Dr. Daniel Ajona, scientist at the research center Applied Medical (CIMA) of the University of Navarra, has received the award Profesor Durántez of the LAIR Foundation for the best academic publication in the field of tumor immunology in 2017. The submission ceremony was held at the foundation's headquarters in Madrid.

Dr. Ajona (Pamplona, 1978) has shown that the combined blockade of C5a and PD-1 proteins inhibits tumor growth and prevents metastasis in animal models. "We proved that this strategy significantly reduces the growth of lung tumors and their metastasis to bone. The relevance of our study is that it proposes a novel therapeutic approach for patients with this tumor subject ," says Dr. Ajona. The results of the work, carried out with the partnership of the Solid Tumors and Immunology and Immunotherapy programs of the CIMA, were published in Cancer Discovery, an international journal of reference letter in the field of research in Oncology.

Dr. Ajona's group is currently funded by the research center Biomedica en network (CIBERONC), the research Health Fund-European Regional Fund development "A way of doing Europe" and the association Spanish Against Cancer (AECC).

Dr. Ajona holds a PhD in Biology from the University of Navarra and completed a three-year postdoctoral stay at the University of Southampton (UK). He is currently working as researcher in the Solid Tumors Program at CIMA.