Mariano Barbacid

Dr. Barbacid got his Ph.D. in Madrid’s Universidad Complutense (1974) and trained as a postdoctoral fellow at the US National Cancer Institute (1974-78) where he started his own research group in 1978.  His work led in 1982 to the isolation of the first human oncogene, HRAS, and the identification of the first mutation associated with the development of human cancer.  In 1988, he joined Bristol Myers-Squibb where he became Vice President, Oncology Drug Discovery.

In 1998, he returned to Madrid to create and direct the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO). In 2011, Barbacid stepped down as CNIO Director to focus on his long-standing interests in identifying therapeutic strategies against KRAS mutant tumors. Barbacid was inducted to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2012 and in 2014 he was elected Fellow of the Academy of the American Association for Cancer Research. His work has been recognized by several domestic and international awards. In 2011, he received an Endowed Chair from the AXA Research Fund (Paris).

Carmen Guerra

Dr. Guerra is a pharmacist and molecular biologist with over 30 years of experience in molecular biology research, including more than two decades dedicated to pancreatic cancer. She earned her PhD in 1994 from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) and subsequently completed postdoctoral training at The Jackson Laboratory (Maine, USA), where she developed genetically modified mouse models to study the genetic basis of obesity.

Since 1998, Dr. Guerra has been a key member of Dr. Mariano Barbacid’s laboratory at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO). Her work has been primarily focused on Ras-driven tumorigenesis, with a special emphasis on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). She has played a pivotal role in developing advanced genetically engineered mouse models that closely mimic human pancreatic cancer. These models have been critical for understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor initiation and progression and have served as essential tools for evaluating novel therapeutic strategies in preclinical settings.

Alfredo Carrato

Dr. Carrato is Emeritus Professor of Medical Oncology at Alcalá University and Chairperson of Pancreatic Cancer Europe. He currently supports cancer research at the Ramón y Cajal Research Institute (IRYCIS) in Madrid. From 2015 to 2019, he served as Director of IRYCIS, and previously led the Medical Oncology Departments at Elche University Hospital (2000–2008) and Ramón y Cajal University Hospital (2008–2021).

He was President of several national oncology organizations, including SEOM, ASEICA, and FESEO, and served on governmental advisory boards for over a decade. He led the Pancreatic Cancer Research Group at CIBERONC until December 2024 and has been involved in numerous national and international translational research initiatives, focusing on molecular epidemiology and biology of solid tumors, especially pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Carrato has participated in hundreds of clinical trials and led many, with a strong commitment to quality care, reflected by ASCO-QOPI accreditations in 2017 and 2021. He was Vice President of the TTD Group and ECO Foundation, and a faculty member for GI tumors at ESMO (2017–2022). He has authored over 390 peer-reviewed publications (H-index 79) and contributed to major clinical guidelines, including the ASCO/ACP HER2 guidelines in gastric cancer.

Julie Earl

Dr. Earl has dedicated nearly her entire scientific career to the study of pancreatic cancer. After earning a BSc in Applied Biology (1996), MSc in Biotechnology (1998), and PhD in Molecular Biology (2003), she began postdoctoral research at the University of Liverpool, UK, studying the genetic basis of familial pancreatic cancer. Subsequently, she worked at CNIO in Madrid (2008–2011) focusing on copy number variations in tumors, and later joined IRYCIS, where she has since focused on biomarker discovery and early detection of pancreatic cancer in high-risk groups.

Since 2023, she is head of the BioPAC group of IRYCIS. Her research has evolved towards the clinical application of molecular profiling, with a strong emphasis on the genetic basis of pancreatic cancer risk and non-invasive diagnostic strategies for early detection using the liquid biopsy. She actively collaborated with many multidisciplinary pancreatic cancer consortia, such as PRECEDE, CAPS and ALIPANC, and maintain ongoing collaborations with clinicians and advocacy groups, including ACANPAN, Pancreatic Cancer Europe and Cancer Patients Europe. 

Andrés Muñoz Martín 

Dr. Muñoz is a medical oncologist at the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón in Madrid, Spain, where he serves in the Medical Oncology Service, specifically within the Digestive Cancer Unit and the Phase I Unit. He is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the Complutense University of Madrid.

Dr. Muñoz Martín obtained his medical degree from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and earned his PhD in Medicine with the highest distinction ("cum laude") from the Complutense University of Madrid. He completed his specialization in Medical Oncology at the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón and holds a diploma in Health Sciences Statistics from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. His primary research interests include gastrointestinal malignancies, particularly pancreatic and biliary tract cancers, as well as cancer-associated thrombosis and early-phase clinical trials. He leads the Translational Medical Oncology and Individualized Cancer Therapy group at the Gregorio Marañón Health Research Institute. Dr. Muñoz Martín has authored over 200 publications and has been involved in numerous national and international clinical trials.ALIPANC

In addition to his clinical and research roles, Dr. Muñoz serves as President of the Ethics Committee for Research with Medicines (CEIm) at his institution and coordinates the Cancer and Thrombosis Working Group of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM). He is also a member of the editorial board of Thrombosis Update.

