On Tuesday 18 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. Ana Angulo-Urarte, postdoctoral researcher at the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, has received one of the prestigious Junior Leader Retaining grants in its 2024 call. Dr. Angulo-Urarte is part of the Endothelial Pathobiology and Microenvironment group, led by Dr. Mariona Graupera, and this grant will allow her to carry out her research project for a period of three years.

The selection process for these Junior Leader grants from ‘la Caixa’ Foundation is carried out through a rigorous competitive process, in which they evaluate the excellence of the candidate's CV, their motivation and the proposed project. They are aimed at postdoctoral researchers in any STEM discipline who are going to start an independent project or who are in transition to create their own research group.

Understanding the onset of PIK3CA-related congenital disorders

The project that Dr. Angulo-Urarte will develop, thanks to the Junior Leader Retaining grant, aims to improve the understanding of how cells with mutations in the PIK3CA gene behave during embryonic development. This new knowledge will provide a more accurate picture of how PIK3CA-related congenital tissue overgrowth syndromes, known as PROS, initiate and progress, with the hope of discovering new ways to treat them and thus improve the quality of life of affected patients.