Our professionals
Dr. Ascensión López
PhD in Biological Sciences
Primary focus on immunotherapy for cancer and autoimmune diseases
Professional career
Degree in Biology, University of Navarra, 1996. She completed her doctoral thesis focused on cancer immunotherapy under the supervision of Drs Francisco Borrás-Cuesta and Juan José Lasarte in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Navarra.
She obtained her PhD in Biological Sciences at the same university in 2001. After one year as a postdoctoral fellow in the same department, she joined the Immunotherapy Laboratory in the Oncology Area of CIMA as a Research Collaborator, and the Cell Therapy Area of the Clínica.
She currently carries out her work in the Cell Therapy Area of the Clínica Universidad de Navarra.
RESEARCH AREAS
- Her research activity focuses on the development of new immunotherapy strategies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
- She has collaborated on 15 research projects and on the set-up and development of 6 clinical trials at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, all of them focused on combining standard treatment for each tumour type (chemotherapy, radiotherapy and/or surgery) with immunotherapy strategies.
AREAS OF INTEREST
- Her activity focuses on the development of immunotherapy strategies in cancer (both solid tumours and haematological neoplasms).
- This includes the production of immunotherapy treatments (dendritic cell vaccines, idiotypic vaccines and autologous effector lymphocytes) under a quality system in a GMP laboratory accredited by the Spanish Agency of Medicines for the production of these treatments, as well as the design, set-up and development of immunotherapy clinical trials.
Activity
In teaching
She has contributed to the training of students on the research pathway undertaking placements in the CIMA Immunotherapy Laboratory, to the teaching of nursing specialisation courses, and to the co-supervision of a research project within the Master’s in Biomedical Research.
In research
She has contributed to more than 30 communications at national/international conferences, collaborated in the writing of 3 book chapters, and contributed to the publication of 40 articles in national and international journals.