A scientist from CIMA of the University of Navarra receives 1.5 million euros to study the mechanisms of cancer.

Maite Huarte from Pamplona, a scientist at the research center Applied Medicine (CIMA ) of the University of Navarra, has received a "Starting grant" from the committee European research. The award, endowed with 1.5 million euros, is one of the most prestigious grants of the European Union in the scientific field. It rewards innovative ideas and the curriculum of young scientists and values the availability of the center's technological resources so that they can start a line of independent research . "This is a very important call economically, but above all from the scientific point of view, since it allows to launch an ambitious project that would not be possible without this subject of aid," explains Dr. Huarte.

The project of research that has been started at CIMA studies a new class of genes that control tumor cells. "Long non-coding RNAs are a subject of genes that do not encode proteins, so until recently they were thought to have no function. Thanks to new genomic techniques, it has been shown that they regulate very important cellular processes that are altered in cancer. However, it is not known how they act. The project I have proposed focuses on understanding how these genes function in cancer cells. If we add this new element to the composition map of a tumor cell, we can design more effective therapies against this disease".