022 (highlighting a maximum of four selected contributions in 2022), please refer to their corresponding group pages.

The development and application of cutting-edge platforms and empowering technologies in precision oncology

VHIO’s Core Technologies Program, led by Paolo Nuciforo, Principal Investigator of our Molecular Oncology Group, accelerates progress against cancer by developing and validating novel tumor biomarkers, implementing transformative technologies and advancing the treatment and care of cancer patients through dynamic approaches and novel diagnostic tools.

Our Institute was the first academic test center to incorporate in-house BEAMing liquid biopsy RAS biomarker technology in 2015. As highlighted throughout this scientific report, our multidisciplinary teams - in collaboration with our Cancer Genomics Group directed by Ana Vivancos and Paolo Nuciforo’s Molecular Oncology Group - continue to make important progress in developing liquid biopsy technologies for the less invasive capturing and tracking of tumor evolution and clinical outcomes during cancer therapy.

In 2022, Ana’s lab completed the technology transfer of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Guardant360® CDx liquid biopsy test for comprehensive genomic profiling. With this test, VHIO360, our Institute is the first cancer research center in Europe to have a laboratory equipped with this cutting-edge platform. Aimed at overcoming some limitations and challenges of traditional tissue biopsies, this technology provides complete genomic results in solid tumors from a simple blood draw in seven days.

We continue to validate our VIGex immune gene expression signature. Based on our Nanostring and RNA-seq technologies for the detection of an immune signature to help guide patient selection across our phase I clinical trials, this tool has been developed in-house thanks to great teamwork between investigators at our Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM) – CaixaResearch directed by Elena Garralda, and Ana’s Group, in collaboration with researchers at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto.

As already highlighted by our Director Josep Tabernero in his Foreword, REVEAL GENOMICS S.L., a spin-off company of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, August Pi I Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), University of Barcelona (UB), and VHIO, brought the HER2DX® assay to market. Featuring among TIME magazine’s listing of Best Inventions of 2022 under the category of Medical Care, this is the first genomic tool for patients with HER2-positive early-stage breast cancer.

Announced this year, the UNIQUE - UNderstanding cancer through sIngle cell seQUEncing platform is supported by the ”la Caixa” Foundation. This platform represents a valuable tool that will help us to generate insights into complex biological processes (including intra- and inter-tumor heterogeneity), through state-of-the-art single cell sequencing technologies. The implementation of UNIQUE will also lead to new research collaborations as well as further strengthen innovation and technology transfer at VHIO.

Prescreening at VHIO: driving the clinical implementation of emerging molecular biomarkers in oncology

VHIO’s Molecular Prescreening team. Left to right: Elena Garralda, Rodrigo Dienstmann, Ana Vivancos, Paolo Nuciforo, Jenifer González and Susana Aguilar.

Thanks to the support received from one of our Institutional Supporters and Patrons, Fundación FERO, VHIO’s Molecular Prescreening Program is powered by one of our Institutional Programs, the FERO Foundation Institutional Advanced Molecular Diagnostics Program – DIAMAV. Over the past decade, this program has provided access to advanced molecular diagnostics to over 1,100 patients each year, establishing our Institute as one of the few centers in Europe to run such a comprehensive program.

These efforts are co-led by Ana Vivancos, Principal Investigator of our Cancer Genomics Group, Elena Garralda, co-Director of Clinical Research at VHIO and Director of our Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM) – Caixa Research, Paolo Nuciforo, Principal Investigator of our Molecular Oncology Group, and Rodrigo Dienstmann, Principal Investigator of VHIO’s Oncology Data Science (ODysSey) Group. This program is coordinated by Susana Aguilar, Head of VHIO’s VHIOTECA, in collaboration with Jenifer González, a Research Support Technician of our Cancer Genomics Group.

The main objective of molecular prescreening at VHIO is to facilitate the clinical implementation of emerging cancer biomarkers that help to optimize the selection of therapies for patient enrolment in our clinical trials. This program helps to guide clinicians in selecting both standard-of-care and investigational anti-cancer therapies, and accelerates clinical-molecular correlative research at our Institute. We also develop and validate diagnostic tests in-house for the cost effective and streamlined identification of tumor molecular alterations of major interest in drug development.

Our cancer researchers and genomicists participate in weekly tumor board meetings with VHIO’s medical oncologists to provide guidance on the interpretation of next-generation sequencing results. During these meetings, our teams also discuss new markers for clinical testing in patients eligible for inclusion in matched early phase clinical studies performed at our UITM – CaixaResearch.

Rodrigo Dienstmann, Principal Investigator of VHIO’s Oncology Data Science (ODySey) Group, leads VHIO’s participation in AACR’s Project GENIE.

We continue to extend our efforts to an increasing number of patients through collaborations with many other research institutes and international projects. As an example, VHIO participates in the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Project Genomics Evidence Neoplasia Information Exchange (GENIE). This program catalyzes the sharing of integrated genomic and clinical datasets across multiple cancer centers worldwide.

AACR Project GENIE® brings together twenty participating institutions and two informatics partners. Our Institute is the only partner from Spain. This project serves as a global precision medicine knowledge base of increasing impact to inform clinical decision-making and bring together cancer researchers internationally.

The first set of cancer genomic data aggregated through this project was available to the global oncology community in January 2017. As this Scientific Report goes to print the thirteenth data set, GENIE 13.0-public, was released in January 2023. The registry now contains more than 167,000 sequenced samples from 148,000+ patients, making the AACR Project GENIE registry among the largest fully public cancer genomic data sets released to date.

VHIO was invited to join AACR Project GENIE® in 2018 and our participation is led by Rodrigo Dienstmann, Principal Investigator of our Oncology Data Science (ODysSey) Group.

VHIO’s Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM) – CaixaResearch: pioneering early clinical drug development and dynamic studies in precision oncology

Led by Elena Garralda (left), the UITM-CaixaResearch is the heart and hub of our early clinical drug development.

Thanks to the support we receive from one of our Institutional Supporters and Patrons, ”la Caixa” Foundation, VHIO continues to establish itself as a leading reference in advancing drug development and targeted therapies against cancer. Established in 2010, our Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM) – CaixaResearch, has rapidly become one of the few comprehensive facilities in Europe to translate latest discovery into improved outcomes for patients, as rapidly as possible.

Headed by Elena Garralda, co-Director of VHIO’s Clinical Research Program, it has been able to do so through the bridging and close connectivity between health care professionals, VHIO researchers and clinical investigators, and by identifying novel predictive markers of response to anti-cancer therapies and markers of primary resistance (de novo) and secondary treatment.

Research at this Unit is driven by Elena Garralda’s Early Clinical Drug Development Group . Her group focuses on the development of new drugs based on the molecular profile of each tumor as well as the optimization of treatment regimens using combinations of novel agents with those that already exist. These efforts have contributed to the development of several tumor cell targeted agents including trastuzumab, pertuzumab, cetuximab, panitumumab, ramucirumab, trifluridine/tipiracil, gefitinib, osimertinib, ceritinib, crizotinib, loratinib and everolimus, among others. As a result of the clinical studies conducted at our UITM-CaixaResearch, more than 30 anti-cancer agents by either the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), or the European Medicines Agency (EMA), or both.

Current research also centers on accelerating and advancing immuno-oncology against cancer. Illustrative of these efforts are our studies evaluating various different agents, mostly in combination. Just some of these include atezolizumab, nivolumab, ipilimumab, and pembrolizumab. This Unit’s Task Force in early drug development of immunotherapeutics and cell signaling focuses on second generation immunotherapies including new cytokines, bispecific antibodies, intratumoral agents, combination immunomodulation for checkpoint inhibitors, as well as translational research in immuno-oncology carried out in collaboration with several VHIO groups including Alena Gros’ Tumor Immunology & Immunotherapy Group.

Our portfolio of early phase clinical studies continues to expand. In 2022 we opened 86 new studies. This year, we conducted 239 ongoing phase I clinical trials, 29 of which are Basket studies, as well as 3 phase 0 trials, with a total of 651 patients enrolled. We have treated over 1,400 patients throughout the year, with a median of 400 patients per month. In order to sustain this continued growth and continue to provide optimal quality care to our patients, we have also increased our treatment room facilities as well as space for patient sample processing.

The design and development of next generation adaptive studies in oncology

Our UITM-CaixaResearch facilities, coupled with VHIO’s CaixaResearch Advanced Oncology Research Program - 2020-2023, enable us to continuously expand our broad range of early phase studies including complex trials such as basket studies. We also lead the design and development of next generation clinical trials in oncology.

Illustrated by the above-mentioned numbers, we are ardently committed to delivering on the true promise of personalized medicine for an increasing number of our patients. In collaboration with our Molecular Prescreening Program, our teams have performed several clinical trials with patients selected based on the identified molecular alterations. These include mutations in AKT1, EGFR, IDH1, ALK, ROS1, BRAF, NRAS, KRAS, FGFR1 and 2, MET, HER2, HER3, RET; ATM; BRCA, amplifications in HER2, AKT 1, 2, and 3, FGFR1, MET, NOTCH1-4, rearrangements of NTRK1-3 ROS1, ALK, BRAF, RSPO2/3, RET, NRG, and FGFR1-3.

Our participation in several ongoing European and international projects include the Cancer Core Europe (CCE)-developed Basket of Baskets (BoB) investigator-initiated adaptive trial, and the EU-funded Cancer Core Europe Consortium – Building Data Rich Clinical Trials - CCE-DART. These projects facilitate the optimization of biomarker-drug co-development to more precisely match tailored therapies to each disease setting, each individual patient. These ‘smarter’ study designs seek to more effectively identify the optimal treatment for the right patient, at the right time. They also promise to overcome the rigidity and limitations associated with more traditional clinical trial designs.

Alongside several other investigators at VHIO and in partnership with other CCE members and participating research centers of excellence, both of these studies are led by Elena Garralda.

VHIO’s Clinical Trials Office directed by Marta Beltran, is also located in the patient environment of the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (HUVH). Her team coordinates our phase I and Basket studies as well as a large portfolio of phase II & III clinical trials.

In oncology and hematology, our Clinical Trials Office managed a total of 3 phase 0 trials, 262 phase I trials, 33 basket studies, 186 phase II trials, 209 phase III clinical trials, and 1 medical device study in 2022. Patient enrolment across all of these studies totaled at 1,503. Marta’s team also managed 2 phase III studies and 1 post-authorization trial in radiotherapy with a total of 10 patients included.

230 new trials were initiated in 2022, including 14 post-authorization trials and rollover studies. In addition, our Clinical Trials Office follows up patients who were recruited in studies prior to 2022 and are still enrolled and receiving study treatment (1,180 patients in total, and 2,087 in follow-up).

In 2022 a total number of 1,328 patients were enrolled across the 542 actively recruiting trials in oncology. In addition, 321 patients were included in a total of 38 post authorization and rollover studies. Across the 152 actively recruiting clinical studies in hematology, a total of 175 patients were included, with an additional 32 patients enrolled in 26 post authorization and rollover trials.

VHIO's direct access to cancer patients: at the center of our purely translational research model

The Vall d'Hebron University Hospital (HUVH): the largest hospital complex in Catalonia and one of the most important in Spain.

