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Molecular and Cellular Origin of Gynecological Tumors

Description

Our research group has recently identified novel differential genetic targets that may discriminate gynecological tumors at the tissue level; however, developing accurate and non-invasive diagnostic methods is a priority in areas such as gynecology/oncology.

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Gynecological tumors group

Description

Our research group has recently identified novel differential genetic targets that may discriminate gynecological tumors at the tissue level; however, developing accurate and non-invasive diagnostic methods is a priority in areas such as gynecology/oncology.

Read more
Gynecological tumors group

Team members

Aymara Mas Portrait

Aymara Mas, Ph.D.

Senior Principal Investigator

Dr. Aymara Mas is Senior Principal Investigator at the Carlos Simon Foundation and Miguel Servet Researcher (ISCIII) at the INCLIVA Health Research Institute, Valencia (Spain)

Her research focuses on understanding the factors contributing to the pathophysiology of benign and malignant gynecologic tumors, including smooth muscle tumors and uterine and ovarian cancer.

Dr. Mas performed an international post-doctoral fellowship for 2 years at Augusta University (Georgia, USA), primarily studying uterine disorders, completing her Ph.D. training at La Fe Health Research Institute, Valencia (Spain), with a Sara Borrel Grant (ISCIII).

Over the past 10 years, she has made significant contributions including the functional proof of concept for the existence of somatic stem cells (SSCs) in the human myometrium and uterine leiomyomas (PMID: 24890270) based on side population methods (PMID: 22633281) and specific biomarkers (PMID: 25989979; PMID: 28395335). She also collaborated with many groups to study the role of steroid hormone receptors (PMID: 27739139), signaling pathways (PMID: 30075150), and genetic (PMID: 25542836) and epigenetic alterations (PMID: 25922306) in the pathogenesis and growth of uterine leiomyomas, looking further into new approaches to improve the efficacy of gene therapy against these benign tumors (PMID: 27020169). She has also revealed, through integrative genomic and transcriptomic profiling, the differential molecular signature of uterine leiomyoma versus leiomyosarcoma tumors (PMID: 31121144; PMID: 35216305), giving rise to 2 patent applications.

Her commitment to research excellence has been demonstrated by an established record of 9 research projects (5 as principal investigator) and 30 basic and translational publications in peer-reviewed journals from an area of high relevance, such as female reproductive health, specifically in uterine leiomyomas. She has participated in national and international grants and has been internationally awarded by the Society of Reproductive Investigation (SRI) and the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). She also guides Medicine Degree students in their final projects and Ph.D. students.

Nowadays, her team uses high-throughput sequencing technologies to identify molecular biomarkers associated with tumor growth and progression and develop predictive models that allow non-invasive therapeutic and preventive strategies.

ResearcherID: E-4409-2018

Paula Punzon Portrait

Paula Punzon

Predoctoral Researcher

Sandra Boldu portrait

Sandra Boldu

Predoctoral Researcher

Esther Lara Portrait

Esther Lara

Laboratory Technician

Main Publications

Effect of aging on the human myometrium at single-cell resolution

Punzon-Jimenez P., Machado-Lopez A., Perez-Moraga R, Llera-Oyola J, Grases D, Galvez-Viedma M, Sibai M, Satorres-Perez E, Lopez-Agullo S, Badenes R, Ferrer-Gomez C, Porta-Pardo E, Roson B, Simon C, Mas A. Nat Commun. 2024 Jan 31;15(1):945.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45143-z. PMID: 38296945.

Molecular Management of High-Grade Serous Ovarian Carcinoma

Punzón-Jiménez P, Lago V, Domingo S, Simón C, Mas A.

Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Nov 9;23(22):13777.

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232213777. PMID: 36430255; PMCID: PMC9692799.

Integrative Genomic and Transcriptomic Profiling Reveals a Differential Molecular Signature in Uterine Leiomyoma versus Leiomyosarcoma

Machado-Lopez A, Alonso R, Lago V, Jimenez-Almazan J, Garcia M, Monleon J, Lopez S, Barcelo F, Torroba A, Ortiz S, Domingo S, Simon C, Mas A.

Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Feb 16;23(4):2190.

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23042190. PMID: 35216305; PMCID: PMC8877247.

Molecular and Cellular Insights into the Development of Uterine Fibroids

Machado-Lopez A, Simon C, Mas A.

Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Aug 6;22(16):8483.

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22168483. PMID: 34445194

The differential diagnoses of uterine leiomyomas and leiomyosarcomas using DNA and RNA sequencing

Mas A, Alonso R, Garrido-Gomez T, Escorcia P, Montero B, Jimenez-Almazan J, Martin J, Pellicer N, Monleon J, Simon C.

Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2019 Oct;221(4):320.e1-320.e23.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2019.05.018. PMID: 31121144.