Dr. Roger Gomis is an ICREA Research Professor and a member of the Oncology 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. 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 his interest in the problem of metastasis, which is the cause of 90% of cancer deaths, Dr. Gomis embraced the opportunity to create a multidisciplinary laboratory devoted to metastasis research at the IRB Barcelona. His team is pursuing the molecular and genetic mechanisms of metastasis. In particular, the team focuses on identifying and functionally validating genes that enable breast and colon cancer to metastasize clinically relevant sites.

Research interests

Intricate signalling networks control cell division, differentiation, movement, organization and death. Cancer cells disobey these signals during tumour progression and metastasis, which is the final step in 90% of all fatal solid tumours. Metastasis is therefore a grave public health problem and consequently a field of considerable pharmaceutical interest. A major research focus of our group is to identify and understand the genes and functions that allow tumor cells to achieve metastatic colonization of vital organs. As we understand more about the biology of BC cells, we can begin to address how best to treat this form of disease. Key to determining whether dormant solitary cells or micrometastases represent valid targets is knowledge of the underlying biology of dormancy and the probability of cells progressing to active metastatic growth. This progression is poorly understood in preclinical models and even less so clinically and has become of our interest.