Last 27th May, Sergi Farré, Scientific and Cultural Counselor at the Spanish Embassy in Belgium together with Berta Martínez, Head of Policy and Institutional Affairs at CSIC Brussels Office held a meeting with Prof. Cédric Blanpain, director of the Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer at the ULB, Mrs. Patushencko and Mrs. Sánchez-Danes.

Cédric Blanpain is full professor, WELBIO researcher and director of the laboratory of stem cells and cancer, which is studying the role of stem cells during development, homeostasis and cancer.

Cedric Blanpain received prestigious awards including EMBO Young investigator award, the outstanding young investigator award of the International Society of Stem Cell Research 2012, the Liliane Bettencourt award for life sciences 2012, Josef-Maisin Award/quinquenal FNRS award 2015. Furthermore he has been elected member of the EMBO in 2012, the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine 2015, and the Academia Europa 2016. Recently he has awarded the price for biomedical research 2019 from the AstraZeneca Foundation. Every two years, the AstraZeneca Foundation, together with the Académie Royale de Médecine de Belgique (ARMB) and the Koninklijke Academie voor Geneeskunde van België (KAGB), awards a prize to a Belgian biomedical scientist for research that has contributed, or could contribute, to improving human health.

Adriana Sánchez-Danés obtained her PhD in Biomedicine from Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, in 2012 and she joined this laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow in August 2012. Nowadays Adriana is studying the mechanisms regulating skin cancer initiation and resistance to therapy.

Ievgenia Pastushenko graduated as a Medical Doctor in 2009 at the University of Zaragoza (Spain) and was board certified in Dermatology in 2014. She received her PhD in Medical Sciences at the University of Zaragoza (Spain) in 2014. Ievgenia joined the laboratory in January 2015 and she is studying the mechanisms regulating EMT and tumor heterogeneity.

During the meeting Prof. Blanpain, Mrs. Patushencko and Mrs. Sánchez-Danes explained their daily work and showed to the representatives of the Spanish Embassy and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) the facilities where they work.