The Spanish periodical La Vanguardia has opened voting online for the recipient of this year´s Vanguardia de la Ciencia annual prize recognizing some of the most pioneering science published from institutions of excellence throughout Spain in 2015. This non-monetary recognition, launched in 2011, was especially created to give more visibility to research of excellence carried out nationwide.
This year, VHIO´s Joan Seoane, Director of Translational Research, ICREA Professor, and Professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), has been selected as one of the eight finalists for a study proposing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) as liquid biopsy for the early diagnosis, prognosis, therapeutic management and tracking of brain cancer, published last November in the journal Nature Communications. This novel approach of using liquid biopsy in CSF, obtained by lumbar puncture, could not only promise a more precise treatment selection for each individual patient, but also help us to be steps ahead of cancers next move. Compared to traditional procedures used to extract brain tissue samples, it is also a much less invasive technique, representing a significant forward step towards better detecting cancer mutations, tracking the evolution of disease, as well as predicting response to therapy.
Financed in part by a grant from the Spanish Association against Cancer (AECC), this research also represents a truly multidisciplinary effort – reflecting the necessity of combining expertise across disciplines to drive discovery as quickly as possible in the collective quest to more precisely conquer cancer.
Importantly, Joan and his group – including first-authors Leticia de Mattos-Arruda and Regina Mayor, were able to establish the proof of concept of this approach as well as promising new direction in the study of brain cancer and metastases, thanks to the essential work and dedication of other researchers and physician scientists at VHIO, including co-authors Javier Cortés, Josep Tabernero, Enriqueta Felip, Jordi Rodón, Joan Carles and Ana Vivancos, as well as the collaboration of neurosurgeons, pathologists, investigators and bioinformaticians across the Vall d´Hebron University Hospital Campus.
We therefore encourage you all to visit: http://www.lavanguardia.com/vanguardia-de-la-ciencia/20160129/301763827275/ocho-premio-vanguardia-de-la-ciencia.html and hopefully decide to cast your vote for Joan before the deadline of Monday 29 February.
We also invite you to kindly share the link among colleagues and friends, as well as help spread the word via social media. For those on Twitter please use the hashtag: #seoanevanguardia.
