Isidro Cortés-Ciriano was the 2023 recipient of the EACR-Mark Foundation-Pezcoller Foundation Rising Star Award, which granted him funding to commence the project he proposed as part of the previous year’s ERC Starting Grant call.
Isidro is a Research Group Leader at EMBL-EBI in the UK. As part of this award, he presented an Award Lecture at the EACR Congress that took place between 12-15 June 2023 in Torino, Italy. We recently caught up with him to hear about the progress he has made in his research in the two years since winning the award.
Can you tell us about the topic of the research you are currently undertaking?
Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy has revolutionized the treatment landscape for a variety of human tumours. However, long-lasting responses are only observed in a fraction of patients. Therefore, one of the major challenges in oncology today is to understand the molecular mechanisms underpinning variable response to ICB to predict who might benefit from these treatments, as well as to, ultimately, extend the benefits of immunotherapies to more patients. We have recently discovered that neoantigen clonality is a strong predictor of ICB response in hypermutated tumours (Nature Genetics, 2023). We are currently investigating whether limited responses to ICB in other cancer types is also driven by low neoantigen clonality caused by high levels of intra-tumour heterogeneity.
At this stage, how do you think the Rising Star Award has contributed to your career goals in cancer research?
The Rising Star Award has allowed me to start a research direction combining multidisciplinary techniques to address fundamental questions in cancer immunology. More critically, this award has allowed me to generate preliminary data to show the credibility and soundness of my project. Critically, the preliminary data from this grant has been instrumental to secure funding for future research in immuno-oncology. For example, I have been awarded an ERC Consolidator grant to continue the work funding by this award, which is excellent news. Therefore, this award has served as an invaluable stepping stone for my research career.
What were the highlights from the second year of your Rising Star Award?
Working in collaboration with Prof. Adrienne Flanagan’s team at UCL, the development of protocols for the isolation, expansion and culture of tumour infiltrating lymphocytes and the establishment of cancer cell lines. This work was primarily led by Dr. Christopher Pinder, a talented postdoctoral fellow.
More about the EACR-Mark Foundation-Pezcoller Foundation Rising Star Award
This award recognises exceptional researchers in the field of cancer research and aims to support groundbreaking projects that have the potential to make significant contributions to the field. It is open to EACR members with an unfunded Score ‘A’ cancer-related project from the previous year’s ERC Starting Grant calls, and aims to bridge the period before re-submission to the ERC. The awardee receives funding of up to €100,000 to begin their project. Learn more here.