VHIO is located within the Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, which is also home to our Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (HUVH) and two other research institutes of international reference; the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR), and the Multiple Sclerosis Centre of Catalonia (Cemcat). Our hospital affords VHIO direct access to patients as well as the entire spectrum of oncology professionals who care for them.

Organized into multidisciplinary and integrated teams, our researchers closely collaborate and interact with physician-scientists at Vall d’Hebron. Translational science and clinical research are therefore tightly connected, accelerating the bench-bedside-bed cycle of knowledge.

VHIO’s Institutional Programs: driving the development of novel therapies and treatment strategies against cancer

We are indebted to our Patrons and Institutional Supporters: the Generalitat de Catalunya, Fundació Privada CELLEX, Fundación FERO, ”la Caixa” Foundation, and the Fundación BBVA. In addition to their invaluable support, their shared backing and belief in our research and collective fight against cancer, we also advance precision oncology through our four Institutional Programs (three of which are supported by VHIO Patrons):

Our FERO Advanced Molecular Diagnostics Program – DIAMAV. This program supports molecular prescreening at VHIO and performs molecular profiling in patients to more effectively match personalized treatment strategies based on the genomic or pathologic profile of each individual patient and the molecular makeup of their disease. Our investigators work together to identify specific molecular risk factors to better predict the potential efficacy of specific agents tailored to each particular tumor, advance insights into the more precise and less invasive tracking of disease by liquid biopsy, and develop cancer diagnostics for the early detection of disease.

CaixaResearch Advanced Oncology Research Program. Building on the successes of the two previous VHIO – ”la Caixa” institutional three-year programs, the CaixaResearch program - 2020-2023, enables VHIO teams to accelerate the development of more potent and targeted anti-cancer medicines, strengthen existing research lines as well as initiate new projects to lead frontier research in some of the most relevant and emerging fields in precision oncology; those areas showing particular promise in solving the multiple questions that currently stand in the way of more effectively combating cancer.

Fundación BBVA Comprehensive Program of Cancer Immunotherapy & Immunology – CAIMI. As a result of the achievements of the very first VHIO – BBVA Foundation Program on Tumor Biomarkers Research, the BBVA Foundation officially launched this second four-year program in 2018 to advance agents that inhibit checkpoint regulation of the immune system, achieve a deeper understanding of mechanisms of resistance and response to these therapies, and prioritize the early development of promising novel therapies in immuno-oncology.

Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa. VHIO received Excelencia Severo Ochoa accreditation in 2021 and is awarded as a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence, 2022- 2026. This accolade recognizes national research centers demonstrating scientific leadership of excellence and impact at a global level. This fourth Institutional Program at VHIO further strengthens our various research programs and teams in driving important advances in cancer discovery and precision medicine in oncology.

New in 2022

Announced in December 2022 and set to launch as our fifth Institutional Program, we have received additional institutional support through the Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer – AECC (Spanish Association Against Cancer) Excellence Program - Advanced Therapies Accelerator Program. We aim to establish VHIO as an international reference in the rapidly emerging field of gene and cellular therapies and contribute to the expansion of Europe’s product development in this area.

To boost the development of academic gene and cellular therapy products and associated translational research, we plan to construct a Clean Room laboratory, provide our teams with the necessary training, foster and develop national and international collaborations, and establish an optimal program governance structure. These actions will enable us to develop new gene and cellular therapy products and advance existing ones in our pipeline.

We look forward to updating on this exciting new program in next year’s Scientific Report.

We also take this opportunity to thank the AECC for its longstanding support of several VHIO groups and researchers. In 2022 three of our investigators were awarded across two of AECC’s funding programs.

UNIQUE - UNderstanding cancer through sIngle cell seQUEncing platform is also supported by the ”la Caixa” Foundation. This project represents a valuable tool that will help us to generate insights into complex biological processes (including intra- and inter-tumor heterogeneity), through state-of-the-art single cell sequencing technologies. UNIQUE will synergize with our existing core technologies, strengthen our capacity for centralized data generation, analysis and storage, and lead to increased scientific productivity and impact of our investigators. The integration of this platform will provide new opportunities for advancing the clinical management of cancer patients, ultimately consolidate VHIO as a reference hub in single-cell analysis, lead to new research collaborations, as well as further strengthen innovation and technology transfer at VHIO.

Consortia and partnerships of excellence across borders

National and international consortia, partnerships and alliances: empowering collaborative team science.

At VHIO we are dedicated to fostering, developing and (co) leading multi-center collaborations that combine the necessary expertise and resources to accelerate research against cancer. These national and international partnerships enable us to collectively advance cancer care through transformative team science.

We currently (co) lead and participate in thirty-seven national and international consortia of excellence. Among these, twelve new projects launched in 2022. In addition to the European UNderstand CANcer – UNCAN.eu, featured in our Director’s Foreword to this year’s Scientific Report, we take this opportunity to highlight a few more of these important initiatives.

The PCM4EU – Personalised Cancer Medicine for all EU Citizens is funded by the European Union under the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan by EU4Health. This consortium connects partners from fifteen countries across Europe including VHIO, and aims to facilitate the implementation of molecular cancer diagnostics for precision oncology including clinical studies such as Drug Rediscovery Protocol (DRUP) trials.

Coordinated by Hans Gelderblom, Head of the Department of Medical Oncology at the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) in the Netherlands, PCM4EU is divided into six workpackages (WPs): WP2 focuses on mapping and facilitating use of molecular cancer diagnostics and WP3 centers on precision oncology and promoting more national DRUP-like clinical trials in European countries. WP4 will seek to implement precision oncology and standards for use in diagnostics and molecular tumour boards (MTBs) in European countries. WP5 focuses on facilitating equitable and cross-border access, and WP6 is tasked with identifying training opportunities for the next generation of oncologists.

PCM4EU has also incorporated a patient engagement strategy to ensure access to molecular-based clinical trials and will build a data aggregation platform. Our investigators are participating in WPs 2, 3 and 5.

The PCM4EU project receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe and innovation programme HORIZON-HLTH-2021-CARE-05 under grant agreement No. 101057091.

Co-coordinated by Daniel Truhn, an AI Researcher and Radiologist at the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, the University Hospital Aachen in Germany, and Jakob N. Kather, Head of the Department of Clinical Artificial Intelligence at the Else Kroener Fresenius Center for Digital Health in Dresden, Germany, the EU-funded ODELIA Open Consortium for Decentralized Medical Artificial Intelligence will develop and implement a pan-European swarm learning (SL) network that enables privacy-preserving and democratic training of medical AI algorithms.

Focused on breast cancer detection in MRI screenings, this five-year project aims to demonstrate the power of SL and its potential application in various clinical settings. Bringing together experts from twelve academic institutions and industry partners from across Europe, ODELIA aims to serve as a hub for the exponential growth of the SL network and extend this data privacy-preserving framework to a multitude of medical applications. This will provide patients, healthcare providers, and citizens in Europe with a digital infrastructure that facilitates the development of expert-level AI tools for big data analytics without compromising data safety and data privacy.

VHIO’s Radiomics and Breast Cancer Groups, led by Raquel Perez-Lopez and Cristina Saura respectively, are participating in this project to help develop an SL model for improving breast cancer screening. Our investigators will also provide support for all the logistical and ethical local requirements and provide feedback and technical expertise in the front-end-software development.

The ODELIA project receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe and innovation programme HORIZON-HLTH-2021-CARE-05 under grant agreement No. 101057091.

Coordinated by Núria López-Bigas, an ICREA Research Professor and Group Leader in Biomedical Genomics at IRB Barcelona, the EU-funded CGI-Clinics Cancer Genome Interpreter is a five-year community-driven project that brings together 17 project partners including organizations representing patients, clinicians, and researchers, that aims to improve precision medicine in oncology.

Analysis of a patient’s tumor genome offers great possibilities for personalized treatment, but the interpretation of this data is complex, time-consuming and relies on having the right experts at the patient’s hospital. CGI-Clinics aims to provide a one-stop shop solution that systematizes tumor genome interpretation to support physicians in choosing the most effective treatment for each patient.

The Cancer Genome Interpreter (CGI), which Núria López-Bigas and colleagues have been developing for over five years, has immense potential in precision oncology. This platform uses machine-learning and other computational methods to systematically extract information from mutations observed in thousands of tumors to improve the interpretation of the variants observed in each patient.

Project partners will aim to optimize this platform for its use in hospitals and healthcare centers to support clinical decision-making by oncologists. CGI-Clinics will build a new CGI and nine hospitals and healthcare research centers from four European countries, including VHIO, will be the first to implement this platform.

This project will also set up virtual molecular tumor boards including international experts with whom medical doctors can consult and discuss the reports produced by the CGI.

A key pillar of this project is the involvement of people with cancer. The Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC - Spanish Association Against Cancer) and the European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC) will represent society and patients.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon program HORIZON-HLTH-2021-CARE-05-02 under grant agreement No.101057509.

Technology transfer, development of new therapies & technologies in precision oncology

VHIO’s spin-off successes

Laura Soucek, co-Director of VHIO’s Preclinical and Translational Research Program, Principal Investigator of our Models of Cancer Therapies Group, an ICREA Research Professor, and co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of VHIO-born spin-off Peptomyc S.L.

Co-founded back in 2014 by Laura Soucek, co-Director of Preclinical and Translational Research at VHIO, the VHIO-born spin-off Peptomyc received approval in 2021 to initiate the first-in-human Phase I/IIa clinical trial with its first Omomyc-derived compound (OMO-103), a disruptive MYC inhibitor.

OMO-103 successfully completed the Phase I part of the study in October 2022. This part of the study, sponsored by Peptomyc, was conducted at three Spanish hospitals including the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (HUVH), and led by VHIO’s Elena Garralda, co-Director of Clinical Research at VHIO, Director of our Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM) – CaixaResearch and Principal Investigator of our Early Clinical Drug Development Group.

Building on the proven preclinical efficacy and safety of their Omomyc cell-penetrating mini-protein in mouse models and Peptomyc’s development of anti-MYC peptides for the treatment of several tumor types, this development represents a greatly anticipated leap into the clinical research setting and an important step forward in becoming the first ever clinically viable and direct inhibitor of MYC – a protein implicated in the formation of most tumor types.

At the preclinical level, results of a study published this year* reported important advances in evaluating Omomyc for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.

* Massó-Vallés D, Beaulieu ME, Jauset T, Giuntini F, Zacarías-Fluck MF, Foradada L, Martínez-Martín S, Serrano E, MartínFernández G, Casacuberta-Serra S, Castillo Cano V, Kaur J, López-Estévez S, Morcillo MÁ, Alzrigat M, Mahmoud L, LuqueGarcía A, Escorihuela M, Guzman M, Arribas J, Serra V, Larsson LG, Whitfield JR, Soucek L. MYC Inhibition Halts Metastatic Breast Cancer Progression by Blocking Growth, Invasion, and Seeding. Cancer Res Commun. 2022 Feb 21;2(2):110-130.

Joan Seoane, co-Director of VHIO’s Preclinical and Translational Research Program, Principal Investigator of our Gene Expression & Cancer Group, an ICREA Research Professor, and co-Founder of Mosaic Biomedicals.

