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From left to right: Leonor Prieto, Scientific Director of L'Oréal Dermatological Beauty Division; Isabel Espejo, recipient of the contract funded by La Roche-Posay; Isabel Castillejo, Director of L'Oréal Dermatological Beauty Medical Relations and Scientific Communications; and Maria Blasco, Director of CNIO. / Laura M. Lombardía, CNIO
Isabel Espejo (Seville, 1994) has joined the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) with a CNIO Friends postdoctoral contract, funded mainly by La Roche-Posay, the dermo-cosmetic brand of L’Oréal Spain.
From the Telomeres and Telomerase Group – led by Maria A. Blasco – and for the next two years, the researcher will focus her work on the side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy on the skin. “Many patients may be more easily affected by sunburn, ulcers or the so-called hand-foot syndrome, in which the skin on both hands and feet becomes much more fragile and tends to crack or peel during routine activities such as walking,” she explains.
With the aim of finding a preventive or curative treatment for these cases, she will start by researching the processes at the base of above-mentioned damage. From the very inside of cells: she will first observe what happens to telomeres, the structures at the ends of chromosomes that protect DNA.
“We know that shortening of telomeres is associated with ageing and with some diseases, such as cancer. We also know that cells are able to detect this shortening and activate a number of molecular mechanisms aimed to stop or even reverse it by lengthening the telomeres. But we don’t know how they do it, or why in some cases these mechanisms don’t work,” says Espejo.
To find out, the young researcher will for the first time apply to the study of telomeres an innovative technique: long-read genomic sequencing. Chosen as Method of the Year in 2022 by the journal Nature Methods, it makes possible to sequence long molecules of DNA.
With the contribution of its La Roche-Posay brand to this contract, L’Oréal Spain is one of the top contributors to the Friends of CNIO philanthropy program this year. Leonor Prieto, Scientific Director of the L’Oréal Dermatological Beauty Division, explains their motivation: “La Roche-Posay’s fundamental commitment is to improve the quality of sensitive skin or skin affected by pathologies or treatments. We are very proud to work with Friends of CNIO to support research that takes us from basic science to clinical practice”.
Leonor Prieto highlights the program’s efforts to “encourage research talent by bringing young scientists into the field”. She adds that within its area of research, “La Roche-Posay develops both basic science projects and specific clinical studies, besides creating expert groups to develop skin care guides focused on oncology patients for healthcare professionals”. Maria A. Blasco, CNIO Scientific Director, declares: “These donations are very important to us. We are grateful for the financial support, of course, but also because they are a sign to us about society knowing about our work and caring about it”.