From the left: Susana Codina, Deputy Director at Fundación Occident, Albana Gattelli, Guadalupe Sabio and Fernando Peláez, CNIO's Acting Scientific Director. / CNIO
The scientist heads up a research group at the Institute of Physiology, Molecular Biology and Neuroscience (IFIBYNE) within the National Research Council (CONICET) at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina.
She will be working with the Metabolic Interactions Group at CNIO, led by Guadalupe Sabio, to identify mechanisms that cause adipose cells to promote tumour growth.
Gattelli's work explores the interaction between cancer and the microenvironment of the mammary gland.
Argentine researcher Albana Gattelli has just arrived at the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) as a beneficiary of the latest edition of the Fundación Occident Visiting Researchers programme. Thanks to this programme, Gattelli will be collaborating with the Metabolic Interactions Group at CNIO, led by Guadalupe Sabio, until the end of October.
Gattelli heads up a research group at the Institute of Physiology, Molecular Biology and Neuroscience (IFIBYNE) within the National Research Council (CONICET) at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina. Her research studies the mechanisms that govern the interaction between tumour cells and the microenvironment of the mammary gland.
In her collaboration with CNIO, Gattelli will explore how breast cancer tumour cells interact with adipose (fatty) tissue. Specifically, she is looking for the mechanisms by which adipose tissue cells promote the development of surrounding tumour cells. These mechanisms could become a new target area in future treatments of breast cancer, the leading cause of death in women around the world.
Fundación Occident and CNIO
The Fundación Occident Visiting Researchers programme funds research stays at CNIO for scientists who have developed their career at prestigious international centres over the past five years. These visits allow the host group to forge bonds with the visiting researcher’s centre, enabling new avenues of work to be opened through the exchange of ideas and common interests.
Collaboration between Fundación Occident and CNIO dates back to 2009. Through this programme, CNIO has hosted David Goldgar; Rama Khokha; Mercedes Rincón; Astrid Laegreid; Maria Sibilia; Robert Benezra; Peter Petzelbauer; André Nussenzweig; Stephan A. Hahn; Patrick Sung; Chaitanya R. Divgi; Marcin Nowotny; Madalena Tarsounas; Raúl Rabadán; Wolfgang Weninger; Scott Lowe; Sonia Laín; Eva Nogales, Gonçalo Bernardes and Yardena Samuels.
About the National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO)
The National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) is a public research centre under the Department of Science, Innovation and Universities. It is the largest cancer research centre in Spain and one of the most important in Europe. It includes around five hundred scientists, along with support staff, who are working to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
About Fundación Occident
Fundación Occident – previously known as Fundacion Jesus Serra until 2024 – is a private non-profit organisation founded in 1998 by Grupo Catalana Occidente (GCO) in memory of Jesús Serra Santamans, a renowned entrepreneur and patron, who was the insurance group’s founder. The foundation has five areas of action that structure its activity: Research, Enterprise and teaching, Social action, Sports, and Promotion of the arts. Within the area of research, its work focuses on channelling patronage and sponsorship activity that the Group has been carrying out for more than half a century, promoting its own research awards that recognise the achievements of young Spanish scientists in the areas of food and nutrition.
It also promotes programmes that bring the knowledge of international scientific experts to Spanish research groups, and other collaborations to promote scientific progress in cardiovascular and cancer research.