Roger Gomis

Roger Gomis

Institut de Recerca Biomèdica

Life & Medical Sciences

Dr. Roger Gomis is an ICREA Research Professor and a member of the Cancer Science Program at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Barcelona. He received his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Barcelona in 2002, and was a postdoctoral fellow at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Prof. Joan Massagué's laboratory. In 2007, he assumed his current position. Since 2018 he is an associate professor at the University of Barcelona. Dr. Roger Gomis is interested in how growth factors, signaling pathways, and gene expression programs control normal cell behavior and cancer cell metastasis. Driven by the problem of metastasis, which is the cause of 90% of cancer deaths, his laboratory is pursuing the molecular and genetic mechanisms of metastasis. In particular, identifying  genes that enable cancer to metastasize clinically relevant sites. In 2012 Roger founded Inbiomotion as an ICREA and IRB Barcelona spin-off company. 

Research interests

Although metastasis is the leading cause of cancer death, we are still ill-prepared to fight it. Chemotherapy targets high-proliferating rather than the low-proliferating metastatic cells—allowing these to spread from the primary tumor to distant sites, where they resist conventional treatments, proliferate, and cause vital organ failure. We and others have helped to simplify our understanding of metastasis as an orderly sequence of basic steps, which allows us to rationalize the biological properties required for metastatic disease. We know that cancer cells must orchestrate diverse cellular functions to overcome the difficulties of transiting into the metastatic cascade; these functions are highly dependent on the interactions between the metastatic cell, the tumor, and host stroma. We now need a better understanding of steps of the kinetics and mechanisms that regulate tissue-specific metastasis progression, as a prerequisite for developing effective therapies in the future.

Selected publications

- Blasco MT, Espuny I & Gomis RR 2022, 'Ecology and evolution of dormant metastasis', Trends In Cancer, 8, 7, 570 - 582.

- Pérez-Núñez I et al. 2022. 'LCOR mediates interferon-independent tumor immunogenicity and responsiveness to immune-checkpoint blockade in triple-negative breast cancer'. Nat Cancer. 3:355-370. 

- Loren G, Espuny I, Llorente A, Donoghue C, Verdaguer X, Gomis RR, Riera A 2022, 'Design and optimization of oestrogen receptor PROTACs based on 4-hydroxytamoxifen', European Journal Of Medicinal Chemistry, 243, 114770.

- Pereira C, Parolo C, Idili A, Gomis RR, Rodrigues L, Sales G & Merkoçi, A.2022, 'Paper-based biosensors for cancer diagnostics”, Trends in Chemistry, 4, 6, 554-567 

Selected research activities

 Coordinator of the module: Stem cells and Cancer; PhD program in Translational Medicine at the University of Barcelona

- Chair of the Cancer Study Section “Agencia Estatal de Investigación” Spanish Government Research Grant Panels

- Member of the Scientific advisory board of Breast Cancer Now’s Research Unit - ICR London. (UK). 

- Chairman of the PhD committee at the IRB Barcelona

- Scientific Advisory Board Inbiomotion 

- Coordinator of the EVOMET H2020 ITN network on metastasis

- PhD Defense: Cristina Figueras