Angel R. Nebreda obtained his PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Salamanca (Spain) and then worked as a postdoc at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda (USA) and the Cancer Research-UK Clare Hall Laboratories in South Mimms (UK). In 1995, he started his group at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg (Germany) where he worked for 9 years and then moved his group to the newly created Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas in Madrid. Since 2010, he is an ICREA Research Professor at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine in Barcelona, where he leads a team with expertise in biochemistry, molecular and cellular biology techniques, genetically modified mice and preclinical cancer models. He was elected EMBO member in 2003 and has obtained European Research Council (ERC) Advanced and Proof of Concept grants.

The group investigates how external signals are interpreted by cells to modulate their proliferation, differentiation and survival, focusing on protein kinases. Current work addresses the role of the p38 MAPK pathway in tumor development and therapy resistance mechanisms, either by regulating the fitness of the cancer cells or by controlling the cross talk between cancer cells and other cells in the tumor stroma. The experimental approach combines biochemical techniques and chemical tools with studies in established cell lines and primary cell cultures, as well as in vivo analyses using mouse models. Our goal is to identify therapeutic opportunities based on the modulation of p38 MAPK signaling. We are also performing screenings to find actionable targets that can be used to boost current therapeutic approaches and to design new targeted therapies for aggressive tumors.