Dr. Laura Ruiz Cañas, from the Cancer Stem Cells and Fibroinflammatory Microenvironment Group at the Biomedical Research Institute “Sols-Morreale” (IIBM), CSIC-UAM, has been selected as ‘Young Talent’ by the Ramón y Cajal Health Research Institute (IRYCIS), where she leads an attractive biomodelling service for the study of cancer stem cells.
Dr. Laura Ruiz Cañas joined in 2019 the Biomarkers and Personalised Approach to Cancer Group (BIOPAC), a leading laboratory in multidisciplinary research on cancer stem cells, to focus on their identification, characterisation and their relationship with proteins involved in the tumour microenvironment. Her most relevant scientific work includes her first-author paper on the role of the LOXL2 protein in pancreatic cancer metastasis and a soon-to-be-published paper on how pancreatic cancer stem cells influence the early microenvironment by overexpressing PGLYRP1. Another notable collaboration has been her work with the Singular Centre for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials (CiQUS) at the University of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, where she is collaborating on a La Caixa Consolidate project to selectively target cancer stem cells with a ruthenium-based compound, representing a novel strategy. All the information about this work was published in the "News" section of our website.
Since 2020, she has also been part of the Biobanks and Biomodels Platform of the Carlos III Institute of Health, an initiative that coordinates scientific-technological centres in the handling and supply of biological samples and 3D printing.
Within the Animal Models team, Dr. Ruiz Cañas has established a service of patient-derived xenografts (PDX) in murine models for various types of cancer (pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, lung, colorectal, large cell neuroendocrine carcinomas and osteosarcomas, in other subtypes). In 2024, the ISCIII has renewed its participation in this technological network by committing to a new line of research focused on the repositioning of drugs for therapy orphan tumours or rare tumours with low frequency but high mortality.
She is also co-PI with Dr. Elena Corral from the Medical Oncology Service of another line of research recently selected by the Fundación para la Investigación Biomédica del Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal (FIBioHRC) in the intramural call ‘Emergentes 2023’ which will focus on the role of the biomarker miR-19A in the therapeutic response in gastrointestinal cancer.
A talent from the IIBM
Dr. Laura Ruiz Cañas (Madrid, 1984) graduated in Biology at the Complutense University of Madrid in 2007 and completed an MSc. in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the Autonomous University of Madrid in 2011. Thanks to an FPI-CSIC grant (2009-2013), he completed his PhD thesis at the IIBM-CSIC-UAM, under the supervision of Dr. Mario Vallejo. At the same time, she worked simultaneously in the laboratory of Dr. Ángela M. Valverde until 2017. Since 2019 and until now, she is part of Dr. Bruno Sainz's team as a staff scientist.
At the IIBM, we congratulate Dr. Ruiz Cañas for her excellent research career, which in turn contributes to the integration and excellence of all the institutions where she works, including CSIC, UAM, ISCIII and IRYCIS.