MUNOZ-ESPINDANIEL University of CambridgeUnited Kingdom

Prof Daniel Muñoz-Espín is Principal Investigator at the Early Cancer Institute, Department of Oncology, University of Cambridge, Co-Director of the CRUK Cambridge Centre Thoracic Cancer Programme, and Vice President of ICSA. His research focuses on the fundamental processes and mechanisms promoting lung cancer initiation and progression, and the interplay with the tumour microenvironment, including processes such as senescence, plasticity and aging. His group applies this knowledge toward the validation of novel tools for lung cancer early detection and intervention. Prof Muñoz-Espín completed his PhD (2002–2006) in the laboratory of Prof. Margarita Salas at the Autonomous University of Madrid, with collaborative training in the group of Prof. Jeff Errington at the University of Oxford. He then undertook postdoctoral research at the Centre of Molecular Biology Severo Ochoa in Madrid (2007–2010), followed by a second postdoctoral period (2011–2015) in the laboratory of Prof. Manuel Serrano at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO). There, he specialized in cellular senescence and in vivo models of cancer and aging. His seminal work, published in Cell (2013) and highlighted in Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology (2014), was the first to describe the phenomenon of developmental senescence. This work was recognized with two major research awards: the Ramón y Cajal Programme Senior Grant and a National Programme Grant for Research Aimed at H2020 Societal Challenges. In 2016, Prof Muñoz-Espín established his independent research group at the University of Cambridge. He has since secured multiple competitive funding awards, including an MRC New Investigator Research Grant (2017–2021), a CRUK Early Detection Project Grant (2018–2021), and a CRUK Programme Foundation Award (2020–2026). As principal investigator and corresponding author, he has published recent research in high-impact journals including EMBO Molecular Medicine (2018), Aging Cell (2020), European Respiratory Journal (2022), Cancer Cell (2023), Angewandte Chemie (2024), Cell Death & Disease (2024), EMBO Molecular Medicine (2025), and Nature Aging (2026a, 2026b). Prof Muñoz-Espín’s laboratory has developed a suite of novel tools targeting senescence and promoting transient reprogramming for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, resulting in several filed patents. Prof Ljiljana Fruk (Department of Biotechnology, University of Cambridge) and Prof Muñoz-Espín have co-founded Senesys Bio start-up to develop therapeutic and detection tools to target ageing and cancer.