VHIO’s Joan Seoane and his Gene Expression and Cancer Group previously established the role of LIF in oncogenesis as a promoter of cancer progression by regulating the tumor microenvironment and inducing self-renewal in tumor-initiating cells. This research culminated in the development of MSC-1, a therapeutic LIF neutralizing antibody.

Joan Seoane, co-Director of VHIO’s Preclinical and Translational Research Program, co-founded VHIO-born spin-off Mosaic Biomedicals in 2012 for the design and development of this novel compound. In 2016, Mosaic merged with Northern Biologics Inc. (Toronto, Canada), and Northern-Mosaic announced the global acquisition of clinical-stage MSC-1 (now AZD0171) by MedImmune/AstraZeneca in 2020.

MSC-1’s transition to the clinic and translation into benefits for cancer patients promises an important addition to the current arsenal of powerful anti-cancer weaponry. Published this year ahead of print, results of a study* directed by Joan have described this drug’s mechanism of action.

Also reported this year**, results of the phase I first-in-human clinical trial of MSC-1 (AZD0171) conducted at our Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), New York, and the Princess Margaret Cancer Center in Toronto, show that this novel monoclonal antibody is safe and well tolerated in patients with advanced solid tumors.

This study was co-led by VHIO’s Director Josep Tabernero, and co-authored by other VHIO investigators including Joan Seoane and Elena Garralda, Principal Investigator of Early Clinical Drug Development at VHIO, and Director of our Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM) – CaixaResearch.

A phase II clinical trial of AZD0171 in combination with durvalumab and chemotherapy in solid tumors initiated patient recruitment in 2021 and is now underway.

* Hallett R, Bonfill-Teixidor E, Iurlaro R, Arias A, Raman S, Bayliss PE, Egorova O, Neva-Alejo A, McGray AR, Lau E, Bosch A, Beilschmidt M, Maetzel D, Fransson J, Huber-Ruano I, Anido J, Julien JP, Giblin PA, Seoane J. Therapeutic targeting of LIF overcomes macrophage mediated immunosuppression of the local tumor microenvironment. Clin Cancer Res. Epub 2022 Nov 28:CCR-21-1888.
** Borazanci E, Schram AM, Garralda E, Brana I, Vieito Villar M, Spreafico A, Oliva M, Lakhani NJ, Hoffman K, Hallett RM, Maetzel D, Hua F, Hilbert J, Giblin P, Anido J, Kelly A, Vickers PJ, Wasserman R, Seoane J, Siu LL, Hyman DM, Hoff DV, Tabernero J. Phase I, first-in-human study of MSC-1 (AZD0171), a humanized anti-leukemia inhibitory factor monoclonal antibody, for advanced solid tumors. ESMO Open. 2022 Aug;7(4):100530.

Héctor G. Palmer, Principal Investigator of VHIO’s Stem Cells & Cancer Group, co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of ONIRIA Therapeutics.

Created in 2021 and officially launched this year, ONIRIA Therapeutics was co-founded by VHIO, the Universidad de Barcelona (UB),and the ICREA Catalan Institution for Research, and had been mainly funded by the ”la Caixa” Foundation, Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer – AECC (Spanish Association Against Cancer), and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III – ISCIII (Institute of Health Carlos III), prior to its incorporation.

By modulating cell dormancy to overcome cancer persistence, this spin-off is developing new anti-cancer armory to counteract resistance and prevent disease relapse in patients. Among various ongoing projects, ONIRIA’s most advanced agent is a first-in-class molecule, ONR-001, that allosterically activates the TET2 master epigenetic enzyme causing tumor cells to enter a dormant state and even die.

ONIRIA has already secured patent protection for its TET2 modulators and demonstrated efficacy in preclinical animal models by showing that ONR-001 promotes and sustains cancer cell dormancy and even causes cell death upon prolonged treatment with high tolerability in mice. The investigators are now evaluating the efficacy of ONR-001 in several hematologic and solid cancers and its targeting of hypermethylated tumors as a consequence of TET2 loss-of-function.

This project has also been possible thanks to the additional support received from the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca – AGAUR (Agency for Management of University and Research Grants), Fundación FERO, and the Fundació Privada CELLEX Since it was officially established, ONIRIA has also received support from the Torres y Quevedo Program – Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation), and a Start-Up Capital Grant from the Agencia para la Competitividad de la Empresa - ACCIÓ (Catalan Regional Government’s Agency for Business Competitiveness).

In addition to these important developments, REVEAL GENOMICS S.L., a spin-off company of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, August Pi I Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), University of Barcelona (UB), and VHIO, launched its HER2DX® assay as a new diagnostic tool for early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer. Brought to market this year, HER2DX® featured among TIME magazine’s listing of Best Inventions of 2022 under the category of Medical Care. To discover more, please see our Director’s Foreword to this Scientific Report.

Our RAD51 predict test to identify patients who could benefit from treatment with PARP inhibitors is now being used in a prospective clinical trial to predict olaparib sensitivity in patients with metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer.

We have also completed the technology transfer of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Guardant360® CDx liquid biopsy test for comprehensive genomic profiling. With this test, VHIO360, our Institute is the first cancer research center in Europe to have a laboratory equipped with this cutting-edge platform. Aimed at overcoming some limitations and challenges associated with traditional tissue biopsies, this technology provides complete genomic results in solid tumors from a simple blood draw in seven days.

Based on VHIO’s Nanostring and RNA-seq technologies for the detection of an immune signature to help guide patient selection across our phase I clinical trials, VHIO invesgitators continue to validate our VIGex immune gene expression signature.

The VHIO Academy: promoting educational programs, trainings and career development activities.

Launched in 2021 and headed by Imma Falero, the VHIO Academy encompasses all educational programs at our Institute to attract young talent globally and provide state-of-the-art training and career development activities. These learning opportunities aim to equip and empower VHIO fellows to reach their full potential.

Organizing a broad portfolio of complementary courses ranging from scientific to vocational training, the Academy’s educational activities further promote professional growth and assist fellows to make informed decisions about their next career steps.

In addition to coordinating the VHIO – CaixaResearch Scientific Seminars, the Academy organized five academic programs, twelve scientific and transferable skills trainings, eleven workshops focused on professional development skills for clinicians, and two Cancer Core Europe – CCE educational activities in 2022.

Green VHIO launched in 2021 in support of the European Climate Pact. The Green VHIO team is championed by VHIO’s Climate Pact Ambassador Kinga Bernatowicz, a Postdoctoral Fellow of our Radiomics Group, alongside several other VHIO investigators and administrative personnel.

This program seeks to raise awareness about the urgency of climate change as well as the importance of environmental protection in cancer prevention, take action to contribute to the transition to climate neutrality, and report on sustainable research practices.

Green VHIO aims to fulfil these objectives through five dedicated action areas: Greenform (providing information, seminars); Green enVHIOment (creating an even stronger health-conscious environment at VHIO; Green commute (transport-related actions); Green labs (informing on sustainable research practices); and Into the Green (outdoor environmental activities).

VHIO-organized events: the sharing and exchange of latest advances in cancer discovery and precision oncology

VHIO is dedicated to organizing events to present and debate the very latest in cancer discovery – from the bench to bedside and back. These educational opportunities often lead to new research collaborations that continue to accelerate our collective efforts aimed at solving cancer sooner.

Scientific co-Chairs (left to right): Elena Élez, Medical Oncologist and Senior Clinical Investigator of VHIO’s Gastrointestinal and Endocrine Tumors Group, Joaquin Mateo, Principal Investigator of our Prostate Cancer Translational Research Group, and Laura Soucek, co-Director of VHIO’s Preclinical and Translational Research Program and Principal Investigator of VHIO’s Models of Cancer Therapies Group.

Launched back in 2019 and supported by the ”la Caixa” Foundation, our VHIO – CaixaResearch Scientific Seminars Series educational program welcomes internationally renowned researchers and clinical investigators to VHIO to share, discuss and debate latest insights, discovery and next directions in oncology with our students, postdocs and senior faculty from our preclinical, translational and clinical research groups.

These sessions, coordinated by the VHIO Academy, take place in VHIO’s CELLEX CENTER Auditorium, although some were hosted virtually in 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chaired by each respective VHIO host, these seminars typically consist of a 30-45 minute talk followed by a Q&A round with the audience.

In 2022, a total of 26 VHIO - CaixaResearch Scientific Seminars took place:

Speaker: Francesco Nicassio, Principal Investigator and Coordinator of the Center of Genomic Science (CGS-IIT@SEMM), Genova, Genomic Science, Italy
Talk title: New insights into miRNA biology and human cancer
Date: 14 January
VHIO Host: Paolo Nuciforo, PI, Molecular Oncology Group

Speaker: Jason Carroll, Professor of Molecular Oncology, University of Cambridge, and Senior Group Leader, Cancer Research UK (CRUK), Cambridge, UK
Talk title: Mechanisms of estrogen receptor transcriptional activity in breast cancer
Date: 28 January
VHIO Host: Violeta Serra, PI, Experimental Therapeutics Group

Speaker: Maria Rescigno, Vice Rector and Delegate for research, and Professor of General Pathology, Humanitas University, Milan, Italy
Talk title: The microbiota in host-immune interactions
Date: 11 February
VHIO Host: Paolo Nuciforo, PI, Molecular Oncology Group

Speaker: Mark J Nieuwenhuijsen, Research Professor and Director of Urban Planning, Environment and Health Initiative, ISGlobal, Barcelona, Spain
Talk title: Urban and transport planning pathways to carbon neutral, liveable and healthy cities
Date: 25 February
VHIO Host: Kinga Bernatowicz, Postdoctoral Fellow, Radiomics Group

Speaker: David Cortéz, Associate Director of Basic Science Research and Co-Leader, Genome Maintenance Research Program, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA
Talk title: Overcoming replication stress: mechanisms and regulation to maintain genome stability
Date: 10 March
VHIO Host: Violeta Serra, PI, Experimental Therapeutics Group

Speaker: Sean Morrison, Director, Children’s Medical Center Research Institute, UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), Maryland, USA
Talk title: The regulation of melanoma metastasis
Date: 25 March
VHIO Host: María Abad, PI, Cellular Plasticity and Cancer Group

Speaker: Sara Sdelci, Group Leader, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona, Spain
Talk title: LOXL2 aids the formation of BRD4S and MED1 transcriptional foci to control cell cycle gene expression in triple-negative breast cancer
Date: 08 April
VHIO Host: Tian Tian, Senior Researcher, Preclinical Team Leader, Gastrointestinal & Endocrine Tumors Group

Speaker: Justin Odegaard, Adjunct Clinical Professor of Pathology, Stanford University, and Vice President of Clinical Development at Guardant Health, California, USA
Talk title: Current and future applications of liquid biopsy
Date: 03 May
VHIO Host: Josep Tabernero, VHIO’s Director

Speaker: Carlos Arteaga, Director, Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Associate Dean of Oncology Programs, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, USA
Talk title: FGFR Pathway as a Mechanism of Resistance to Endocrine Therapy in Breast Cancer
Date: 16 May
VHIO Host: Josep Tabernero, VHIO’s Director

