Joan Seoane

Joan Seoane

Vall d'Hebron Institut d'Oncologia

Life & Medical Sciences

Preclinical &Translational Research co-program Director at the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) within the Vall d'Hebron Hospital since 2011. In 1998, he obtained his PhD from the University of Barcelona. Previously, in 1993, he obtained his BSc degree in Chemistry. Joan joined the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York as a post-doctoral fellow in 1998 (first as a Research Fellow and then Research Associate since 2001). He was appointed ICREA Research Professor in 2004 and joined VHIO. In 2008, he was the recipient of a European Research Council (ERC) grant. He obtained two ERC Proof of Concept grants (2011, 2013). In 2008, he became Board member of the European Association of Cancer Research (EACR) and Associate Prof. at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. In 2012, founded Mosaic Biomedicals as a spin-off company from his lab and, in 2013, he was the recipient of the Dr. Josef Steiner Award. In 2016, he became Secretary General of the EACR.


Research interests

Our main objective is to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the initiation and progression of cancer. Specifically, our research is focused on the study of brain tumours, including glioma and brain metastasis. Both glioblastoma (the most aggressive form of glioma) and brain metastasis are dismal diseases with limited therapeutic options. The understanding of the molecular mechanisms that govern these types of cancer is required in order to design rational, specific and successful therapeutic approaches.

Selected publications

– Seoane J, De Mattos-Arruda L, Le Rhun E, Bardelli A & Weller M 2019,´Cerebrospinal fluid cell-free tumour DNA as a liquid biopsy for primary brain tumours and brain metastases‘. Annals of Oncology. 30, 2, 211 – 218.

– De Mattos-Arruda L, Sammut SJ, Ross E, Bashford-Rogers R, Greenstein E, Contente-Cuomo T, Morganella S, Teng Y, Maruvka Y, Pereira B, Rueda O, Chin SF, Ali R, Cope W, Tiezzi D, Markus H, Mayor R, Arias A, Reshef D,  Martinez E, Peg V, Ramon y Cajal S, Cortes J, Vassiliou G, Getz G, Nik-Zainal S, Murtaza M, Friedman N, Markowetz F, Seoane J*, Caldas C*. 2019, `The integrated genomic and immune landscapes of lethal metastatic breast cancer’. Cell Reports. 27, 9, 2690 (*co-corresponding authors).

– Pascual-Garcia M, Bonfill-Teixidor E, Planas-Rigol E, Rubio-Perez C, Ludaro R, Arias A, Cuartas I, Sala-Hojman A, Escudero L, Martinez-Ricarte F, Huber-Ruano I, Nuciforo P, Pedrosa L, Marques C, Brana I, Garralda E, Vieito M, Squatrito M, Pineda E, Graus F, Espejo HC, Sahuquillo J, Tabernero J & Seoane J 2019, ‘LIF regulates CXCL9 in tumor-associated macrophages and prevents CD8(+) T cell tumor-infiltration impairing anti-PD1 therapy’, Nature Communications, 10, 2416.

– Janin M et al. 2019 ‘Epigenetic loss of RNA-methyltransferase NSUN5 in glioma targets ribosomes to drive a stress adaptive translational program‘. Acta Neuropathologica. 138(6):1053-1074.

– Siravegna G, Mussolin B, Venesio T, Marsoni S, Seoane J, Dive C, Papadopoulos N, Kopetz S, Corcoran RB, Siu L & Bardell A 2019, ‘How liquid biopsies can change clinical practice in oncology.’, Annals Of Oncology : Official Journal Of The European Society For Medical Oncology, 30, 10, 1580 – 1590.