Get the science to patients faster
En su 25 aniversario, la Fundación FERO reunió casi un millón de euros para financiar siete proyectos de investigación oncológica en los principales centros biomédicos de España, desde terapias CAR-T hasta la detección temprana del cáncer. La apuesta es por la investigación traslacional: acortar el camino entre el laboratorio y el paciente. En un momento en que el cáncer sigue siendo una de las grandes tragedias colectivas de nuestro tiempo, este esfuerzo recuerda que la ciencia avanza también gracias a la voluntad organizada de la sociedad.
- El cáncer de páncreas y los tumores cerebrales pediátricos siguen siendo algunos de los diagnósticos más devastadores, con pocas opciones terapéuticas y pronósticos sombríos.
- Siete equipos científicos compiten contra el tiempo para convertir hallazgos de laboratorio en tratamientos reales, desde inhibidores de resistencia tumoral hasta nuevas generaciones de inmunoterapia celular.
- La fundación lanzó en directo durante la gala una campaña de recaudación con un contador visible, creando una tensión colectiva entre el objetivo y la realidad: 160.000 euros para diagnóstico molecular de 800 pacientes.
- El dinero recaudado no solo financia ciencia de frontera, sino que busca cerrar la brecha de acceso: que la medicina de precisión llegue también a quienes se atienden en hospitales públicos.
- FERO cumple 25 años renovando su identidad y su manifiesto, señalando que la filantropía científica no es un gesto puntual sino una apuesta sostenida por el futuro de la salud.
La Fundación FERO reunió casi un millón de euros en una gala benéfica para financiar siete proyectos de investigación oncológica distribuidos entre los centros biomédicos más relevantes de España. Cada proyecto aborda un flanco distinto del cáncer: desde tumores cerebrales infantiles hasta el cáncer de páncreas, pasando por leucemias agudas y el cáncer de mama asociado al embarazo. La directora Marta Cardona subrayó que cada beca representa una oportunidad concreta de transformar conocimiento científico en herramientas diagnósticas y terapéuticas que mejoren vidas reales. El evento coincidió con el 25 aniversario de la fundación, que aprovechó la ocasión para presentar un nuevo manifiesto e identidad visual.
Entre los investigadores premiados, Luciano Di Croce estudiará vulnerabilidades epigenéticas en el glioma difuso de línea media, uno de los tumores cerebrales más agresivos en niños. Eva María Novoa desarrollará técnicas de secuenciación por nanoporos para hacer la detección temprana del cáncer más rápida y accesible. Pere Barba diseñará terapias CAR-T de nueva generación contra leucemias agudas, mientras que María D. Mayan trabaja en mejorar las terapias CAR-NK para destruir células tumorales con mayor precisión.
El cáncer de páncreas concentra dos de los siete proyectos. Elisa Espinet investigará cómo las células cancerosas desarrollan resistencia a los inhibidores Pan-KRAS, y Gabriel Rabinovich buscará estrategias inmunológicas para impedir que este tumor se oculte del sistema inmune. María Vidal, por su parte, analizará la influencia del destete abrupto durante el embarazo en el comportamiento del cáncer de mama gestacional.
La gala incluyó además una campaña de recaudación en tiempo real con el objetivo de reunir 160.000 euros para financiar diagnóstico molecular a 800 pacientes en hospitales públicos. El mensaje de FERO fue inequívoco: la investigación de excelencia y el acceso equitativo a sus beneficios son dos caras de la misma misión.
Spain's FERO Cancer Foundation gathered nearly one million euros at a gala event to fund seven distinct research projects, each tackling a different corner of oncology's hardest problems. The money flows to scientists working in the country's most established biomedical research centers, and the work they'll pursue spans from developing new immunotherapies and precision cell therapies to cracking the code of pancreatic cancer—one of the deadliest tumors—and finding ways to catch disease earlier, before it spreads.
