Rate My Professor Ainhoa Mielgo

Professor Ainhoa Mielgo, Professor of Cancer Biology in the Department of Molecular and Clinical Cancer Medicine within the Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology at the University of Liverpool, earned her PhD in Cancer Biology with distinction (cum laude) from the University of Basel, Switzerland, in 2005. She conducted postdoctoral training at the Moores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, from 2005 to 2010, and was subsequently promoted to junior faculty there until 2012. In 2013, following a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society, she relocated to the University of Liverpool, where she established her independent research team investigating cancer biology. Earlier fellowships include those from the Basque Government (1999), Spanish Research Council (2000), Novartis Foundation (2006), Swiss National Foundation (2007), and Caja Madrid Foundation (2008).

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.