Meritxell Rovira

Dr. Rovira has dedicated her career to study pancreas acquiring a broad knowledge of this gland from every perspective (endocrine and exocrine). In addition, through her career she has embraced a broad array of experimental platforms in pursuing her work, using ES cells during her PhD (IMIM, Barcelona, Spain), mouse and zebrafish models, human/mouse derived organoids and epigenetics in her postdoctoral work (Johns Hopkins Hospital-School of Medicne (USA) and IDIBAPS (Barcelona, Spain). She established her research group in September 2019, after being awarded a Ramon y Cajal excellence contract, consolidating her as an independent group leader at University of Barcelona-IDIBELL. Dr. Rovira has recently become an associate professor at University of Barcelona-IDIBELL. Rovira’s group research interest is focused on better understanding of pancreas development, pancreatic regeneration and cell of origin of pancreatic cancer and ampullary tumors. Moreover, the lab has expertise in state-of-the-art techniques such as scRNAseq, multiomics and complex organoids, as well as GEMM models of pancreatic cancer and access to human samples from healthy donors and PDAC patients through established collaborations with surgeons and oncologist at Bellvitge Hospital and ICO.

Bruno Sainz

Dr. Sainz has a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from Tulane University, USA, in 2015 and is currently a Scientific Researcher at the Sols-Morreale Institute for Biomedical Research (IIBM), a joint CSIC-UAM center, and co-coordinator of Area 3 (Cancer) at the Ramón y Cajal Institute for Health Research (IRYCIS). He leads the Cancer Stem Cells and Fibroinflammatory Microenvironment at the IINM and the Biomarkers and Personalized Approach to Cancer Group (BioPAC) Group at the IRYCIS, with a focus on cancer stem cells in pancreatic cancer. Dr. Sainz’s accomplishments and the work of his laboratory have resulted in more than 100 publications; multiple grants awarded in the United States (Cancer Research Institute, Concern Foundation), Spain (ISCIII, AECC, ACANPAN, FERO Fellowship), and Europe (EURO-NanoMed, TRANSCAN3, EIC Transition); patent applications; numerous invited talks and presentations; editorial affiliations; and international recognition. Dr. Sainz has broad expertise in immunology, virology, and oncology, with a specific emphasis on pancreatic cancer, cancer stem cells, small-animal cancer models, and drug discovery.

Justo P. Castaño

Dr. Castaño is Professor of Cell Biology at the University of Córdoba (UCO) and leads the Hormones and Cancer research group at the Maimonides Biomedical Research Institute of Córdoba (IMIBIC), Spain. He earned his BSc and PhD in Biological Sciences from UCO and completed a Fulbright postdoctoral fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina, USA. His research focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying pancreatic cancer and neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), with special emphasis on alternative RNA splicing, RNA biology, and neuropeptide-receptor signaling.

Dr. Castaño’s group, consistently funded through national and international grants, investigates how disruptions in RNA processing and receptor pathways contribute to tumorigenesis. Among his notable contributions is the discovery of SST5TMD4, an aberrant somatostatin receptor variant with oncogenic properties. He has authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications and holds several international patents. Highly active in the scientific community, Dr. Castaño serves as Editor-in-Chief of Endocrine Oncology and has served on editorial boards of leading journals. He frequently speaks at international conferences (e.g., ENETS, ESE, ESMO) and has held leadership roles in multiple societies including GETNE, SEEN, ESE, and ENETS. He is also a former Vice-Rector at UCO and past Director of IMIBIC, and has supervised over 50 MSc and PhD students.

Francisco X Real

Dr. Real trained as a medical oncologist at Memorial Hospital, New York, where he became staff physician. He returned to IMIM, Barcelona, in 1988 where he set up a new research program in cancer cell and molecular biology. In 2003, he became Professor of Cell Biology at UPF. In 2007, he joined the CNIO where he is a Senior Group Leader. Over the last 30 years, his laboratory has focused on the study of the cell and molecular biology of pancreatic and bladder cancer. In pancreatic cancer, his group pioneered that notion that cell differentiation is the first tumor suppressive mechanism using genetic mouse models, focusing on the identification of early mechanisms that favor tumor development. His group has provided a thorough understanding of the role of several transcription factors in normal pancreas and PDAC. They have uncovered that lineage-specific transcriptional programs suppress intrinsic inflammatory signals. Their current work is focused on precision prevention strategies in PDAC. The group combines the use of genetic mouse models, organoids, and multi-omics data analysis to study the function of relevant genes/pathways. Paco is/has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of several institutions and charities, most notably, CRUK Discovery Research Committee and the ERC Consolidator grant LS7 panel.

