The CRG researcher has obtained a grant as recognition of her professional career.

Gloria Mas Martín, a postdoctoral researcher at the CRG, has been awarded one of the grants that BBVA Foundation gives to researchers, innovators and creators as an acknowledgement of their careers and to give them the opportunity to develop highly innovative projects.

The BBVA Foundation has granted 56 scholarships, selected from more than 1,664 applicants, involving awards of up to 40,000 euros each for a period of between 6 and 12 months. According to BBVA selection criteria these people are key representatives in Spain for promoting science and culture and their future development.

This is the case of Gloria Mas Martín, a postdoctoral researcher working at the CRG in the Epigenetic Events in Cancer lab directed by Dr. Luciano Di Croce, an ICREA Research Professor. According to Mas Martín, the grant means a boost for her research: “I am at the end of my postdoctoral period and I need about a year’s more work. This scholarship will enable me to publish what I still have to do in order to be competitive, so I can establish myself as an independent researcher”.

Her investigation focuses on understanding the causes, at a molecular level, defining the transformation from normal cells into tumour cells. The aim is to try to discover the epigenetic mechanisms that regulate gene expression in different biological processes. To this end, Mas Martín pointed out that the CRG had opened her up to new specialist areas in biomedicine.

Her curiosity and desire to contribute towards improved cancer treatments led her research into this area: “It took me into a new field of study. In the past, I worked on yeast but this CRG research is a commitment to working with mammalian cells and their relationship with cancer.” Mas Martín continued: “I am enjoying it here a lot and, at last, I am doing what I want to do”. Moreover, Mas Martín declared that the results they obtain this year may lead to new research directions.

Mas Martín not only gained the award thanks to her academic record, which includes a degree from the University of Girona and a PhD from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, but also because of her contribution to the study of the regulation of gene expression under stressful conditions. She also spent a postdoctoral period at Stanford University where she guided thesis students and worked as a lecturer.