The Institute for Neurosciences CSIC-UMH welcomes representatives from the Spanish Association Against Cancer and El Corte Inglés

27 de October de 2026

  • El Corte Inglés has committed to funding a research project led by Ángela Nieto through the Spanish Association Against Cancer.
  • The €400,000 project aims to understand how tumour cells develop resistance to treatment, paving the way for advances in relapse prevention.

From left to right: Ester Uriol, Ángela Nieto and María Laviña at the event held yesterday at the Institute for Neurosciences CSIC-UMH.

The Institute for Neurosciences (IN), a joint centre of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), welcomed representatives of the Spanish Association Against Cancer and El Corte Inglés yesterday to learn more about the work of Ángela Nieto’s research team, which will undertake a new project investigating how tumour cells develop resistance to treatment. El Corte Inglés will contribute €400,000 over the next four years through its collaboration with the Association.

The visit was attended by Santiago Canals, Deputy Director of the IN CSIC-UMH; María Laviña, Corporate Director of Partnerships and Economic Development at the Spanish Association Against Cancer; Ignacio José López, the Association’s manager in Alicante; and representatives from the communications and science outreach teams of both organisations, including Ester Uriol, Communications Director at El Corte Inglés, and Víctor Hernández, the company’s Communications Director for the Valencian Community.

During the event, researcher Ángela Nieto, who heads the Cell Plasticity in Development and Disease laboratory at the IN, presented the aims and research activities of the new project. After a question-and-answer session with the media, attendees visited her laboratory facilities, where they could learn firsthand about the work her team carries out.

Dr Ángela Nieto during the presentation of her project at yesterday’s event. Credit: IN CSIC-UMH.

The researcher expressed her gratitude for the support received and highlighted the responsibility that comes with this funding as she pursues a line of research aimed at helping prevent cancer relapse: “I would like to express my deepest gratitude for the trust placed in our team. This funding gives us the boost we need to keep advancing our research. Knowing that behind this support are people living with the disease, their families, volunteers and donors reminds us every day of the purpose of our work and inspires us to continue our research with enthusiasm, responsibility and determination, to contribute to the development of new strategies to tackle cancer”.

Investigating how cancer adapts to treatment

One of the major challenges in cancer treatment is that some tumours return after initially responding to therapy. This can happen when certain tumour cells survive treatment and acquire characteristics that allow them to resist it. Ángela Nieto’s team will investigate the mechanisms that enable this adaptation, known as cellular plasticity, to identify new strategies to prevent it.

To this end, the project will use advanced technologies that make it possible to analyse individual cells and study the changes they undergo. This approach will help researchers investigate the processes involved in the development of treatment resistance and identify potential therapeutic targets for future interventions.

PhD student Angelita Costantino explained her work in Ángela Nieto’s laboratory during the visit. Credit: IN CSIC-UMH.

The study will focus on aggressive cancers such as triple-negative breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Understanding how tumour cells adapt and survive treatment could open up new avenues for developing more durable therapies and reducing the risk of relapse.

Ángela Nieto’s scientific career has focused on the study of the reactivation of embryonic developmental programmes in adult diseases, particularly cancer progression and organ degeneration. Among other distinctions, she received Spain’s National Research Award Santiago Ramón y Cajal in 2019, and the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science International Award in 2022.

Funding for the new project is part of the collaboration between El Corte Inglés and the Spanish Association Against Cancer to promote cancer research. Through this partnership, the company has previously supported five research projects at different centres across Spain.

Source: Institute for Neurosciences CSIC-UMH (in.comunicacion@umh.es) / Spanish Association Against Cancer (https://www.contraelcancer.es/es)