Jen Morton

Dr. Morton is a group leader at the CRUK Scotland (formerly Beatson) Institute and Professor in the University of Glasgow School of Cancer Sciences. Jen completed a Medical Biochemistry undergraduate degree and a PhD in Molecular Oncology at the University of Glasgow. She carried out postdoctoral research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where she started to specialize in pancreatic cancer research. In 2007 she joined the CRUK Beatson Institute where she now leads a lab focused on research into pancreatic cancer. The main aims of the lab are to find out more about how pancreatic cancer behaves, identify new ways to treat the disease, and test those new treatments in the best model systems. Work in the lab has provided insights into pancreatic cancer biology, how pancreatic cancers spread, and how the ‘normal’ cells in the body can be hijacked by pancreatic tumours to support their growth and render them insensitive to therapies. She works with both academic and industry collaborators around the world to test and translate new therapies in pancreatic cancer.

Vasiliki Liaki

Dr. Liaki studied Biology in the National and Kapodestrian University of Athens in her home-coming country Greece. In 2015 she moved to Germany to obtain her MSc in Genetics and Molecular Biology under the supervision of Prof. Christian Reinhardt and Prof. Manolis Pasparakis in the University Clinic and the CECAD Research Center in Cologne. In 2018 she started her Doctorate thesis in the Experimental Oncology group in CNIO under the supervision of Prof. Mariano Barbacid and Dr. Carmen Guerra, funded by the INPhINIT fellowship of the La Caixa Foundation. During this time she established and validated the efficacy of a novel therapeutic strategy based on the combined inhibition of three independent signaling nodes of the KRAS signaling network. In 2022 she defended her PhD and obtained the Award for Early Thesis Submission granted by the La Caixa Foundation. In 2023 she obtained a Master in Bioinformatics and Data Science in Personalized Medicine. Currently, for her post-doctoral training she conducts bioinformatic analyses to translate big data to targeted therapies against metastatic pancreatic cancer. In 2024 she received a Scholar-In-Trainee Award by the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR).

Peter Bailey

Dr. Bailey is Director of Translational Research at the Botton-Champalimaud Pancreatic Cancer Centre, Lisbon, Portugal. Peter completed his PhD in Molecular Biology at the University of Queensland, Australia and has worked at several leading universities including Harvard Medical School, Karolinska Institute and University of Glasgow. He has expertise in the fields of translational genomics and cancer systems biology and has published on the classification and molecular characterisation of pancreatic cancer.

Dieter Saur

Dr. Saur is a physician scientist and Professor of the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), head of the Division of Translational Cancer Research at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Director of the Institute of Experimental Cancer Therapy at the TUM School of Medicine (https://exp-cancertherapy.med.tum.de/en). My group studies fundamental biologically and clinically relevant aspects of pancreatic cancer: how it develops, progresses, spreads to distant sites, and why it becomes resistant to anti-cancer therapies. Over the last 20 years, my lab has generated unique biological resources and genetic tools to analyze tumor evolution and how this affects therapeutic response of pancreatic cancer subtypes in vitro and in vivo with a special focus on the cross-talk of cells in tumors with different genetic makeups and their interactions with the immune system. Thereby, my lab explores new ways to target pancreatic cancer subtypes more efficiently and to translate these finding to clinical trials to improve the prognosis of pancreatic cancer patients. I have published >200 papers and received an ERC Consolidator Grant and the German Cancer Award for my work on pancreatic cancer.

Nuria Malats

Dr. Malats is the head of the Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), Madrid, Spain, since 2007. She has broad expertise in these research fields, focusing mainly on pancreatic and bladder cancers. She coordinates several large national and international studies integrating different levels of information, including omics and image-related data, in cancer development and progression by applying AI approaches. The resources of these studies have contributed to further disentangling the complex etiology of these cancers. Dr. Malats has over 300 publications and is an external reviewer of national and international funding agencies and first-ranked scientific journals. Dr. Malats has been an ESUR, EAU Research Foundation, and PanC4 board member. She chaired the EUPancreas COST Action (BM1204) with >250 members, ALIPANC, an alliance on pancreatic cancer research in Spain and Portugal with 70 research groups, and the Research Work Stream of Pancreatic Cancer Europe (PCE) multistakeholder platform.

