Hosting Offer MSCA PF 2026 in Cancer Metabolism - Barcelona

The group focuses on understanding how the process of oncogenic transformation reprograms the translatome, particularly (1) how metabolic changes alter the repertoire of translated mRNAs and (2) how cancer cells can exploit such translational networks to survive and overcome standard chemotherapeutic regimens in colorectal cancer and other MYC-driven tumors.

We have identified a specialized subset of 40S ribosomes, which in a complex with the RNA binding protein LARP1, bind and preserve a discrete population of mRNAs, termed 5’TOPs, which not only include Ribosomal Proteins (RPs) and translational factors, but also a new set of anabolic mRNAs (Gentilella et al., Molecular Cell 17), which can be translationally switched ON and OFF depending on the cellular metabolic state (Fuentes et al, _Science Advance_s 21; Morcelle et al, Cancer Res 19, Fuentes et al., NAR Cancer 2024). This mechanism plays a major role in MYC-driven oncogenesis, preparing the anabolic potential of the transformed cells in a poised state and connecting it with the metabolic sensing pathway governed by mTOR (Fuentes et al., PNAS 2026).

The long term goal of the lab is to understand by a multi-disciplinary approach cellular adaptations sustaining the biomass production in tumor contexts, and to identify metabolic vulnerabilities that could constitute critical targets in cancer treatment. The search is primarily targeted at scientists who have recently graduated in any of the fields related to molecular biology, biochemistry and cell biology with a competitive CV to sustain the application. The project requires solid expertise in molecular and cellular biology.

The Laboratory of Cancer Metabolism is located inside the IDIBELL, a research center that integrates the biomedical research of the Bellvitge University Hospital (HUB), the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), and the University of Barcelona in the Bellvitge Campus (UB) and the Viladecans Hospital (HV), located in south Barcelona.

Please, send your CV and cover letter to: agentilella@idibell.cat and / or antonio.gentilella@ub.edu