Dr Beatriz Salvador

Who are you?

I am a Research Fellow at ECSCRI, hosted by Catherine Hogan lab, trying to understand how pancreatic cancer initiates. I am originally from Madrid (Spain), where I studied Biology at Universidad de Alcalá and did my MSc in Clinical Oncology at Universidad San Pablo CEU. I did my PhD at the CNIO (Spanish National Centre for Oncology Research) in pancreatic cancer treatment combinations and mechanism of action. Then I moved to Cardiff University to do my postdoc in normal-mutant cell-cell interactions in pancreatic cancer initiation. In 2022 I was awarded the Pancreatic Cancer UK Foundation Fellowship to study stem cells in pancreatic cancer premalignant lesions.

What do you think cancer stem cells are and why do you think they're so interesting?

I work in cancer initiation, the first events occurring that give rise to tumours. Cancer stem cells are the subset of cells within premalignant lesions that can progress into tumours. Identifying which are these cells and studying their characteristics can help us to develop tools to detect potential cancer cells even before it develops; and identify possible treatments to target these cells and delay or prevent cancer development.

Could you tell me about your current research at the Institute at the moment?

My research focuses on identifying the cancer stem cells within the different stages of pancreatic cancer premalignant lesions. Once identified, I study them in detail to identify possible biomarkers for detection and weaknesses to target them and prevent cancer development.

I am also interested in understanding how normal and mutant cells interact during pancreatic cancer development and how this interaction can be targeted to difficult cancer initiation.

How do you see your research being applied to the bigger picture?

Pancreatic cancer is a very aggressive disease with a very poor prognosis. This is mainly due to the late diagnosis of the disease; over the 80% of patient’s tumours cannot be surgically resected and can only be treated with chemotherapeutic agents.

With my research I aim to develop early detection tools that will allow to identify patients with high risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Also, I want to design treatments that could delay or even prevent pancreatic cancer development in high-risk patients.

What does your job involve today?

Nowadays I try to split my time between finalising my work as postdoc at Catherine Hoan lab, doing some lab work for my fellowship project and applying for funding.

Today in particular, I will spend the morning reading bibliography to write up the discussion of my postdoc project publication. In the afternoon I will do some experiments in the lab

What can you gain as a researcher from working at the Institute?

ECSCRI is a great place to do my research. Here I am surrounded by researchers that not only are experts in cancer but specifically in cancer stems cells. ECSCRI works as a very nice small community where everybody helps each other. Collaboration is really easy, and everybody is willing to help each other. As early career researcher I feel very supported by the PIs and the working groups at the institute, such as the Grant Committee. I literally couldn’t think of a better place to develop my project.