Speaker: Robert Schreiber, Director of the Andrew M. and Jane M. Bursky Center for Human Immunology and Immunotherapy Programs, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis (WUSTL), USA
Talk title: Neoantigens as probes and targets of tumor specific immune responses
Date: 26 May
VHIO Host: Ricardo Pujol, Scientific Advisor

Speaker: Ugo Cavallaro, Director of the Program of Gynecological Oncology and Department of Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology (IEO), Milan, Italy
Talk title: Cancer stem cells: shedding light on the dark side of ovarian carcinoma
Date: 27 May
VHIO Host: Paolo Nuciforo, PI, Molecular Oncology Group

Speaker: Oskar Marin, Senior Postdoc in P-CMRC, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Barcelona, Spain
Talk title: Drug resistance mechanisms and cancer cell vulnerabilities
Date: 10 June
VHIO Host: María Abad, PI, Cellular Plasticity and Cancer Group

Speaker: I-Mei Siu, Senior Editor, Cancer Discovery, Maryland, USA
Talk title: An Introduction to Cancer Discovery
Date: 23 June
VHIO Hosts: Javier Carmona, Senior Project Manager, Scientific Management Area, and César Serrano, PI, Sarcoma Translational Research Group

Speaker: Direna Alonso-Curbelo, Junior Group Leader, Inflammation, Tissue Plasticity & Cancer Group, Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Barcelona, Spain
Talk title: Epigenetic licensing of tumor-promoting inflammation in pancreatic cancer
Date: 05 July
VHIO Host: Tian Tian, Senior Researcher, Preclinical Team Leader, Gastrointestinal & Endocrine Tumors Group

Speaker: Antonio Agudo, Head, Nutrition and Cancer Unit, Cancer Epidemiology Research Program, Institut Català d’Oncologia (ICO), Barcelona, Spain
Talk title: Does population health mean planetary health? Sustainable diet and cancer prevention
Date: 22 July
VHIO Host: Kinga Bernatowicz, Postdoctoral Fellow, Radiomics Group

Speaker: Laura Fouassier, Researcher, French Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), and Head, Cholangiocarcinoma Research Group, Saint-Antoine Research Center (CRSA), Paris, France
Talk title: Pleotropic functions of EGFR in cholangiocarcinoma
Date: 08 September
VHIO Host: Tian Tian, Senior Researcher, Preclinical Team Leader, Gastrointestinal & Endocrine Tumors Group

Speaker: Francisco Barriga, Cancer Biology & Genetics Program, The Scott Lowe Lab, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), Sloan Kettering Institute, New York, USA
Talk title: Dissecting the function of copy number alterations in cancer
Date: 20 September
VHIO Host: Javier Carmona, Senior Project Manager, Scientific Management Area

Speaker: Jose Javier Bravo-Cordero, Associate Professor, Tisch Cancer Institute, Division of Hematology/Medical Oncology, New York, USA
Talk title: High-resolution intravital microscopy reveals the plastic behavior of disseminated dormant cells and their niches
Date: 23 September
VHIO Host: Héctor G. Palmer, PI, Stem Cells and Cancer Group

Speaker: Francisco Martínez-Jiménez, Center for Molecular Medicine and Oncode Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, Hartwig Medical Foundation – Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Talk title: Understanding tumor evolution and its interplay with the immune system
Date: 04 October
VHIO Host: Javier Carmona, Senior Project Manager, Scientific Management Area

Speaker: Alejo Efeyan, Group Leader, Metabolism and Cell Signaling, Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), Madrid, Spain
Talk title: The nutrient – Rag GTPase signaling as a driver of cancer and aging
Date: 14 October
VHIO Host: María Abad, PI, Cellular Plasticity and Cancer Group

Speaker: Mate Maus, PI, VHIO’s newly established Aging and Cancer Group, Barcelona, Spain
Talk title: From age-associated remodeling of cells and tissues to cancer: exploring the connections between aging and cancer
Date: 24 October
VHIO Host: Javier Carmona, Senior Project Manager, Scientific Management Area

Speaker: Francesca Demichelis, Group Leader, Computational and Functional Oncology Lab Department of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology University of Trento (UNITN), Italy
Talk title: Interrogation of multiple analytes in serial liquid biopsy samples to monitor metastatic prostate cancer patient disease state
Date: 11 November
VHIO Host: Joaquín Mateo, PI, Prostate Cancer Translational Research Group

Speaker: Iván Ballesteros, Ramon y Cajal Fellow, Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC), Madrid, Spain
Talk title: Functional organization of innate immunity
Date: 14 November
VHIO Host: Alejandro Piris, Chief Scientific Officer, Scientific Management Area

Speaker: Manolis Kogevinas, Severo Ochoa Scientific Director, Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), Barcelona, Spain
Talk title: Sleep, food, light-at-night and cancer: why circadian rhythms matter.
Date: 25 November
VHIO Host: Jonathan R. Whitfield, Senior Investigator, Models of Cancer Therapies Group

Speaker: Lucas Pontel, Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute (IJC-Barcelona), PCI Fellow, Biomedicine Institute of Buenos Aires – Partnership of the Max Planck Society (IBioBA-MPSP (Buenos Aires, Argentina) Group Leader
Talk title: Exploiting Metabolic Vulnerabilities in Resilient Tumors
Date: 28 November
VHIO Host: Alejandro Piris, Chief Scientific Officer, Scientific Management Area

Speaker: Bruno Di Stefano, Group Leader, CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research Assistant Professor in Molecular and Cellular Biology, Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Center & Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA
Talk title: Defining the Role of RNA Sequestration in Oncogenesis
Date: 15 December
VHIO Host: Tian Tian, Senior Researcher, Preclinical Team Leader, Gastrointestinal & Endocrine Tumors Group

Our Benchstorming Seminars co-Chairs. Left to right: Chiara Bellio, Associate Researcher of VHIO’s Tumor Biomarkers Group, Fabio Giutini, PhD Student of our Models of Cancer Therapies Group, and Sara Simonetti, Attending Physician of VHIO’s Molecular Oncology Group.

Established in 2016, our annual series of Benchstorming Seminars represent an excellent educational opportunity for junior faculty at VHIO to both present and exchange on and around their respective research interests across VHIO’s various research programs.

Not only do our young researchers learn more about their other colleagues and research lines currently underway, they can also express their ideas surrounding a given topic presented at each seminar; the specially crafted informal format favors free thought, flow, and interaction between the speakers and participants.

Reflective of VHIO’s purely translational and multidisciplinary research model, our Benchstorming co-Chairs also organize clinical seminars that count on the participation and expertise of our Clinical Investigators and Medical Oncologists.

In 2022, 13 Benchstorming Sessions took place - some of which were organized remotely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic - and each invited VHIO investigator(s) discussed and ‘benchstormed’ their respective research areas and activities.

Ad-hoc courses, workshops, perceptorships and observerships

Based on specific lines and research areas that continue to position VHIO as a leading international reference, we share our expertise, learn from eminent guest speakers, discuss, and debate our latest findings through the organization of VHIO ad-hoc courses and workshops.

Exchanging latest discovery in cancer science and medicine, 19 courses, workshops, observerships and perceptorships took place in 2022, some of which were organized remotely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Recognitions and prized research in 2022

In addition to all our newly funded research lines and programs in 2022 - also driven through the backing received each year from our Institutional Supporters, and public and private national, European, and international funding sources and entities - VHIO investigators and teams have also been recognized through several prizes, honors and accolades, including institutional recognitions.

We take this opportunity to highlight just some of these in 2022:

Reflective of their exceptional contributions to cancer science, VHIO’s Josep Tabernero and Enriqueta Felip were recognized once again as Highly Cited Researchers in 2022.

Published in November, Clarivate® revealed its annual list of Highly Cited Researchers 2022. Featuring among the world’s elite scientists at academic research institutes and commercial organizations are VHIO’s Director Josep Tabernero and Enriqueta Felip, co-Director of Clinical Research at VHIO, and Principal Investigator of our Thoracic Tumors & Head and Neck Cancer Group.

Powered by Web of Science^TM data and InCites^TM metrics provided by Clarivate, and using both quantitative and qualitative analysis, the list of Highly Cited Researchers 2022 included 6,938 individuals who have demonstrated a significant and broad influence in their field(s) of research across the 22 broad disciplines used by Essential Science Indicators (ESI).

Josep Tabernero, also Head of the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital’s (HUVH) Medical Oncology Department, was selected for the seventh consecutive year for significantly advancing cancer research under the category of Clinical Medicine that included total of 466 named leaders in 2022. VHIO’s Enriqueta Felip, also Head of the Thoracic Cancer Unit at HUVH and President of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), was also recognized in this same field for a fifth year running.

Javier Cortés, an Associate Translational Investigator at VHIO, also featured as a Highly Cited Researcher 2022 under the same category for a second year running.

21 November 2022: the ICS Research Awards ceremony.

Celebrated during the Institut Català de la Salut (Catalan Health Institute - ICS) 13^th Annual Conference on research developments at ICS, the recipients of the 2022 ICS Research Awards included Enriqueta Felip, co-Director of VHO’s Clinical Research Program and Principal Investigator of VHIO’s Thoracic Tumors & Head and Neck Cancer Group, and Raquel Perez-Lopez, Principal Investigator of our Radiomics Group.

Enriqueta Felip, Head of Vall d’Hebron’s Thoracic Cancer Unit and President of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), and Ferran Barbé, Regional Clinical Director of Chronic Respiratory Diseases at the Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital of Lleida (HUAV), Catalonia, and Director of the CIBERES Biomedical Research Network of Respiratory Diseases in Madrid, were equally awarded as recipients of the ICS Research Career Prize which honors renowned investigators at hospitals belonging to ICS who have made exceptional contributions to biomedicine.

VHIO’s Raquel Perez-Lopez received this year’s ICS Young Investigator Prize for her research focused on the application of imaging biomarkers in radiomics for the detection of cancer and the development of precision imaging techniques toward improving patient outcomes.

16 May 2022: XXII Fundación FERO Award Ceremony, Museo Nacional d’Art de Cataluña (MNAC).

One of our Patrons and Institutional Supporters, Fundación FERO, presided by Sol Daurella, celebrated its Annual Award Ceremony and fundraising gala dinner at the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña (MNAC) in May 2022. These prestigious accolades include the FERO Awards for Translational Research, FERO-ghd Awards for Breast Cancer Research, and launched this year, the Dr. Baselga Award in honor of José Baselga, Founder and late Honorary President of FERO and VHIO’s founder and first director, who tragically passed away in 2021.

Two VHIO-led projects were prized by FERO in 2022:

Tian Tian, Senior Researcher Preclinical Team Leader of our recently established Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Translational Research Group directed by Teresa Macarulla, received the XXII FERO Award for Translational Research supported by the Fundación Ramón Areces.

His two-year project seeks to decipher epigenetic features hidden in the plasma of cholangiocarcinoma patients by liquid biopsy and assess the utility of this technology in gene expression profiling, the detection of minimal residual disease following curative surgery, and the tracking of treatment response and identification of mechanisms of resistance.

The IV FERO-ghd Award for Breast Cancer Research sponsored by the ghd hair styling product company, was presented to José A. Seoane, Principal Investigator of our Cancer Computational Biology Group, for his two-year project focused on the epigenetic differences associated with hormone treatment resistant breast cancer heterogeneity.

