Cristina Peña (CP) incorporated (oct-2023) as Investigadora Científica to the
Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Sols Morreale (IIBM, CSIC-UAM, Madrid).
She joined Felix Bonilla’s group
(Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro (HPH)) in 2002 and received her PhD in
Medicine at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (2005) obtaining the maximum
grade and the Extraordinary PhD award. CP worked in the relationships among
genes related with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in colon cancer (CC)
patients, identifying new tissue and liquid biopsy biomarkes. Later she joined
to Arne Östman’s group (Stockholm, 2008-2010) to study the role of
cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) on CC progression. Back to Madrid in 2010,
CP started her own group at HPH with a Miguel Servet contract and then she
translated to Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal (HRC) in 2016. Since then,
her laboratory is focused on the study of the tumor microenvironment in CC
patients with a clear attempt to translate her results to the clinical
management of oncology patients.
CP has authored 68 manuscripts (16: senior
and corresponding author; 6: first author; more than 6,000 citations; H factor:
39 (WOS Jan-2025)). CP has received
fundings for research from 23 projects. In 9 of them she is the principal
investigator (ISCIII; AECC; CAM; AEI).
