The Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) was founded in 1998 as public research centre ascribed to the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), that currently depends of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. It is one of the few European Cancer Centres to allocate resources to both basic and applied research in an integrated manner, thus supporting the interaction of basic research programmes with those of molecular diagnostics and drug discovery.
CNIO is recognised today as one of the top leading Cancer Research Institutes in the World. According to its mission, the CNIO conducts research of excellence in oncology, translates scientific knowledge into clinical practice to ensure that the scientific discoveries impact as quickly as possible into our Health System, and transfers the technology developed at the CNIO to innovative companies. Research activities at the CNIO are developed by 23 Groups, 5 Clinical Research Units, 15 Core Units and 3 Drug Discovery Sections. The Groups are headed by world renowned Principal Investigators and grouped into 2 Basic Research Programmes (Molecular Oncology, Structural Biology) and 2 Translational Research Programmes (Human Cancer Genetics, Clinical Research). In addition, the Core Units and Sections are under the Direction of Innovation, which includes a Biotechnology Programme providing the most advanced scientific and technological support services to the rest of the programmes, an Experimental Therapeutics programme focused on drug discovery, as well as a Technology Transfer & Valorisation Office. In addition to the in-house Clinical Research Units, the Clinical Research Programme has greatly expanded in the last three years through agreements with both private and public hospitals in the area of Madrid.
The international leadership of the CNIO is evidenced by a number of indicators. All groups at CNIO are actively collaborating with partners from all over the world in outstanding international consortia, many of them funded by the EU Framework Programme. The high success rate and funding obtained in the FP7/H2020, demonstrate the scientific leadership of CNIO despite its relatively short history. These include collaborative projects in Health topics, networks of excellence, coordination and support actions, IMI and EURATOM projects, infrastructures development, Marie Curie grants and prestigious European Research Council (ERC) grants.