This research aims to characterize the epigenetic profile of breast tumors treated with hormone therapy - both before and after treatment- to achieve a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of resistance to endocrine therapy in hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. These insights could help to predict disease relapse and enable the monitoring of patients by liquid biopsy before metastases are detected in the clinical setting.

Alongside Tian Tian and José A. Seoane, María Casanova-Acebes, Head of the Cancer Immunity Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center – CNIO (Madrid, Spain), was also awarded with a XXII FERO Award supported by the Fundació Bosch Aymerich. Her awarded project aims to advance insights into mechanisms of resistance to immunotherapy.

Dr. Baselga Award 2022

José Baselga, MD, PhD (1959-2021): a visionary leader in translational science and precision oncology.

FERO Award recipients 2022. Left to right: Ignacio Melero, María Casanova-Acebes, José A. Seoane and Tian Tian.

The Dr. Baselga Award supports translational research of excellence carried out at research institutes in Spain by consolidated investigators of any nationality.

The first annual Award, including a trophy designed by Barcelona artist Jaume Plensa, was presented during this year’s Award Ceremony to Ignacio Melero, co-Director of the Department of Immunology and Immunotherapy, Cima Universidad de Navarra Research Center (Pamplona), by José Baselga’s wife Silvia Garriga and daughter Clara Baselga. This grant will support research aimed advancing insights into antigen cross-presentation and T-cell cross-priming in cancer immunology and immunotherapy.

03 May 2022: VHIO’s Enriqueta Felip presented with the first prize XI Premio Vanguardia de la Ciencia by Germán Ramón-Cortés, President of the Fundación Catalunya La Pedrera.

The Preimo Vanguardia de la Ciencia, a joint initiative of the Spanish periodical La Vanguardia and the Fundación Catalunya La Pedrera (Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation), recognizes some of the most pioneering science published from institutions of excellence throughout Spain. This recognition launched in 2011 to give more visibility to national research of excellence.

Now in its 11^th annual edition, VHIO’s Enriqueta Felip, Principal Investigator of our Thoracic Tumors & Head and Neck Cancer Group and Head of the Thoracic Cancer Unit at Vall d’Hebron, was voted by La Vanguardia readers as the recipient of the first prize this year for the landmark IMpower010 study. This research compared the efficacy and safety of an immune checkpoint inhibitor, atezolizumab, versus best supportive care as adjuvant therapy in patients with stage IB-stage IIIA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), following resection and adjuvant chemotherapy.

First authored by Enriqueta, results of exploratory analyses of sites of disease relapse and subsequent therapy with atezolizumab compared with best supportive care showed significantly less disease recurrence and improved disease-free survival, particularly in those patients whose tumors expressed PD-L1. These findings, published in The Lancet*, pointed to a potential paradigm shift in the treatment of patients with resected, early-stage NSCLC.

*Felip E, Altorki N, Zhou C, Csőszi T, Vynnychenko I, Goloborodko O, Luft A, Akopov A, Martinez-Marti A, Kenmotsu H, Chen YM, Chella A, Sugawara S, Voong D, Wu F, Yi J, Deng Y, McCleland M, Bennett E, Gitlitz B, Wakelee H; IMpower010 Investigators. Adjuvant atezolizumab after adjuvant chemotherapy in resected stage IB-IIIA non-small-cell lung cancer (IMpower010): a randomised, multicentre, open-label, phase 3 trial. Lancet. 2021 Oct 9;398(10308):1344-1357.

30 November 2022: our Director Josep Tabernero (left) was presented with the XII ABC Prize for Best Physician of the Year by Enrique Ruiz Escudero, Cabinet Minister of Health of Madrid.

Awarded by the Spanish periodical ABC, ABC Salud’s annual prizes recognize the outstanding work of healthcare professionals and entities in Spain as well as important contributions to research.

Among the awarded individuals and healthcare entities under the categories of best public hospital, private hospital, medication, nursing program, healthcare technology, pharmacy, and foundation, VHIO’s Director Josep Tabernero received the 2022 prize for Mejor Médico del Año (Best Physician of the Year). This prize recognizes his clinical research of excellence against gastrointestinal and endocrine tumors, his development of more effective targeted anti-cancer therapies, and his numerous contributions to advancing precision medicine in oncology.

IV Premios Chiara Giorgetti Award Winners 2022: Laura Soucek (left) and Meritxell Bellet (right).

Announced at the end of 2022, Laura Soucek, co-Director of our Preclinical and Translational Research Program, and Meritxell Bellet, a Clinical Investigator of VHIO’s Breast Cancer Group and a Medical Oncologist at Vall d’Hebron, were among the recipients of this year’s annual Premios Chiara Giorgetti.

ICREA Research Professor Laura Soucek was awarded with the top prize for her project that will combine MYC and PARP inhibitors as a novel therapeutic strategy against triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Led by Laura and carried out by Fabio Giuntini, a PhD Student of her Models of Cancer Therapies Group at VHIO, this research is based on their preliminary data suggesting that MYC inhibition in TNBC could potentiate the efficacy of PARP inhibitors to overcome cancer drug resistance.

The investigators will evaluate their first Omomyc-derived compound, OMO-103, that successfully completed the phase I part of the phase I/IIa clinical trial in 2022, combined with PARPi.

Meritxell Bellet received one of the two Metarpremios this year. Her prized project will seek to clinically and molecularly characterize oligometastasic breast cancer. This research will be carried out in collaboration with co-Principal Investigator of this study, Juan Miguel Cejalvo, an Investigator and Medical Oncologist, INCLIVA Biomedical Research Institute and Hospital Clínico Unversitatrio (Valencia, Spain), and colleagues at four other Spanish hospitals: ICO-Hospitalet, ICO-Badalona, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona (Catalonia), and the Hospital 12 de Octubre (Madrid).

20 June 2022: our Director Josep Tabernero was presented with the Fundación Lilly Prize for Biomedical Research under the category of Clinical Biomedical Research.

Established in 2001, the Fundación Lilly annual Prizes for Biomedical Research recognize leading Spanish preclinical and clinical investigators who have significantly advanced biomedicine and health science.

In 2022 our Director Josep Tabernero was prized under the category of Clinical Biomedical Research in recognition of his outstanding career and contributions to precision oncology. These include the discovery of new mechanisms driving tumor growth, the early clinical drug development of more effective, targeted anti-cancer medicines with particular focus on gastrointestinal tumors, pioneering novel immune-based strategies against cancer, the implementation and development of liquid biopsy and advancing insights into the gut microbiome and its role in colorectal cancer, among many others.

Salvador Aznar Benitah, Senior Group Leader at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine – IRB (Barcelona), Head of IRB’s Aging and Metabolism Group, and an ICREA Research Professor, received this year’s prize for preclinical research for his discoveries in aging and cancer, stem cells and cancer, and the interplay between diet, circadian rhythm and cancer.

12 December 2022: VHIO’s Laura Palomo (center) awarded by La Fundación AstraZeneca with a Premio Jóven Investigador (Young Investigator Prize).

Celebrating the 6^th annual edition of the Fundación AstraZeneca Premios Jóvenes Investigadores (Young Investigator Prizes), in collaboration with the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Laura Palomo, a Postdoctoral Scientist of VHIO’s Experimental Hematology Group, was presented with a prize under the newly created category that awards research jointly carried out by different groups across Spain based on identified synergies and to connect expertise toward accelerating scientific discovery.

Under the category of Oncology, Precision Medicine and Immunotherapy, Laura was awarded alongside the other investigators for their project entitled: Germline predisposition to myelodysplastic syndromes in adults: expanding diagnostic accuracy and evidence of pathogenicity.

This collaborative study will be coordinated by Andrés Jerez, Principal Investigator of Hematology and Clinical-Experimental Medical Oncology, Instituto Murciano de Investigación Biosanitaria Pascual Parrilla (IMIB), and counts on the collaboration of four other co-principal investigators including Laura Palomo. They are: Mónica del Rey, an investigator of the Genetics in Oncohematology Group at the Salamanca Cancer Center (CIC) – Institute for Biomedical Research of Salamanca (IBSAL); Adrián Mosquera, Lead Researcher of Computational and Genomic Hematology at the Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS); and Ana Alfonso, Attending Physician and Clinical Investigator in Hematology, the Centre for Applied Biomedical Research (CIMA), Clínica Universidad de Navarra.

30 November: Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus awarded by Gaceta Médica for excellence in healthcare and oncology research.

For the second consecutive year VHIO was recognized by the Spanish specialized healthcare publication Gaceta Médica. Our Director and Head of the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital’s Medical Oncology Department Josep Tabernero received the Best in Class (BiC) prize for research in oncology.

Pere Barba, a Hematologist and Lead Investigator of our Experimental Hematology Group, and physician at Vall d’Hebron’s Hematology Service was honored for Vall d’Hebron’s CAR T-cell therapy program. Celebrating the 17^th annual edition of BiC, these prizes award the best national public and private healthcare services, units and programs across disciplines and specialties.

In addition to VHIO, other entities and units at our Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus were also awarded this year. The Multiple Sclerosis Centre of Catalonia (Cemcat), directed by Xaiver Montalbán, received the Best-in-Class prize under the category of multiple sclerosis; Patricia Pozo, Head of Section of the Neurology Service at Vall d’Hebron, Head of the Headache and Neurological Pain Group at the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), and Director of the Migraine Adaptive Brain Center at Vall d’Hebron, received the Best-in-Class prize for the best headache unit; and Maria Josep Carreras, Head of Vall d’Hebron’s Oncohematology Pharmacy Unit, received the prize for the best Unit in hospital oncology pharmacy.

The ”la Caixa” Foundation is one of our Institutional Supporters and Patrons that supports several VHIO programs, facilities and initiatives including our Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM) – CaixaResearch, Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM) – CaixaResearch Clinical Research Onco-Hematology Unit, CaixaResearch Advanced Oncology Research Program 2020-2023, and a new program - UNderstanding cancer through sIngle cell seQUEncing: the UNIQUE platform

In 2022, it also awarded two new VHIO research projects. Francesco Grussu, a Postdoctoral Fellow of our Radiomics Group led by Raquel Perez Lopez, received a Junior Group Leader Award to lead a project on the development, validation, and application of new-generation oncological MRI. Mentored by Raquel, this research aims to boost the sensitivity and biological specificity of diffusion MRI in cancer using artificial intelligence and computer simulations guided by histology.

Cayetano Galera, a Graduate Student of VHIO’s Gene Expression & Cancer Group led by Joan Seoane, received predoctoral funding through an InPhinit Retaining grant. Directed by Joan, Cayetano’s research will focus on the tumor microenvironment and molecular mechanisms involved in bone metastasis to identify novel therapeutic targets.

The Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer – AECC (Spanish Association Against Cancer), is a longstanding supporter of several VHIO groups and researchers. We take this opportunity to salute and applaud AECC’s invaluable contribution to promoting cancer discovery and translational research of excellence, as well as the essential backing that it provides to countless investigators and teams across Spain and beyond.

Three additional VHIO researchers were awarded this year across two of AECC’s many funding programs. César Serrano, Principal Investigator of our Sarcoma Translational Research Group, received funding through an AECC National Consortium clinical research grant for his project on the centralization of pathological diagnosis and implementation of precision medicine strategies in sarcoma.

