Paloma Ordóñez Morán
Associate Professor in Stem Cell Biology & Cancer Sciences, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences
Contact
Biography
Dr. Ordóñez-Morán received her PhD at the University of Madrid and did a postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Prof. Joerg Huelsken at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. She joined the University of Nottingham in July 2019.
Expertise Summary
Stem Cells
Oncology/Cancer
Inflammation
Cell fate
Cell plasticity
Tissue Renewal
Intestinal epithelial biology
Research Summary
Aberrant activation of some pathways can create hierarchically organized tumour tissues where a subpopulation of self-renewing cancer stem cells sustain the long-term clonal maintenance of the… read more
Projects
Guest Editor in Cancers journal
Special Issue "Stemness and Differentiation in Cancer" (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/cancers/special_issues/Stemness_Differentiation)
The purpose of this Special Issue is to define differentiation processes in tumoral cells which affect phenotypic heterogeneity and stemness in cancer, including a) molecular signatures and mechanisms regulating stemness and differentiation; b) drug resistance and tumour heterogeneity; c) in vivo and in vitro 3D models for studying stemness and differentiation; d) stem cell differentiation and its application to cancer therapy. This Special Issue welcomes both reviews as well as original research articles. The deadline for submissions is 30 November 2020.
Applications for a PhD position are invited all year round to study stem cell plasticity in cancer.
Candidates interested in joining our lab to work can contact Dr Ordonez-Moran by sending an e-mail to paloma.ordonezmoran@nottingham.ac.uk
There are a number of international studentships available to international applicants: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/InternationalOffice/prospective-students/scholarships/index.aspx.
Current Research
Aberrant activation of some pathways can create hierarchically organized tumour tissues where a subpopulation of self-renewing cancer stem cells sustain the long-term clonal maintenance of the neoplasm. These cells have proven to be resistant to conventional therapy and to be responsible for tumour relapse. My objective is to target these cells based on their stem-like properties and thereby identify efficient approaches for cancer therapies to improve patient survival. To this end, I use mouse models, clinical association analyses, high-throughput approaches, next-generation sequencing, single cell technologies, patient-derived material and 3D organoids.
Future Research
The practical goals of my research are to understand how cell plasticity is related to drug resistance and how combination of cancer therapies can overcome resistance. My results will help to increase patient's response to treatment with target-directed drugs.