MSCA-PF: Genomes, Cancer and Aging Research Group

FINBA is a leading institution based in Asturias, Spain, dedicated to advancing biomedical research and health innovation. We bring together scientific excellence, clinical expertise, and a strong translational focus aimed at improving health outcomes.

Our mission is to drive cutting-edge biosanitary research, accelerate the translation of scientific discoveries into clinical solutions, and foster innovation that enhances health and well-being at regional, national, and European levels.

It has been created as the management structure of the ISPA, grouped around the Central University Hospital of Asturias (HUCA), and also as a tool for managing R&D&I for all healthcare centers under the Health Service of the Principality of Asturias (SESPA). Currently, it is composed of nearly 1,000 affiliated researchers, organized  into key areas of growing importance for global health, including Biotechnology and Biomedical Analyses, Immunology, Microbiology, and Infection, Cancer, Metabolism, Cardiology, Respiratory, and Renal Research, Neurosciences and Sensory Organs, Primary Care, Microbiome Research, Aging Research, and Care Research. Located within the HUCA, the FINBA–ISPA complex provides state-of-the-art facilities for scientific work and fosters collaboration between clinicians, researchers, and industry professionals.

Introduction to the Research Group 

Led by professors of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Genomes, Cancer and Aging (GenCanAge) group integrates a highly interdisciplinary team of postdoctoral and predoctoral researchers that develop their activity at the University of Oviedo and the Institute of Health Research (ISPA) and the University Institute of Oncology (IUOPA) of the Principality of Asturias. At the GenCanAge group we combine comparative genomic studies, cutting-edge genomics and transcriptomics techniques and bioinformatics solutions with extensive use of cellular and animal models, genetic screens and biochemical approaches to unravel the genomic determinants and the molecular circuits behind the hallmarks of cancer and aging and to develop therapeutic interventions and precision-medicine applications to modulate these processes  (More information).

Project

The candidate will develop a research line aimed at identifying novel genes and circuits involved in the process of aging and in cellular process at the crossroad of cancer and aging, such as cellular senescence. The research will combine genetic screens of protein-coding genes in cellular models with bioinformatic analysis of total RNA transcriptomic data focused on non-coding RNA molecules (lncRNAs and circRNAs) to uncover novel candidate genes and molecular routes that will be studied in detail through a series of molecular and cellular approaches and the use of interventions in animal models. 

Hosting supervisor: Alejandro Piñeiro Ugalde