Research
What we do
Translational research
Translational research turns scientific knowledge into real treatments.
Basic research explains how cancer works. Clinical research tests treatments in patients. Translational research is the bridge between the two: it takes laboratory discoveries and turns them into something that can be applied in the clinic.
It is the most critical link in the entire scientific chain. And the most difficult to fund. Major public funds go to basic research. The pharmaceutical industry funds the clinical phase when success is already within reach. The middle ground—where discoveries become clinical hypotheses, where the first trials are designed, and where it is decided if a line of research deserves to move forward—is the space that FERO Cancer has been funding since 2001.
Every euro invested in translational research multiplies the impact of science. It accelerates the time between the laboratory and treatment. And it brings the cure closer to more patients, sooner.
How we select projects
International scientific rigor. We are driven solely by science.
FERO Cancer’s selection process follows the same criteria of excellence applied by the world’s leading oncology centers. An independent scientific committee, made up of top-tier researchers, evaluates each proposal using the same standards applied in internationally renowned scientific publications.
The criteria guiding our selection
Translational potential: the real probability that the project’s results will become a clinical application for patients.
Methodological rigor: robustness of the study design, well-founded hypothesis, and reproducible methodology.
Team excellence: track record of the principal investigator, strength of the research group, and the center’s capacity to execute the project.
Expected impact: number of patients who could benefit, and the clinical relevance of the problem addressed.
FERO Cancer has no ties to the pharmaceutical industry or any public administration. Funding decisions are completely independent. We audit our accounts annually and publish the results. The “Dona con Confianza” seal from the Fundación Lealtad accredits our good management practices.
Cancer and research
Cancer remains the greatest challenge of modern medicine.
Cancer is not a single disease. It is more than 200 different diseases, each with its own biology, behavior, and response to treatments. What works for one type of tumor may not work for another. What works for one patient may not work for the next, even if they have the same diagnosis.
Precision medicine—identifying the molecular profile of each tumor and selecting the most appropriate treatment for each patient—is the direction in which oncology is moving. FERO Cancer funds the research that makes this progress possible.
In the last 25 years, the average survival rate for many types of cancer has doubled. This progress is no coincidence. It is the direct result of decades of translational research that turned scientific discoveries into real treatments. Much progress has been made, and there is much more to be done. Beating cancer cannot wait.
Strategic lines
Translational research turns scientific knowledge into real treatments.
Identifying the molecular profile of each tumor to select the most precise treatment. The FERO Molecular Diagnosis Units operate in the four centers we work with and have benefited more than 4,000 patients per year.
Developing therapies specifically targeted to the molecular profile of each tumor. Personalizing treatment—giving each patient’s cancer a specific identity—is one of the most significant advances in modern oncology.
Developing therapies specifically targeted to the molecular profile of each tumor. Personalizing treatment—giving each patient’s cancer a specific identity—is one of the most significant advances in modern oncology.
Training the patient’s own immune system to recognize and attack tumor cells. One of the most important therapeutic revolutions of recent years, with increasing application in multiple types of cancer.
Understanding why some tumors develop resistance to therapies that initially worked, and finding strategies to overcome it. One of the most active frontiers in current oncology research.
Childhood cancer requires specific lines of research. Pediatric tumors have a different biology, and adult treatment protocols are not always applicable.