The foundation framed these grants as an investment in translational research, the bridge between laboratory discovery and the clinic. The idea is simple but urgent: get the science to patients faster. Marta Cardona, the foundation's director, put it plainly—each grant represents a chance to turn scientific knowledge into new diagnostic and treatment tools that actually improve lives. The timing carried extra weight. This gala marked FERO's 25th anniversary, a moment the organization used to unveil a new manifesto and visual identity, signaling both where it has been and where it intends to go.
The seven researchers who won support are spread across Spain's research landscape. Luciano Di Croce at the Center for Genomic Regulation received funding to study diffuse midline glioma, one of the most aggressive brain tumors in children, by hunting for new therapeutic vulnerabilities in the cancer's epigenetic machinery. Eva María Novoa, also at the same center, won a separate award for work on nanopore sequencing—a technique that could make early cancer detection faster, cheaper, and more precise. María Vidal at the Clinic Barcelona Research Foundation is investigating how abrupt weaning during pregnancy might influence the behavior of pregnancy-associated breast cancer. Pere Barba at Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology is engineering a new generation of CAR-T therapies, designed to be more targeted and safer against acute leukemias.
Two researchers are focusing on pancreatic cancer, a disease that kills most patients within months of diagnosis. Elisa Espinet will study how cancer cells develop resistance to Pan-KRAS inhibitors, one of the most promising new strategies for this tumor. Gabriel Rabinovich at CaixaResearch Institute is developing immunological approaches to overcome the mechanisms that allow pancreatic cancer to hide from the immune system. María D. Mayan at the Galicia Sur Health Research Institute is working to improve CAR-NK therapies—a variant that uses natural killer cells instead of T cells—to better identify and destroy tumor cells.
Beyond the research grants, the gala served another purpose. FERO launched a live fundraising initiative during the event, with a visible counter tracking donations aimed at providing molecular diagnosis to cancer patients in public hospitals. The goal was 160,000 euros—enough to cover diagnostic testing for 800 patients. Every euro raised would go directly to this program, expanding access to the kind of personalized, precision medicine that increasingly defines modern oncology. The foundation's message was clear: research matters, but so does making sure the benefits reach people who need them most.
Notable Quotes
Each of these grants represents an opportunity to bring science closer to patients. Our goal is to support innovative projects capable of transforming scientific knowledge into new diagnostic and treatment tools that improve the lives of people with cancer.— Marta Cardona, director general of FERO Cancer Foundation
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does translational research matter so much to FERO? Why not just fund basic science?
Because a discovery sitting in a lab notebook doesn't save anyone. Translational research is the bridge—it takes what scientists learn about cancer's mechanics and turns it into something doctors can actually use with patients. FERO is betting that speed matters. The faster you move from discovery to clinic, the sooner people benefit.
Seven projects is a lot of ground to cover. What ties them together?
They're all attacking different cancers, but they share a common thread—they're all trying to outsmart the disease in new ways. Some are building better weapons, like the CAR-T therapies. Others are trying to catch cancer before it becomes a problem, like the nanopore sequencing work. And some are trying to understand why certain cancers resist treatment. It's not one solution; it's seven different angles on the same enemy.
Pancreatic cancer appears twice in the list. Is that deliberate?
It has to be. Pancreatic cancer is brutal—survival rates haven't budged much in decades. When you have two separate researchers getting funded to tackle it from different directions, you're signaling that this is a priority. One is studying resistance to new drugs. The other is trying to wake up the immune system. If either approach works, it could change outcomes for thousands of people.
The 160,000 euros for molecular diagnosis—that feels like a different kind of work than the research grants.
It is. The research grants are about innovation, about creating new tools. But this fundraising is about access. Right now, some patients in public hospitals can't afford the genetic testing that would tell them exactly what kind of cancer they have and how to treat it. Eight hundred patients getting that diagnosis—that's not a cure, but it's the foundation for better treatment. It's saying research only matters if people can actually use it.
FERO is 25 years old. Why rebrand now?
Because the organization is evolving. A quarter-century in, they're not just funding research anymore—they're trying to reshape how cancer research connects to patients. The new identity reflects that ambition. It's a signal that the next 25 years will look different from the last ones.