Through the ERA-NET: Sustained collaboration of national and regional programmes in cancer research, the AECC and the Instituto de Salud Carlos III – ISCIII (Carlos III Health Institute) granted two new VHIO projects in 2022, within the scope of the phase two part of the TRANSCAN-3 program funded by the EU's Horizon Europe framework programme.

Joan Seoane, co-Director of VHIO’s Preclinical and Translational Research Program and Principal Investigator of our Gene Expression and Cancer Group, will lead the iParaCyts project to evaluate the therapeutic potential of immunosuppressive paracrine cytokines in the tumor microenvironment of metastatic lesions. The second TRANSCAN-3-funded project, directed by Raquel-Perez Lopez, Principal Investigator of our Radiomics Group, will explore artificial-intelligence-based end-to-end prediction of cancer immunotherapy response (TANGERINE).

At the end of 2022, we received institutional support through AECC’s Excellence Program - Advanced Therapies Accelerator Program. We aim to establish VHIO as an international reference in the rapidly emerging field of gene and cellular therapies and contribute to the expansion of Europe’s product development in this area.

To boost the development of academic gene and cellular therapy products and associated translational research, we plan to construct a Clean Room laboratory, provide our teams with the necessary training, foster and develop national and international collaborations, and establish an optimal program governance structure. These actions will enable us to develop new gene and cellular therapy products and advance existing ones in our pipeline.

We look forward to reporting on this exciting new Institutional Program in next year's Scientific Report.

VHIO recipients of SEOM awards and prizes in 2022 (left to right): Cristina Suarez, Meritxell Bellet, Iosune Baraibar and Nadia Saoudi.

In 2022, four of our investigators were awarded with research grants and prizes from the Sociedad Española de Oncología Médica – SEOM (Spanish Society of Medical Oncology).

Cristina Suarez received a SEOM-BMS grant for translational research projects in immuno-oncology to validate the predictive value of the VIGex immune gene expression signature, to enrich patient selection in immuno-oncology phase I renal cancer clinical trials.

Developed in-house by VHIO investigators including Alberto Hernando-Calvo, formerly a phase I investigator at VHIO, Elena Garralda, co-Director of our Clinical Research Program, Principal Investigator of VHIO’s Early Clinical Drug Development Group, and Director of our Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM) – CaixaResearch, and Ana Vivancos, Principal Investigator of our Cancer Genomics Group, Cristina will use this tool in metastatic renal cancer, in patients treated with first-line immune-based combinations.

Meritxell Bellet, a Clinical Investigator of VHIO’s Breast Cancer Group and a Medical Oncologist at Vall d’Hebron, received a SEOM/FECMA grant for the LABEL study. This study aims to redefine the prognosis of invasive lobular carcinoma in early-stage breast cancer, and validate a new cutoff point for Ki67 - a protein that is associated with cell proliferation in tumors and an important prognostic and predictive marker in cancer.

Iosune Baraibar, a Clinical Investigator of our Gastrointestinal & Endocrine Tumors Group and a Medical Oncologist at Vall d’Hebron, received the Premio SEOM for the best doctoral thesis, and Nadia Saoudi, a Clinical Investigator and Medical Oncologist of the same group, received one of the two SEOM-MERCK “Somos futuro” prizes.

In addition, Alberto Hernando-Calvo received funding through a SEOM-Fundación CRIS contra el Cáncer grant for returning young investigators that will enable him to return to our Institute in 2023 when he completes his stay (2021-2022) at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto (Canada). His current Fellowship was also funded through a SEOM – Fundación CRIS contra el Cáncer grant that supports visits in centers of excellence in oncology overseas.

Oriol Mirallas received a travel grant to participate in the clinical rotation program (two month stay) at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (USA).

Institutional support and accreditation 2022

Our Institute received Excelencia Severo Ochoa accreditation in 2021 and is now recognized as a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence (2022-2026); VHIO's fourth Institutional Program. Granted under the subprogram of the Spanish Institutional Strengthening of the State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation, this accolade recognizes national research centers demonstrating scientific leadership of excellence and impact at a global level.

This distinction not only reflects VHIO’s important contributions to cancer science and precision medicine in oncology, but also confirms our capacity to advance frontier research, generate high-impact results, as well as attract and retain research talent. Set within the Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, VHIO is the first research center closely linked to one of the Spanish National Healthcare System’s Hospitals to have been endorsed by this prestigious seal of excellence.

In 2022 VHIO underwent evaluation for renewed accreditation of the Institució CERCA–Centres de Recerca de Catalunya (CERCA Institute of Research Centres of Catalonia) for the period 2017–2021.

In recognition of VHIO's progress, performance in knowledge transfer activities and management of excellence, VHIO was awarded the maximum qualification of an A grading. This achievement recognizes the excellence and quality of work carried out by all individuals, teams, and groups at our Institute.

VHIO’s patient engagement events, fundraising, and public outreach activities

VHIO supports and organizes activities to increase public interest in cancer research and promote the important advances reported by our scientists and clinical investigators. These efforts are aimed at patients and non-specialized audiences to enrich scientific culture as well as promote science as a stimulating career path for young people – the future of our research.

Importantly, some of these initiatives have resulted in considerable funding for research at VHIO, as documented in this section of our Scientific Report. We will continue to seek out, lead and participate in all these precious initiatives and launch new ones based on identified opportunities.

Illustrative of these efforts, we take this opportunity to mention just some of the many highlights and activities in 2022:

Connecting and conversing with cancer patients, their families and friends outside of the clinic

HUVH-VHIO's annual breast cancer workshops for our cancer patients, their families and friends, as well as the general public.

8^th edition of our annual breast cancer workshops (October 2021 – June 2022).

Timed to coincide with World Breast Cancer Day, 19 October, the 8^th edition of our annual breast cancer workshops ran from October 2021 – June 2022 and took place remotely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Coordinated by Lucía Sanz, a Medical Oncologist and Clinical Investigator of VHIO’s Breast Cancer Group, directed by Cristina Saura, these workshops cover a broad range of topics relating to the physical, emotional and social aspects of this disease as well as survivorship.

Launched back in 2015, these events are organized in collaboration with the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital’s (HUVH) Breast Cancer Unit, also led by Cristian Saura, and other expert teams across the Vall d’Hebroun Barcelona Hospital Campus. Open to patients, their loved ones and friends, these events provide opportunity for debate and two-way exchange with our physician-scientists, cancer researchers and other professionals in oncology, and are supported by Pfizer and iCROM Clinical Research Office Management, in collaboration with the Asociación Endavant Chic@s.

The 9^th annual edition of these workshops, also supported by Pfizer in collaboration with Asociación Endavant Chic@s, launched in October 2022 and have now resumed as in-person workshops at VHIO’s CELLEX Building.

Online workshops for cancer patients.

Our series of online, monthly workshops are designed for cancer patients, their families, as well as the general public. Counting on the participaton of VHIO investigators and other expert professionals in oncology at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (HUVH), Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus, this educational resource covers a broad range of topics and different tumor types, as well as current directions in cancer research, treatment and care. A total of eight workshops took place in 2022.

Jorge Hernando, a Clinical Investigator of VHIO’s Gastrointestinal & Endocrine Tumors Group and Medical Oncologist at Vall d’Hebron, leading the conversation at our first workshop for patient organizations held at VHIO’s CELLEX Building.

Supported by IPSEN, our first workshop aimed at cancer patient associations took place at VHIO to update on just some of our current lines of research. This initiative aims at strengthening communication between our Insitute and patient associations, organizatons and advocates and inform on the latest developments in cancer research.

Public fundraising in support of cancer research

Left to right: Cristina Saura, Inés Gasén and Lucía Sanz.

El Paseíco de la Mama (loosely translated as strolling for breast cancer) began to take shape when Inés Gasén was diagnosed with breast cancer during her pregnancy – not only provoking fear and uncertainty but also raising many questions and doubts concerning the health and the future ahead for her baby.

Bringing a positive out of the then challenging times, Inés and her family organized the first El Paseíco de la Mama 7.5 km sponsored walk along Zaragoza’s canal in 2011 to support breast cancer research directed by Cristina Saura, Principal Investigator of our Breast Cancer Group and Head of the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital’s (HUVH) Breast Cancer Unit.

While 2021’s sponsored 7.5 km walk had once again to adapt to the restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, this did not deter the fundraising efforts. This event raised an incredible 40,148€, presented by Inés Gasén to VHIO’s Cristina Saura and Lucía Sanz in January this year.

15 October 2022: raising funds for breast cancer research at the 12th annual El Paseíco de la Mama.

This support will fund research led by Lucía Sanz, a Medical Oncologist and Clinical Investigator of Cristina’s research group and the Breast Cancer Unit at Vall d'Hebron, aimed at improving the staging of breast cancer in pregnant women.

Detecting breast cancer early during pregnancy is challenging and is often diagnosed at a later stage compared to women who are not pregnant, and the risk of metastasis is thus higher. Imaging techniques including nuclear magnetic resonance, that do not use ionizing radiation or require intravenous contrast, promise more precise data regarding the location and stage of disease.

Lucía’s research will evaluate if this approach can increase sensitivity and specificity for the detection of liver, lung, and bone metastases, and better guide treatment decision making.

Now in its 12^th annual edition, funds raised from this year’s sponsored walk 2022 will support research led by Mara Cruellas, also a Clinical Investigator and Medical Oncologist of Cristina Saura’s team. She will study the efficacy of CDK4/6 inhibitor therapy in a cohort of patients with hormone receptor-positive metastatic breast cancer with a BRCA1/2 mutation

Left to right: Judith Balmaña, Cristina Saura and Luisa Vázquez.

Shortly after Luisa Vázquez’s first cancer diagnosis in one breast, a second tumor was detected in her other breast. Luisa underwent a double mastectomy, but her liver was also affected, and she needed a transplant.

During her cancer journey Luisa discovered that some patients go through breast cancer without the necessary support to help them at such a crucial time in their lives, and she consequently decided to create the voluntary Asociación Endavant Chic@s. Supported by the guidance of Eva Muñoz, a Medical Oncologist and Clinical Investigator of Cristina Saura’s Breast Cancer and Melanoma Group at VHIO, this association provides integral support to breast cancer patients at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital’s (HUVH) Breast Cancer Unit, also directed by Cristina Saura, and organizes several fundraising initiatives throughout the year including several sports tournaments.

Thanks to these efforts, as well as donations received through its members and volunteers in 2021, Luisa presented Cristina Saura and VHIO’s Judith Balmaña with a cheque for 17,200€ in 2022. This funding will support research toward improving outcomes and the quality of life of breast cancer patients at the at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital’s Breast Cancer Unit.

Research led by Judith Balmaña, Principal Investigator of our Hereditary Cancer Genetics Group, will focus on better calculating the risk of developing breast cancer using predictive models and anticipating and preventing disease in individual women. The investigators will use the CanRisk model that enables breast cancer risk prediction in unaffected women based on mutation screening information for rare (high risk and moderate risk) breast cancer genetic susceptibility variants, and common cancer genetic susceptibility variants using polygenic risk scores.

