Desamparados Roda Perez’s career in translational oncology has been associated mainly with her work in the Phase I Trials Unit and in collaboration in the development of new drugs, especially during the last year, during the beginning of her formative period in basic research.

Her training in clinical research is aimed at conducting phase I clinical trials in the Phase I Cancer Unit within the Department of Haematology and Medical Oncology directed by Prof. Andrés Cervantes. In January 2009, she joined the First in Human Unit and since then she has participated actively in all phases of the biologically most relevant questions in phase I studies: individualised therapy for each patient according to molecular selection; biomarkers identification and study of each pathway; and pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic analysis for each new drug.

She has contributed to the development of phase I and II trials with novel therapeutic inhibitors of key signalling pathways deregulated in cancer, including the IGFR/PI3K/AKT pathway and the MAP kinase pathway. In addition the group is working to develop treatments to overcome resistance to anti-EGFR therapies.

In January 2011, she received a Río-Hortega grant awarded by the Carlos III Health Institute. This is a three-year grant for training in basic and clinical research. Her training in cellular and molecular biology is carried out in the laboratory of Prof. Juan R. Viña at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Valencia, where she is involved in a project on colorectal cancer cell lines concerning resistance to anti-EGFR therapies mediated by K-Ras oncogene mutation.