Rate My Professor Ainhoa Mielgo

Professor Mielgo's research focuses on tumour-stroma interactions, particularly how cancer cells engage with immune cells and fibroblasts to drive progression, metastasis, and resistance to therapies in solid tumours such as pancreatic and breast cancers. Her laboratory employs advanced techniques including preclinical models, patient samples, quantitative proteomics, single-cell RNA sequencing, and cytometry. Key publications include "Efferocytosis reprograms the tumor microenvironment to promote pancreatic cancer liver metastasis" in Nature Cancer (2024), "Mesothelin secretion by pancreatic cancer cells co-opts macrophages and promotes metastasis" in Cancer Research (2024), "Chemotherapy-induced infiltration of neutrophils promotes pancreatic cancer metastasis via Gas6/AXL signalling axis" in Gut (2022), "Macrophage-secreted granulin supports pancreatic cancer metastasis by inducing liver fibrosis" in Nature Cell Biology (2016), and "Chemoresistance in Pancreatic Cancer Is Driven by Stroma-Derived Insulin-Like Growth Factors" in Cancer Research (2016). She has secured funding from Cancer Research UK, North West Cancer Research, and Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund. Awards include the American Association for Cancer Research Award (2011), Knowledge Exchange & Impact Award from the University of Liverpool (2015), and election to the editorial board of Frontiers in Cell & Developmental Biology (2015) and AcademiaNet (2015). Professor Mielgo chairs the ISMIB sustainability committee, serves on various university committees, reviews for major funding bodies like ERC and MRC, and delivers invited lectures at international symposia.