Judith and her team will study patients carrying alterations in the ATM and CHEK2 genes and evaluate associated breast cancer risk by also considering individual family history, hormonal and reproductive risk factors, and mammographic density.

Marking this year’s Breast Cancer Awareness month, the 5^th edition of the Pink Run Mir fundraising 3K walk-runathon took place on 16 October in support of breast cancer research at VHIO. This annual event is organized by the Sin Teta Hay Paraiso association in collaboration with the Joventut Alètica Montacada and the City Council of Montcada i Reixac.

Funds raised will further fuel research into lobular carcinoma, a distinct type of breast cancer which represents around 10% of malignant breast tumors. This project, initiated in 2016 thanks to previous funds raised through Pink Run Mir, seeks to establish the value of prognostic parameter Ki67 as a biomarker in this patient population.

Using the EndoPredict multi-gene test, Cristina Saura and her team, with Meritxell Bellet leading this project, are also validating Ki-67 as a predictor of benefit from chemotherapy to help inform treatment decision making. This additional funding will enable the investigators to finalize the El Lobulillar También Existe project by achieving a better understanding of the prognosis of lobular breast cancer and guiding the selection of chemotherapy or longer-duration hormonal therapy.

Em dones força presents VHIO’s Meritxell Bellet with 10,000€ to further support research aimed at improving outcomes for patients with triple negative breast cancer.

Em dones força is a not-for-profit association founded by a group of friends in Riudoms, Tarragona (Catalonia) to raise funds for breast cancer research through a variety of fundraising activities. Presented to Meritxell Bellet, a Clinical Investigator of VHIO’s Breast Cancer Group and Medical Oncologist of Vall d’Hebron’s Breast Cancer Unit led by Cristina Saura, a second consecutive donation of 10,000€ will further support her research project entitled: Recruiting ERβ in the fight against triple negative breast cancer (TNBC).

This study focuses on the co-expression of estrogen receptor beta (ERβ) and androgen receptor (AR) in tumor samples from patients with triple negative breast cancer and seeks to identify a group of patients who could benefit from hormonal therapy targeting ERβ, AR, or both.

Meritxell Bellet was Elvira Mas’ oncologist. Elvira was a co-founder and President of Em dones força before she sadly passed away from breast cancer. The official presentation of this donation took place at VHIO’s CELLEX Building in April this year, and paid tribute to Elvira and her legacy. Fifty people, including Elvira’s family and friends, all of whom form part of Em dones força, attended this special event.

October 2022: the launch of the 5^th Pañuelo Solidario campaign at Vall d’Hebron.

Pañuelo Solidario is a fundraising campaign organized by the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (HUVH), in collaboration with the lifestyle store Natura that produces and distributes these charity scarves in its shops and online.

Established in 2017 by the campaign’s ambassador Judit Mascó, this fundraiser centers on the treatment and wellbeing of women suffering with breast cancer and gynecological cancers.

The 5^th annual campaign launched in October 2022 upon the eve of World Breast Cancer Day, and all proceeds will further support cancer research carried out by two predoctoral researchers. They are Alejandra Cano, Psycho-Oncologist of VHIO’s Breast Cancer Group, and Carina Masferrer, PhD Student of the Gynecological Biomedical Research Group at the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR).

Alejandra Cano’s research focuses on STEPS – therapeutic support for cancer survivors. This project provides more resources and tailored activities for patients after their diagnosis and post-treatment to alleviate anxiety and emotional stress, as well as tools to facilitate their reincorporation into daily life, both at the personal and professional levels.

Carina Masferrer’s research focuses on developing new therapeutic strategies for the more effective treatment of endometrial cancer. She is currently evaluating targeted therapies for the treatment of metastatic ovarian cancer and has set up an experimental platform using several in vitro cancer models.

1. Amaia Goirigolzarri's solidarity scarf campaign to raise funds for sarcoma research. 2. With their family members, Ángel and Patricia Valero and Gloria Cerezo meet with César Serrano to discover more about his sarcModel project.

In 2022 different fundraising initiatives took place to support research carried out by our Sarcoma Translational Research Group directed by César Serrano. Representatives from the Basque cultural world and artists including Jon Maia, one of the Basque Country’s leading bertsolaris (improvisers), joined together for a fundraising campaign through the sale of a solidarity scarves exclusively designed by Maitane Bilbao. This fundraiser was initiated by Amaia Goirigolzarri, a sarcoma patient receiving treatment at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (HUVH), a leading reference in the treatment of this type of cancer.

In addition, two books were published to raise funds for research against sarcoma. Led by family members of patients who sadly passed away from this disease, the first El día que decidiste no morir was compiled by Gloria Cerezo in memory of her sister Carolina Cerezo. Carolina’s idea before she passed away in 2019 was to write a book about her cancer journey including her personal reflections. Her sister Gloria promised that she would honor this wish and completed this project on her behalf.

The second, Ozelot, recognizes the life and work of the artist Fernando Valero, known as ‘Ozelot’, who passed away in 2020. This book was compiled by Fernando’s sister Patricia Valero and father Ángel Valero. Proceeds from the book go to the sarcModel project led by César Serrano to generate mouse and cellular models of different types of sarcomas to advance insights into these cancers toward identifying new therapeutic avenues.

The Festival VHIOVida music festival, that took place on 22 October in Cabrils (Maresme, Catalonia) is one of the initiatives of the #IrurtzunRules project that was initiated by friends and family of Sergi Irurtzun who was diagnosed with early-onset colorectal cancer (CRC), four years prior to this fundraising event. This project also involved the participation of the #IrurtzunRules cyclists in the TRANSPYR Coast to Coast 2022 mountain bike stage race.

We are deeply saddened to report that since Sergi Irurtzun visited VHIO in November 2022 he recently passed away from this disease. Sergi’s passing illuminates the urgent need to address the rising incidence of CRC in adults under age 50, and advance crucial inisghts into the factors contributing to this alarming phenomenon.

It is thanks to Sergi’s courage, fight and generosity, along with the support of his family, friends and all the voluteers involved in this fundraiser, that this initiative raised an incredible 28,169.73€, presented to Iosune Baraibar, a Clinical Investigator of VHIO’s Gastrointestinal and Endocrine Tumors Group and Medical Oncologist at Vall d’Hebron, and Ariadna Garcia, a Clinical Nurse Specialist of the same group.

This donation will help our investigators to advance insights into the molecular signatures associated with early-onset CRC and identify new therapeutic targets for the treatment of these patients who typically have a more-advanced disease at diagnosis than patients with later onset colorectal cancer. As importanly, this research will also help to respond to the specific and particular needs of these young patients who require personalized and specialized care.

Organized by the Fundación Enric Masip a charity golf tournament took place at the Club de Golf Sant Cugat (Sant Cugat del Vallés, Catalonia) on 28 November with more than 70 professional as well as amateur golfers who took part to raise funds for research into endocrine and neuroendocrine tumors at VHIO, as well as raise awarness about these rare types of cancer.

Due to the rarity of these tumors, running clinical studies to develop and evaluate new therapies represents a challenge. Funds raised will support research led by Jaume Capdevila, a Senior Clinical Investigator of our Gastrointestinal and Endocrine Tumors Group, and Medical Oncologist at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital’s Medical Oncology Department, in order to advance insights into these diseases and identify more effective treatment strategies.

Left to right: Mafalda Oliveira, Ester Barrao and Cristina Saura.

Presented to Cristina Saura, Principal Investigator of VHIO’s Breast Cancer and Melanoma Group and Head of the Breast Cancer Unit at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, and Mafalda Oliveira, a Clinical Investigator of Cristina’s team and a Medical Oncologist at Vall d’Hebron, a donation of 1224.30€ will contribute to the fight against breast cancer.

Maribel González, a former patient at Vall d’Hebron who was treated and cared for by Cristina Saura’s team, with Mafalda as her Medical Oncologist, sadly passed away from this disease in January 2021. In recognition of their dedication and care, and to support research into metastatic breast cancer, Maribel’s daughter, Ester Barrao, set up a fundraising campaign. During two consecutive Sundays in December 2021, family and friends gathered for a Christmas solidarity photo shoot.

Funds raised will further enable Cristina and her team to pursue essential research aimed at advancing breast cancer treatment and care.

Cristina Saura presented with a donation of 1000 minutes to research by Jaime Chia, Managing Director of Galerías del Tresillo.

The Spanish sofa company Galerías del Tresillo’s 30-year long corporate social responsibility Sofás que Suman program spurs and develops collaborations with several different entities in support of various causes for a better world.

Dedicated to breast cancer research, a newly launched campaign ran throughout the month of October 2022. This initiative culminated in a donation of 1000 minutes to research carried out by Cristina Saura’s Breast Cancer Group at VHIO. Such initiatives help Cristina and her team to advance current projects as well as open new lines of research.

Public outreach and engagement

During one of the two roundtable sessions at the Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus’ special event to mark World Cancer Day 2022. Left to right: Josep Tabernero, Lucas Moreno, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, and Juan García Vicente.

World Cancer Day 2022 (WCD), 04 February, marked the launch of the next 3-year campaign themed Close the Care Gap to address the major issue of inequities in cancer care around the world. For the third consecutive year the Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus organized and hosted a dedicated WCD event that counted on the participation of several experts from Vall d’Hebron who discussed and debated the very latest advances in cancer research and precision medicine in oncology.

Participation from VHIO included our Director Josep Tabernero, Head of the Medical Oncology Department at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (HUVH), Enriqueta Felip, co-Director of Clinical Research at VHIO and Principal Investigator of our Thoracic Tumors & Head and Neck Group and Head of HUVH’s Thoracic Cancer Unit, Francesc Bosch, Principal Investigator of VHIO’s Experimental Hematology Group and Head of HUVH’s Department of Hematology, Ana Vivancos, Principal Investigator of our Cancer Genomics Group, and Cristina Casal, Study Nurse Supervisor of our Clinical Research Oncology Nurses.

Inaugurated by HUVH’s General Manager Albert Salazar this event also included the essential participation of cancer patients and covered a broad range of topics from personalized medicine in oncology, cutting-edge technologies and approaches in translational and clinical science, innovative clinical trials, cancer prevention, to important aspects regarding the wellbeing and care of patients.

This year’s program also included two roundtable discussions. The first, moderated by Josep Tabernero, centered on the incorporation of precision medicine in patient care. Joining Josep were invited speakers Lucas Moreno, Head of HUVH’s Pediatric Oncology and Hematology and the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute’s (VHIR) Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders Group, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Head of HUVH’s Anatomical Pathology Service and VHIR’s Translational Molecular Pathology Group, and Juan García Vicente who provided the essential patient perspective by sharing his personal experience of cancer care and treatment.

The second focused on treatment and innovative research. Moderated by Anna Santamaria, Coordinator of the Division of Oncology and Head of the Biomedical Research in Urology Group at VHIR, expert speakers included VHIO’s Francesc Bosch, Ana Vivancos and Cristina Casal, as well as Ibane Abasolo, Director of CIBBIM-Nanomedicine at VHIR.

Antonio Roman, Director of Healthcare at HUVH, closed this 3rd consecutive annual WCD event organized by HUVH, the Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus.

