On Tuesday, 17 March, the CosmoCaixa Science Museum hosted the award ceremony for "la Caixa" Foundation's doctoral and postdoctoral grants. These prominent grants, one of the most important among those promoted by private entities, seek to retain and attract talent to research centres and universities in Spain and Portugal to promote excellence in research.

Dr Alessandro Ianni, postdoctoral researcher at the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, has received one of the prestigious Postdoctoral Junior Leader fellowships in its 2025 call. Dr Ianni, member of the Chromatin biology laboratory led by Dr Àlex Vaquero, will push forward his research on understanding the molecular mechanisms driving the progression of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML), an aggressive blood cancer with dismal prognosis.

One of the major obstacles in treating AML is its heterogeneity. Actually, it can be considered a group of different malignancies, each one harbouring distinct genetic alterations influencing its behaviour and patient outcomes. Dr Ianni will focus on the role of nucleophosmin 1, a multifunctional protein involved in essential cellular processes found mutated frequently in AML.

“The support of the La Caixa Foundation is instrumental in making this work possible and represents an important step in my development as an independent researcher, committed to advancing molecular oncology and contributing to the future of personalized cancer medicine”, expresses Dr. Ianni. This grant will allow him to carry out his research project for a period of three years and advance our overall understanding of AML biology, to identify new opportunities for targeted therapeutic intervention.

The postdoctoral fellowships from ‘la Caixa’ Foundation are designed to support the development of an independent scientific career, promoting innovation and leadership as key pillars of professional development.