The prize acknowledges Eduard Batlle\u2019s (Barcelona, 1970) contributions to understanding the behaviour of colon tumours and how these tumours become more aggressive, to the point of gaining the capacity to develop metastases, mainly in the liver and lung. Batlle has made numerous contributions to this field, among them the characterization of colorectal stem cells and the fundamental role played by the tumour environment in determining the metastatic capacity of tumour cells.\u00a0Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in men and the second in women worldwide. This disease registers 32,000 new cases a year in Spain, making it the most common cancer in this country.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a great honour to be awarded the Carmen and Severo Ochoa Prize and acknowledgement of my work, which in turn further strengthens\u2014if that were at all possible\u2014my commitment to the research I carry out. I am very proud to appear alongside former winners,\u201d says\u00a0Eduard Batlle, head of the Colorectal Cancer Laboratory at IRB Barcelona. \u201cI would like to thank the members of my team and congratulate them on their work and make them aware that this prize is also theirs; it wouldn\u2019t be possible to make breakthroughs without them,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n
The ultimate goal of the lab is to obtain information that allows the design of new therapeutic and diagnostic tools. Regarding the latter and with the support of the Bot\u00edn Foundation, the lab is developing a new test called\u00a0Colostage\u00a0to identify those patients at risk of developing metastasis. This tool will help physicians to decide on the best treatments for patients on the basis of this risk.<\/p>\n
Batlle\u2019s Research is supported by various funding sources, including two European Research Council (ERC) projects, one\u00a0ERC Advanced\u00a0and the other\u00a0ERC Proof of Concept.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Coordinator of the Oncology Programme at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona<\/a>) and ICREA research professor\u00a0Eduard Batlle<\/a>\u00a0has won the 2016 Carmen y Severo Ochoa Prize. Presented by the\u00a0Fundaci\u00f3n Carmen and Severo Ochoa\u00a0<\/em>since 1995, these awards recognise molecular biology research undertaken by scientists in Spain.\u00a0The prize presentation ceremony will be held on Wednesday 16 November\u00a0at the\u00a0Residencia de Estudiantes<\/em>\u00a0in Madrid.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n