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Metabolism and cancer
Menendez’s Lab

DESCRIPTION

Unlocking the metabolic secrets of cancer: Our “Metabolism and Cancer” team studies how cellular metabolism drives cancer growth, drug resistance, and metastasis. We use cutting-edge laboratory experiments, computational tools and clinical trials to validate our discoveries in cancer patients.

MAIN RESEARCH LINES

  1. CANCER METABOLISM

    Metabolic inhibitors for cancer therapy

    • Metabolic mechanisms of tumorigenesis & drug resistance
    • Clinical development of anti-cancer metabolic drugs

    Mitochondria, senescence, and cancer

    • Mitochondria-based elimination of tumor-/metastasis-initiating cells
    • Metabolic therapy-induced senescence (MTIS)

    Metabolo-immunotherapy

    • Tumor cell-intrinsic immunometabolism 
    • Metabolic/dietary interventions and immunotherapy 
  2. BIOCOMPOUNDS
    • Natural biocompounds for cancer treatment
  3. COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY & CHEMISTRY
    • Mathematical modeling of cancer
    • Computational design of anti-cancer metabolic drugs

Javier A. Menendez

Group leaders

IP

Elisabet Cuyàs

Researchers

Established researcher (Miguel Servet)

Eila Serrano Hervás

Researchers

Postdoctoral researcher (INVESTIGO)

Sara Verdura

Researchers

Predoctoral researcher

Àngela Llop Hernández

Young investigators

Predoctoral researcher

Júlia López

Young investigators

Predoctoral researcher

Begoña Martín Castillo

Researchers

Established researcher (Unit of Clinical Research, ICO-Girona)

Eugeni López Bonet

Researchers

Established researcher (Hospital Trueta)

Silibinin is a natural molecular glue that inhibits PD-L1 glycomaturation

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Phytomedicine. 2026 Jun 25;159:158481. doi: 10.1016/j.phymed.2026.158481. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: The adaptive upregulation of the immune-checkpoint PD-L1 in response to interferon-γ (IFNγ) protects solid tumors from cytotoxic lymphocytes and undermines adoptive cell immunotherapies. Currently, pharmacologically interrupting the trafficking of nascent PD-L1 to the surface of cancer cells is not feasible in a clinical […]

Fatty acid synthesis therapy-induced senescence (FASTIS) in cancer cells

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Cell Death Dis. 2026 Jun 17. doi: 10.1038/s41419-026-08992-8. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Therapy-induced senescence (TIS) in cancer cells can be triggered by radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and certain targeted therapeutics. Here, we demonstrate that a new form of TIS, termed fatty acid synthesis therapy-induced senescence (FASTIS), can be induced by pharmacologically targeting de novo lipogenesis. Cancer […]

Epigenetic Clocks in the Cosmic Silence of a Deep Underground Laboratory: Implications for Aging and Space Exploration

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Aging Dis. 2026 Jun 5. doi: 10.14336/AD.2026.0468. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT DNA methylation aging clocks are among the most accurate biomarkers of chronological and biological age, yet why the methylome encodes time with reproducible precision remains unclear. Current models emphasize developmental patterning, imperfect epigenetic maintenance, chromatin drift, and remodeling associated with DNA repair. However, […]

Cellular Senescence in the Absence of Galactic Cosmic-Ray Muons

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Aging Dis. 2026 May 18. doi: 10.14336/AD.2026.0025. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Cellular senescence is a stress response that prevents the proliferation of damaged cells. As senescence has evolved in the near-surface biosphere, where cosmic background radiation (CBR) continuously delivers a low flux of highly penetrating muon particles, we investigated whether this persistent abiotic stress […]

Characterising Epigenetic Tipping Points using a Spectral Dimension Reduction Approach

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Bull Math Biol. 2026 Mar 18;88(4):57. doi: 10.1007/s11538-026-01602-w. ABSTRACT Epigenetic landscapes (ELs) are defined by the pattern of epigenetic marks (acetylation, methylation, etc.) layed over large chromatin regions. The information contained in the ELs is essential to sustain the patterns of gene expression that shape cell fate and identity. EL maintenance requires the precise regulation […]

Ruth Lupu | Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA

Pilar Blancafort | Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, Perth, Australia

Francesca Cutruzzolà | Sapienza University, Rome, Italy

Tomás Alarcón | ICREA-Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM), Reus, Spain

Sílvia Osuna | ICREA-Institut de Química Computacional i Catàlisi (IQCC), Girona, Spain

Josep Sardanyés | Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM), Barcelona, Spain

José Antonio Encinar | Universidad Miguel Hernández, Elche, Spain

Vicente Micol | Universidad Miguel Hernández, Elche, Spain

Antonio Segura-Carretero | Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain

Jorge Joven | Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), Reus, Spain

Carlos Peña Garay | Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc (LSC), Spain

Menendez grup. Research group photo
Program Against Cancer Therapeutic Resistance

CONTACT US

Campus IDIBELL
(L’Hospitalet del Llobregat)
Hospital Duran i Reynals, Gran Via 199,
L’Hospitalet del Llobregat,
Barcelona 08908
Tel. +34 93 260 7952

Campus IGTP-IJC
(Badalona)
Campus Can Ruti – IGTP – Building Muntanya,
Rd. Can Ruti, Camí de les escoles s/n,
Badalona, Barcelona 08916
Tel. +34 93 554 3069

Campus IDIBGI
(Girona)
Parc Hospitalari Martí i Julià de Salt, Dr. Castany s/n,
Salt, Girona 17190
Tel. +34 872 987 087

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