Coinciding with the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, celebrated annually on 11 February, several of our researchers participated in three different initiatives:

CONÓCELAS, is organized by the Asociación Española de Investigación sobre el Cáncer - ASEICA (Spanish Association of Cancer Research), in collaboration with the Red de Asociaciones de Investigadores y Científicos Españoles en el Exterior - RAICEX (Network of Associations for Spanish Researchers and Scientists Abroad), and the Fundación Merck Salud (Merck Health Foundation).

The main objective of this event is to illuminate the important contributions made by female investigators in combating cancer. It connects over 200 in researchers - ‘cancer detectives’ - virtually with over 11,000 students throughout Spain for them to discover more about the work of today’s female talents in cancer research.

ASEICA has also developed an interactive map plotting the whereabouts of each Spanish researcher in Spain and abroad also details the research background and scientific achievements as well as interesting facts about each of them beyond the realm of research. This year’s edition, celebrated on 08 February, counted on the participation of VHIO faculty including María Abad, Sílvia Casacuberta, Alena Gros, Sandra Martínez, Sandra Peiró, Raquel Pérez-López, Elena Senís, and Laura Soucek.

#100tífiques is a joint initiative of the Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca i la Innovació – FCRI (Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation), and the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), in collaboration with the Departament d’Educació de la Generalitat de Catalunya (Department of Education, the Government of Catalonia).

The main goals of #100tífiques are to promote the relevance and role of women in science and technology and foster collaboration between scientists from academia and enterprise. It also seeks to forge a more direct and reciprocal relationship between science and society.

2022 counted on the participation of women in science (pre-doctoral students, postdocs, group leaders and directors of research from both the public and private sectors), including VHIO’s Sarai Córdoba, Natalia Écija, Carmen Escudero, Alba Llop Guevara, Sara Gutiérrez-Enríquez, Olivia Prior and Maria Vieito, who gave virtual and/or in-person talks to students aged 11 and 12 across Catalonia.

Organized by the Scientific Foundation of the Asociación Española contra el Cáncer – AECC (Spanish Association against Cancer), the virtual event entitled Investigadora, que nada te detenga (Women in research, let nothing stop you), seeks to promote the work of female investigators who have received funding from AECC. Speakers are invited to discuss their current projects and talk about their respective career trajectories.

Taking place on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, 11 February 2022, VHIO’s Isabel Puig, Senior Investigator of VHIO’s Stem Cells and Cancer Group, was joined by Amparo Cano, Full Professor of Biochemistry, the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), and Carmen Ortega, an AECC PhD Student at the Mathematical Oncology Laboratory (MoLAB), the University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain. This interactive session was moderated by Sofía Hernández, AECC’s science communicator.

Left to right: VHIO’s Alena Gros, José A. Seoane, Joanna Doménech and Carmen Escudero.

Organized by the Ajuntament de Barcelona (Barcelona City Council), 2022 celebrated the 15^th annual edition of the Festa de la Ciència (Celebration of Science). This public event was established as an educational forum to learn about, consider and update on latest scientific advances, the opportunities that lie ahead, as well as current challenges that are being tackled through research of excellence. This year’s program included over 200 different activities for people of all ages.

Regarding VHIO’s participation, Principal Investigator of VHIO’s Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy Group Alena Gros gave a mini talk on immune-based therapies that boost the immune system to target and kill cancer cells and how immunotherapy is increasingly becoming the fourth main pillar of cancer therapy alongside surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy.

Principal Investigator of our Cancer Computational Biology Group José A. Seoane gave a mini talk on the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) in more effectively combating cancer through its potential application in the detection and diagnosis of disease as well as genetic testing and guiding treatment decision making.

Carmen Escudero, a PhD Student of our recently established Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Translational Research Group led by Tian Tian and directed by Teresa Macarulla, and Joanna Doménech, a PhD Student of VHIO’s Hereditary Cancer Genetics Group headed by Judith Balmaña, gave a talk on genetic mutations in cancer. Using pieces of LEGO® they creatively demonstrated how faulty genes lead to cancer.

The Nit Europea de la Recerca (European Night of Research) is celebrated annually in more than 25 countries throughout Europe. This event was established to enable members of the public to meet researchers, learn about their respective scientific disciplines, research lines and activities.

From 27 September – 02 October 2022, more than 100 activities took place in Barcelona including workshops, courses, and roundtable discussions. Coordinated by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), an initiative of the ”la Caixa” Foundation, University of Barcelona, and the Catalan Association of Scientific Communication (ACCC), the program also included talks by VHIO’s Paolo Nuciforo, Principal Investigator of our Molecular Oncology Group, and José A. Antonio, Principal Investigator of our Cancer Computational Biology Group, focused on the microbiome and artificial intelligence in cancer, respectively.

From 22 - 23 October 2022, the Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus celebrated 48h Open House BCN by providing the public with a great opportunity to learn more about cutting-edge platforms, tools and techniques on-campus that are shaping the future of healthcare.

Participants were invited to tour different VHIO labs and meet some of our investigators, as well as visit many other spaces across campus including the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR).

Forming part of Vall d’Hebron’s strategic plan to promote its innovation, driven and developed in-house, this event was also established to provide researchers, clinical investigators, technicians, and healthcare professionals who spur advances in oncology and develop the very latest medical technologies, with increased visibility in society.

International students, recently arrived in Barcelona, visit VHIO as part of the Barcelona MBA Day organized by Barcelona Global.

For the fourth consecutive year Barcelona MBA Day organized by Barcelona Global brought together 600 MBA international students, recently arrived in Barcelona from leading business schools in the world, to visit and learn about multinationals, renowned scale-ups, and research institutes.

Among these events, students came to our Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus on 20 October to discover more about research at Vall d’Hebron. During their visit they also toured VHIO to learn about our multidisciplinary translational research model, and technology transfer through a talk delivered by Héctor G. Palmer, Principal Investigator of our Stem Cells and Cancer Group, and co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of the VHIO-University of Barcelona (UB)-ICREA Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies spin off, ONIRIA Therapeutics, that officially launched this year.

Raising awareness about breast cancer diagnosed during pregnancy: VHIO’s Cristina Saura with patients attended at Vall d’Hebron, along with their families.

Led by VHIO’s Cristina Saura, Principal Investigator of our Breast Cancer Research Group and Head of the Breast Cancer Unit at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital (HUVH), Vall d’Hebron’s multidisciplinary program dedicated to attending patients diagnosed with breast cancer during pregnancy was established in 2001 to care for and guide individual patients and their family members as well as discuss possible treatment pathways based on the specificities of each individual patient’s disease and other considerations such as reproductive status and age.

Breast cancer diagnosed in women during pregnancy is rare; occurring about once in every 3,000 pregnancies, most often in women aged 32 to 38 years. To help raise awareness that highly specialized, multidisciplinary teams comprising surgeons, oncologists, and obstetricians, can balance breast cancer treatment based on the specificities of each individual patient and at the same time keep the baby safe and well, patients who were attended at Vall d’Hebron, including their family members, joined together with Cristina Saura, 20 October, Mount Tibidabo in Barcelona.

Escola i Ciència - Schools and Science, 22 November 2022: we welcomed primary school pupils from the Escola Les Aigües to VHIO to meet our faculty, tour our laboratories and learn more about cancer biology and research.

Our Escola i Ciència (Schools and Science) educational initiative was established in 2017 to invite under-twelves from local primary schools to meet our faculty, tour our laboratories and learn more about cancer biology and research.

The main objectives of these half day events are to teach young and inquisitive minds about the importance of research in combating cancer, how we conduct our investigations, and hopefully inspire some of our visitors to ultimately become the next generation of researchers.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic this program had to be mostly suspended once again this year. As the restrictions began to ease, we were able start planning for new visits and in November 2022 we welcomed 53 primary school pupils from the Escola Les Aigües to learn about the origins and development of cancer through an especially tailored talk presented by David Gómez Peregrina, Predoctoral Fellow of VHIO’s Sarcoma Translational Research Group.

They also participated in junior masterclasses and various hands-on activities led and supervised by VHIO faculty including José Jiménez, Alba Llop Guevara, Andrea Herencia, Heura Domènech and María López.

VHIO’s social media channels & platforms

In addition to our comprehensive lay media program and the invited participation and presence of our researchers and clinical investigators across a broad range of communication channels, VHIO Communications directed by Bianca Pont continues to expand our outreach activities through news announcements, campaigns, images, and videos tailored to our social media platforms and respective target audiences.

To discover what we are excited about, our latest news, and other developments that are catching our attention elsewhere, we invite you to follow us, and join in on our ‘conversation’ today:

Advancing cancer care through transformative team science

Advancing cancer care through transformative team science

Advancing cancer care through transformative team science

At a glance

Foreword by VHIO’s Director

Introducing VHIOWho we are and what we do

Introducing VHIO

Who we are and what we do

María Abad

Susana Aguilar

Joaquín Arribas

Judith Balmaña

Marta Beltran

Francesc Bosch

Francesc Canals

Joan Carles

Cristina Casal

Isabel Cidoncha

Rodrigo Dienstmann

Imma Falero

Enriqueta Felip

Elena Garralda

Jordi Giralt

Alena Gros

Teresa Macarulla

Joaquin Mateo

Mate Maus

Susana Muñoz

Lara Nonell

Paolo G. Nuciforo

Ana Oaknin

Héctor G. Palmer

Ángeles Peñuelas

Raquel Perez-Lopez

Alejandro Piris

Gemma Sala

Cristina Saura

Joan Seoane

Jose A. Seoane

Violeta Serra

César Serrano

Laura Soucek

Josep Tabernero

Josep Villanueva

Ana Vivancos

VHIO's Organigram 2022

VHIO in 2022: Advancing cancer care through transformative team science

A little more on how we did it in 2022

Main focus areas of research at VHIO:

Advancing cancer care through transformative team science

The development and application of cutting-edge platforms and empowering technologies in precision oncology

Prescreening at VHIO: driving the clinical implementation of emerging molecular biomarkers in oncology

VHIO’s Research Unit for Molecular Therapy of Cancer (UITM) – CaixaResearch: pioneering early clinical drug development and dynamic studies in precision oncology

The design and development of next generation adaptive studies in oncology

VHIO's direct access to cancer patients: at the center of our purely translational research model

VHIO’s Institutional Programs: driving the development of novel therapies and treatment strategies against cancer

New in 2022

Consortia and partnerships of excellence across borders

Technology transfer, development of new therapies & technologies in precision oncology

VHIO’s spin-off successes

VHIO-organized events: the sharing and exchange of latest advances in cancer discovery and precision oncology

Ad-hoc courses, workshops, perceptorships and observerships

Recognitions and prized research in 2022

Dr. Baselga Award 2022

Institutional support and accreditation 2022

VHIO’s patient engagement events, fundraising, and public outreach activities

Connecting and conversing with cancer patients, their families and friends outside of the clinic

8th edition of our annual breast cancer workshops (October 2021 – June 2022).

Online workshops for cancer patients.

Public fundraising in support of cancer research

Public outreach and engagement

VHIO’s social media channels & platforms

Foreword
by VHIO’s Director

Introducing VHIO
Who we are and what we do

8^th edition of our annual breast cancer workshops (October 2021 – June 2022).