QuantOCancer ERA Chair @ Champalimaud Foundation

ERA Chair Biography - Adriana Sánchez-Danés

Adriana Sánchez-Danés received her BSc degree in Biotechnology from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain). In 2012, she obtained her PhD in Biomedicine (cum laude distinction) from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona. Her thesis work focused on modeling Parkinson’s Disease in vitro: Adriana developed a protocol to differentiate induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC) derived from Parkinson’s Disease patients to dopaminergic neurons, thus generating a faithful in vitro model of this pathology. 

In 2012, Adriana moved to the Université Libre de Brussels to the laboratory of Prof. Cédric Blanpain (Belgium). During this period she investigated the most common human cancer, the basal cell carcinoma. Adriana identified the specific cell type from which this skin cancer arises and the cancer cell population that resists upon therapy, leading to tumor relapse. 

In October 2019, Adriana joined the Champalimaud Foundation where her lab now studies the mechanisms involved in cancer progression and resistance to therapy. 

Her field-leading work resulted in the following publications:

  • A slow-cycling LGR5 tumour population mediates basal cell carcinoma relapse aftertherapySánchez-Danés A, Larsimont JC, Liagre M, Muñoz-CouseloE, Lapouge G, Brisebarre A, Dubois C, Suppa M, Sukumaran V, Del Marmol V, Tabernero J, Blanpain C. Nature. 2018. 562(7727): 434-438.Epub 2018 Oct 8. doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0603-3
  • Decipheringthe cells of origin of squamous cell carcinomasSánchez-Danés A & Blanpain C. Nat Rev Cancer. 2018. 18(9):549-561.doi: 10.1038/s41568-018-0024-5
  • Defining the earliest step of cardiovascular lineage segregation bysingle-cell RNA-seq. Lescroart F, Wang X, Lin X,Swedlund B, Gargouri S, Sanchez-Danes A, Moignard V, Dubois C, Paulissen C, Kinston S, Gottgens B, BlanpainC. Science2018. 359 (6380):1177-1181. doi: 10.1126/science.aao4174
  • YAP and TAZ are essentialfor basal and squamous cell carcinoma initiationDebaugnies M*, Sanchez-Danes A*, Rorive S, Raphael M, Liagre M,Parent MA, Brisebarre A, Salmon I, Blanpain C.  EMBO Rep2018. 19(7). Epub 2018 Jun 6. doi: 10.15252/embr.201845809
  • Maintaining hair follicle stem cell identity in a dish. Sánchez-Danés A, Blanpain C. EMBO J. 2017. 36(2):132-134. Epub 2016 Dec 21. doi:10.15252/embj.201696051
  • Definingthe clonal dynamics leading to mouse skin tumour initiation. Sánchez-Danés A*, Hannezo E*, Larsimont JC, Liagre M, YoussefKK, Simons BD, Blanpain C. Nature. 2016. 536(7616):298-303. Epub 2016 Jul 8. doi 10.1038/nature19069 *These authors contributed equally to this work. 
  • Sox9 Controls Self-Renewal of Oncogene Targeted Cells and LinksTumor Initiation and Invasion. Larsimont JC, Youssef KK, Sanchez-Danes A, Sukumaran V, Defrance M, Delatte B, Liagre M, Baatsen P, Marine JC, Lippens S,Guerin C, Del Marmol V, Vanderwinden JM, Fuks F, Blanpain C. Cell Stem Cell. 2015.17(1):60-73. Epub 2015 Jun 18. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2015.05.008

Images: basal cell carcinoma, confocal microscopy. 

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