The Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute (IJC), a CERCA center of the Generalitat de Catalunya, has a new laboratory led by researcher Salvador Macip in the framework of an institutional collaboration agreement between the Research Institute and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). This agreement strengthens the links and establishes a permanent framework for research collaboration between the two institutions.

The Catalan physician, scientist and writer will lead the "Mechanisms of Cancer and Ageing" group, which will study the mechanisms that determine resistance to treatment and relapse in B cell malignancies (especially Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma) and the molecular pathways involved in age-related diseases, with particular emphasis on the role of senescent cells in cancer and ageing phenotypes. They also investigate prognostic/diagnostic markers of ageing and anti-senescent therapies for healthy ageing and as adjuvant treatments for leukemia. The Josep Carreras Institute will have in its team a researcher with an extensive and internationally recognized career, as well as one of the best Catalan science communicators, a regular contributor to various media and author of 40 books on science and narrative. With a degree in Medicine in 1994 and a PhD in Molecular Genetics and Human Physiology in 1998 from the University of Barcelona, Dr. Macip has devoted his career to the study of cancer and ageing in prestigious institutions such as Mount Sinai Hospital in New York or, since 2008, at the University of Leicester, where he is a professor and continues to work today. In 2020 he joined the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, where he was appointed Professor and recently Director of the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Dr. Macip has welcomed this collaboration agreement, assuring that "establishing a laboratory at IJC will allow us to work in a rich and vibrant environment that will surely enhance our research. I also hope that it will lead to initiate collaborations with other teams to advance cancer research together". On a more personal note, he adds that "it is a real honor for me to join one of the leading centers in Europe in leukemia research and to be able to work with world-renowned leaders like Dr. Esteller. Being part of the team of scientists of IJC is a unique opportunity and, at the same time, a great responsibility, which I am looking forward to".

Dr. Manel Esteller, Director of the Josep Carreras Institute, has thanked Dr. Macip for his trust and willingness to join the center's project. He comments that "Dr. Macip's research will give us more experience in the area of Acute Myeloid Leukemia, a leukemia with a poor prognosis, and will also open a new line on ageing’s impact on cancer". Beyond the scientific profile, Esteller adds that "the simple but rigorous way in which Dr. Macip communicates science will help us to bring our research closer to society".