The Translational Research Group in Lung Cancer brings together clinical and basic researchers under the direction of Prof. Dr. Mariano Provencio, a professor at the UAM and president of the Spanish Group on Lung Cancer. Its objective is to facilitate the transfer of knowledge generated in the experimental field to clinical practice, so that scientific advances can be translated as quickly as possible into tangible benefits for patients.

One of his most visible contributions is his participation in the NADIM trial, conducted by the GECP, which pioneered demonstrating that administering chemotherapy and immunotherapy before surgery significantly improves the prognosis of operable lung cancer. His results, published in The Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology y New England Journal of Medicine, These were confirmed by an independent trial and led to the approval of this treatment by the FDA, the EMA and the Ministry of Health. Today the group continues to work with the GECP in this line through NADIM II, NADIM-Adjuvant and new studies.

Clinical and molecular research advances hand in hand. Each trial incorporates biological studies aimed at understanding why some patients respond while others do not: the group was the first to describe the value of the repertoire of T-cell receptors as a predictor of response and has characterized the immune microenvironment of the tumor and the mechanisms of immunotherapeutic toxicity using technologies such as mass sequencing, spatial transcriptomics and single-cell analysis. Their Liquid Biopsy Laboratory, the first public laboratory in Spain accredited by ENAC (ISO 15189) for this purpose, is a national reference center. It also has its own Phase I Unit and Clinical Trials Unit.

The group also makes data and artificial intelligence its own research line. It coordinated the European project CLARIFY, whose platform for supporting clinical decision-making was recognized by the European Commission as a breakthrough innovation, led SHARE, and participates in UNCAN-Connect and HOSPITABLE, in addition to having developed the OncoApp application for patients.

It is a dynamic and growing group, with a wide portfolio of competitive national and European projects ranging from cellular therapy with tumor infiltrating lymphocytes to small cell lung cancer and the personalization of adjuvant treatment. It is committed to the generation of new talent and to training, with international seminars, preceptorships, a university course and the annual congress on multidisciplinary approach to lung cancer, and maintains collaborations with centers such as Johns Hopkins, MD Anderson and McGill and with CIBERONC. All this positions it as one of the leading reference centers in the research and treatment of lung cancer in Spain and Europe.