Joaquín Vicente Arribas López

Joaquín Vicente Arribas López

Parc de Salut Mar & Vall d'Hebron Institut d'Oncologia

Life & Medical Sciences

Dr. Arribas completed his degree in Biochemistry at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in 1987 and obtained his PhD in Cellular and Molecular Biology in 1992, working on proteasome regulation. Supported by a fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science, he carried out his postdoctoral training at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York (1992–1996), where he studied the proteolytic processing of transmembrane growth factors.

 

In 1997, he joined the Oncology Department at Hospital Vall d’Hebron in Barcelona as a Staff Scientist and has since led the Growth Factors Research Group. He was a founding member of the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and, in 2010, was appointed Director of the Preclinical Research Program at VHIO, as well as Scientific Director of CIBERONC in 2017. He later stepped down from both positions to become Director of the Hospital del Mar Research Institute Barcelona (HMRIB), while continuing to lead his group at VHIO.

Research interests

As leader of a multicenter research team, Dr. Arribas’ research focuses on HER2-positive cancers and on the role of cellular senescence in cancer progression, and therapy response. His group develops novel therapeutic strategies, evaluates anticancer treatments in patient-derived xenograft models, and investigates mechanisms of therapeutic resistance. A major achievement of his group has been the translation of a basic biological discovery into a first-in-human clinical trial. They identified p95HER2, a tumor-specific HER2 fragment absent from normal tissues, and demonstrated its suitability as a target for immune redirection. This led to the development of p95HER2.CAR-TECH2Me T cells, combining CAR-T cell therapy with secretion of a HER2-targeted bispecific antibody. This strategy showed robust antitumor activity across multiple  models and has culminated in the the Phase I CATHERINE trial, approved in 2025 and fully funded through competitive public grants.

Selected publications

– Lalinde-Gutiérrez M Pérez-Ramos S Rodilla V Garcia-Baucells P Perera-Bel J Berenguer-Molins P Nonell L Agustí-Barea I George C Arribas J, 2025 ‘Science advances‘, 12 – 1 – eadx2988.
– Palomeque JÁ, Serra-Mir G, Blasco-Benito S, Brunel H, Torren-Duran P, Pérez-Núñez I, Cannatá C, Comerma L, Menendez S, Servitja S, Martos T, Castro M, Borges RL, López-Velazco JI, Manzano S, Duro-Sánchez S, Arribas J, Caffarel MM, Urruticoechea A, Seoane JA, Morey L, Albanell J & Celià-Terrassa T 2025, ‘Estrogen receptor signaling drives immune evasion and immunotherapy resistance in HR+ breast cancer‘, J Clin Invest. 136 – 2 – e193153.

Selected research activities

Beyond the scientific discoveries themselves, a central component of our research activity has been the full translational development of the p95HER2 CAR-T program up to a first-in-human clinical trial. This process required integrating basic research with regulatory science and industrial-grade manufacturing. The therapy was produced under GMP conditions at the Blood and Tissue Bank of Catalonia and obtained authorization from the Spanish Medicines Agency (AEMPS), milestones that are rarely reached in academic settings. Importantly, the entire development—from target discovery and preclinical validation to manufacturing and regulatory approval—has been supported exclusively by competitive public funding. In parallel, the intellectual property was secured to enable future partnerships and investment following completion of the Phase I CATHERINE trial, which will start patient recruitment in March 2026. This trajectory illustrates how publicly funded research can successfully deliver complex, advanced therapies to patients.