Nelson Dusetti

Dr. Dusetti is a cancer researcher specializing in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), with a leading role in the development of precision medicine approaches for this aggressive disease. His research focuses on understanding tumor heterogeneity and resistance mechanisms, and on translating this knowledge into clinically applicable tools. He is currently Director of Research at INSERM and co-director of the TRANSLATE-IT department at the Cancer Research Center of Marseille (CRCM).

A major contribution of his work has been the development of transcriptomic signatures capable of predicting response to chemotherapy in PDAC, which are now being tested in prospective clinical trials. These predictive signatures represent a key step toward treatment personalization and improving patient outcomes.

Nelson Dusetti is also Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) of Predicting Med, a spin-off company from CRCM, which aims to bring these molecular tools into routine clinical practice. His work bridges basic research, translational studies, and clinical implementation through institutional and industrial collaborations.

Silvestre Vicent Cambra

Dr. Vicent leads the Oncogenes and Effector Targets (OnTarget) group in the Solid Tumors Program at CIMA-University of Navarra since 2014. The main two goals of his lab are: 1) to develop integrative gene expression analysis to identify central KRAS effectors across tumors, and 2) to uncover novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of mutant KRAS tumors. Highlights of his group's work are the identification of a cross-tumors KRAS signature featuring common functional effectors, some of which have been adopted as a bona fide KRAS targets by the RAS community, and the discovery of new drug combinations with the potential to be translated to the clinic. He is a member of the Spanish Cancer Network CIBERONC, the Spanish Alliance on Pancreatic Cancer Research (ALIPANC), the European Precision Biliary Tract Network, and the Health Research Institute of Navarra (IdISNa) and the Cancer Center of the University of Navarra (CCUN). He is also an Associated Lecturer at the University of Navarra. 

Laura Souceck

Dr. Soucek is ICREA Research Professor, Director of the Experimental Therapeutics Research Program and Head of the Models of Cancer Therapies Laboratories at the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) in Barcelona, Spain. In addition, she is Associate Professor at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and CEO and co-founder of Peptomyc S.L. She graduated in Biological Sciences in 1996 and obtained her PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology in 2001 at the University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy. She did her postdoc at University California San Francisco (UCSF; 2001-2006), where she was then promoted to Assistant Researcher (2006-2011). She has been leading her research laboratory at VHIO in Barcelona since then.Dr. Sousek is a key opinion leader in MYC biology and MYC inhibition, as well the developer of the most characterized MYC inhibitor known to date, Omomyc, which is the first MYC inhibitor to have successfully completed a Phase I clinical trial and is now in Phase Ib/II studies. She is member of the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM), the Spanish Association for Cancer Research (ASEICA), the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and WICR (Women in Cancer Research).

Teresa Macarulla

Dr. Macarulla received her medical degree from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain. Afterwards, she completed her specialist training in medical oncology and has had appointments in Barcelona. She is currently a physician in the Medical Oncology Department at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain. Dr Macarulla is also the head of the GI Cancer Program Unit since April 2017. She is working in the gastrointestinal tumors team. She is involved in translational research and pharmacodynamic phase I studies with molecular targeted therapies and related translational research, with a special focus on EGFR inhibitors. She is also involved in phase II and III studies with new chemotherapy agents in gastrointestinal tumors, with special interest in hepatobiliopancreatic tumors. Dr Macarulla is the author of numerous publications, many focusing on hepatobiliopancreatic tumors and new drugs, and she has authored communications at different conferences. She actively participates in the development of national and international clinical investigations,especially in relation to drugs directed against molecular targets, as well as clinical investigations for new chemotherapy agents. Dr Macarulla is also an ad hoc reviewer for various oncology journals. In addition, Dr Macarulla is an active member of the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology, European Society for Medical Oncology, and American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Ignacio Garrido-Laguna

Dr. Garrido-Laguna is a Professor of Oncology at the University of Utah School of Medicine and Director of the Phase I Program at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI), where he leads translational and clinical research in gastrointestinal cancers, with a focus on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). His team developed the PRIME framework—targeting Pathway inhibitors, DNA Repair, Immunotherapy, Metabolism, and the Extracellular matrix—to guide PDAC drug development. He has led multiple early-phase trials, including studies contributing to the FDA approval of entrectinib for tumors with NTRK fusions. Dr. Garrido-Laguna's research has informed national guidelines and has increased PDAC clinical trial participation at HCI. He is a member of the GI Committee at SWOG and co-leads a translational study on immunologic markers of response to neoadjuvant therapy. A graduate of Universidad de Navarra, he trained at MD Anderson and Johns Hopkins, where he studied stromal-mediated chemotherapy resistance in PDAC.