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Dr Beatriz Salvador
(she/her)
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Teams and roles for Beatriz Salvador
PCUK Research Fellow
School of Biosciences
Overview
My research focuses on understanding the role of wild-type epithelial cells in the earliest stages of cancer development. Traditionally, cancer models have relied on systems in which mutations are activated across the entire epithelial tissue. However, most cancers arise sporadically, from a single mutated cell. This raises a fundamental question: how can we truly understand cancer initiation if our models do not reflect how it actually begins?
During my postdoctoral research with Dr Catherine Hogan, I investigated how mutant cells evade normal tissue homeostasis when surrounded by healthy cells (Salvador-Barbero Gastroenterology, 2025). This work laid the foundation for my current research.
As a Pancreatic Cancer UK Foundation Fellow, I am now studying how these rare mutant cells, which escape early elimination, go on to form tumours in the context of sporadic disease.
Currently, Dr Ella Reed is working under my supervision on a project that aims to uncover the role of wild-type cells in the initiation of cancer.
Understanding how cancer begins is essential for developing early detection tools and preventative strategies that can ultimately save lives.
Publication
2024
- Badder, L. et al. 2024. The αvβ6 integrin specific virotherapy, Ad5NULL-A20.FCU1, selectively delivers 2 potent “in-tumour” chemotherapy to Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. British Journal of Cancer 131, pp. 1694-1706. (10.1038/s41416-024-02869-3)
2023
- Sanz-Castillo, B. et al. 2023. The MASTL/PP2A cell cycle kinase-phosphatase module restrains PI3K-Akt activity in an mTORC1-dependent manner. The EMBO Journal 42(2), article number: e110833. (10.15252/embj.2022110833)
2022
- Hidalgo, M. et al. 2022. A preclinical and phase Ib study of palbociclib plus nab-paclitaxel in patients with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Cancer Research Communications 2(11), pp. 1326–1333. (10.1158/2767-9764.CRC-22-0072)
2021
- Hill, W. et al. 2021. EPHA2-dependent outcompetition of KRASG12D mutant cells by wild-type neigbors in the adult pancreas. Current Biology 31(12), pp. 2550-2560., article number: E5. (10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.094)
2020
- Salvador, B. et al. 2020. CDK4/6 inhibitors impair recovery from cytotoxic chemotherapy in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Cancer Cell 37(3), pp. 340-353. (10.1016/j.ccell.2020.01.007)
Articles
- Badder, L. et al. 2024. The αvβ6 integrin specific virotherapy, Ad5NULL-A20.FCU1, selectively delivers 2 potent “in-tumour” chemotherapy to Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma. British Journal of Cancer 131, pp. 1694-1706. (10.1038/s41416-024-02869-3)
- Sanz-Castillo, B. et al. 2023. The MASTL/PP2A cell cycle kinase-phosphatase module restrains PI3K-Akt activity in an mTORC1-dependent manner. The EMBO Journal 42(2), article number: e110833. (10.15252/embj.2022110833)
- Hidalgo, M. et al. 2022. A preclinical and phase Ib study of palbociclib plus nab-paclitaxel in patients with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. Cancer Research Communications 2(11), pp. 1326–1333. (10.1158/2767-9764.CRC-22-0072)
- Hill, W. et al. 2021. EPHA2-dependent outcompetition of KRASG12D mutant cells by wild-type neigbors in the adult pancreas. Current Biology 31(12), pp. 2550-2560., article number: E5. (10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.094)
- Salvador, B. et al. 2020. CDK4/6 inhibitors impair recovery from cytotoxic chemotherapy in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Cancer Cell 37(3), pp. 340-353. (10.1016/j.ccell.2020.01.007)
Biography
I finished my BSc in Biology at Universidad de Alcalá (Alcalá de Henares, Spain) in 2013, and then moved to San Pablo CEU University (Madrid, Spain) to study my MSc in Clinical Research Applied to Oncology (2013-2014).
I joined Dr. Melchor Álvarez de Mon lab as Research Assistant in 2012 and collaborated in a project to characterize Recent Thymic Emigrants in Reumathoid Artritis patients treated with Rituximab.
In 2014 I started my PhD at the Spanish National Cancer Research Institute (CNIO) supervised by Dr. Manuel Hidalgo and Dr. Marcos Malumbres, too study CDK4/6 inhibitors in combination with standard chemotherapies for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. After finishing my PhD, I did a short 5-month postdoc at Malumbres lab.
During 2019 I moved to Cardiff University to Hogan lab to study how few KRas and p53 mutant cells evade cell competition mechanisms and initiate Pancreatic Intraepithelial Neoplasias (PanIN) in pancreatic cancer initiation.
Since 2022 I am Pancreatic Cancer UK Foundation Fellow, hosted at Hogan lab, to study the stem cells that drive pancreatic cancer initiation in a sporadic disease context.
Contact Details
+44 29206 88506
Hadyn Ellis Building, Room ECSCRI, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ
Research themes
Specialisms
- Cancer cell biology
- Cancer diagnosis
- Stem cells
- Cell competition
- normal-mutant cell-cell interactions