CIB-CSIC researcher Javier Redondo has been awarded a Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators

Javier Redondo Muñoz, Staff Scientist who has recently joined the Margarita Salas Biological Research Center (CIB-CSIC), has been awarded on October 8, 2020 with a Leonardo Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators. Out of more than 1,500 applications, 59 grants have been awarded in this call, in 11 areas of knowledge. His project, Epigenetic mechanisms related to the invasiveness of tumor cells, has been selected in the area of ​​Biomedicine.

Dr. Redondo Muñoz's research project focuses on studying how the DNA of acute leukemia cells is altered during the invasion of tumor cells. It is an interdisciplinary project in which Dr. Redondo-Muñoz's group will collaborate with other biophysical and clinical groups to determine how these changes in DNA (epigenetic), not only alter the transcription or capacity to generate proteins of the cell, but also the mechanical response of the nucleus and the cell. This response makes it easier for the cell to deform and cross physical barriers such as other organs, blood vessels, etc.

Organized by the BBVA Foundation, the Leonardo Grants have an endowment of 40,000 euros and are intended to directly support projects by researchers and cultural creators, between 30 and 45 years old, characterized by highly innovative scientific, technological or cultural production.

Javier Redondo is a Doctor in Immunology from the Complutense University of Madrid. His thesis, directed by Dr. Ángeles García Pardo at the CIB Margarita Salas, focused on studying invasion mechanisms in leukemic cells. After several postdoctoral stays, developed at the National Center for Biotechnology (Madrid) and the University of Manchester (United Kingdom), he returned to Spain in 2017 as a Ramón y Cajal researcher at the Complutense University of Madrid. In August 2020, he joined the CIB Margarita Salas as Staff Scientist, where he investigates in the field of tumor migration and the cell nucleus.