Mariona Graupera

Mariona Graupera
Institut de Recerca contra la Leucèmia Josep Carreras (IJC), Barcelona
Project Leader

Mapping the pathogenesis of vascular malformations.

• Rui Miguel dos Santos Benedito
  Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC), Madrid

• Eulàlia Baselga Torres
  Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona

• Jaume Mora Graupera
  Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona

Human vascular malformations mainly affect infants, children, and young adults. These lesions are painful, complicated by bleeding, infection, or organ dysfunction, and can affect the organs where they are located. At the time that we started our project, no targeted therapied to cure vascular malformations were available. Through the execution of MAP-VM, we have identified new biological mechanisms which explain the pathogenesis of vascular malformations, generated robust pre-clinical models for drug testing and demonstrated why some of the mutations that cause vascular malformations exhibit tissue tropism. Collectively, our data are contributing to the understanding of the etiology of vascular malformations, to identify effective treatments for these conditions.

Mariona Graupera is since 2021 the Group Leader of the Endothelial Pathobiology and Microenvironment Group at the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute where she combines her passion for biomedical research and vascular biology with the training of students and postdocs. Previously, she already created a multidisciplinary laboratory devoted to study PI3K/PTEN signaling in pathophysiological angiogenesis at IDIBELL with a Ramon y Cajal position. Prior to that, she joined the laboratory of Prof. Bart Vanhaesebroeck in London, first at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and then at the Bart’s Cancer Institute, where she performed her postdoctoral stay. (Read full CV).

The Graupera lab studies how signaling events regulate vessel morphogenesis, and how this knowledge can be translated into therapeutic opportunities for diseases characterized by aberrant vessel growth. Current topics of interest are:

1. How the endothelium instructs organ function in an organotypic fashion.

2. How mural cell plasticity can be targeted to prevent disease pathogenesis and progression.

3. Why there is distinct endothelial spatio-temporal sensitivity to oncogenic mutations. Her research combines zebrafish and mouse models, patient derived samples, high-throughput analysis (NGS, single cell RNA sequencing, (phospho)proteomics) and high-resolution imaging.

Institut de Recerca contra la Leucèmia Josep Carreras
Ctra de Can Ruti, Camí de les Escoles s/n
08916 Badalona, Barcelona
Tel.: (+34) 93 557 28 00 ext. 4440

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @MarionaGraupera