Eduard Batlle - Biography#
Eduard Batlle joined the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) as an ICREA Research Professor and Head of the Cancer Science Program in 2004. His research has focused on the mechanisms driving colorectal cancer (CRC) initiation and progression. Among other findings, his work originally identified the transcription factor Snail as a repressor of E-Cadherin gene expression during epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) (2000), established the connection between intestinal stem cells and CRC (2002 - 2011), and, more recently, uncovered a key role for TGF-beta signaling in stromal cells during metastatic colonization and immune evasion (2012 - 2025). In 2022, he identified the cell of origin of metastatic relapse in CRC.
Some of his main publications on these topics (in Cancer Cell, Nature Genetics, and Nature, among others) have received over many citations and are considered landmark studies, inspiring the work of laboratories worldwide.
His collaborative work with the pharmaceutical industry has led to the development of new therapeutic tools targeting cancer stem cells and the TGF-beta pathway, some of which are showing promising results in clinical trials. As an example, petosemtamab (MCLA-158), developed in collaboration with MERUS N.V. (Herpers et al, Nature Cancer 2022) has shown significant therapeutic activity in patients with advanced HNSCC that had progressed over multiple lines of therapy. It has received Breakthrough designation by the FDA and is currently being evaluated in two Phase III clinical trials. This antibody possibly represents the first therapy against cancer stem cells of solid tumors.
Dr. Batlle is also an outstanding mentor. He has supervised 13 PhD students to date, and six former postdoctoral fellows. Two PhD students trained in his group are now independent group leaders.
Eduard Batlle’s track record has been recognized through numerous awards and honors, including the Sabadell Banc Award for Biomedical Research (2010), the Josef Steiner Award (2013), ERC Starting and Advanced Grants (2007, 2013, 2019), the Pezcoller Foundation-EACR Award (2014), the Lilly Foundation Award (2016), the King Jaume I Award in Medicine (2021), and the Catalan National Research Award (2024).
