Funded Programmes

THE LATEST FUNDING NEWS IN Spain

To view all of the programmes being funded by the Movember Foundation, please see our Report Cards section. (English only)


Prostate Cancer Breakthrough, November 2014

Research funded by the Movember Foundation has resulted in a scientific breakthrough with significant implications for men with prostate cancer. The research project, led by Professor Robert Bristow in Toronto, Canada, has found that men have a genetic “signature” that will identify prostate cancer patients who are at high risk of their cancer returning after primary treatment, such as surgery or radiotherapy. A new test will allow men to be offered a more personalised treatment plan, avoid unnecessary treatments and side effects, and will increase chances of survival.

The team was funded primarily by the Movember Foundation with a grant of CAD $15 million, which is largest donation we have made to a single research project. The findings have been published this month in the Lancet, one of the world’s leading medical journals, and the research team will now work with institutions across the globe to validate the test over the next 2-3 years.

  • Click here to watch the video of Professor Robert Bristow (English only).
  • Click here to learn more about prostate cancer

Read all about it: Movember’s global action plan news

By bringing together more than 250 of the world's top prostate and testicular cancer researchers, the Global Action Plan (GAP) facilitates a new and unprecedented level of global research collaboration, not previously seen within the cancer community.



Meet Juan M Falcón-Perez

OCCUPATION: Molecular and Cellular Biologist
TITLE: Principal Investigator. Lab-3. Metabolomics Unit
LOCATION: CIC bioGUNE Research Institute, Bilbao, SPAIN
PROSTATE CANCER RESEARCH SPAN: 3 years
FAVORITE MO: My father's Mo


1. You’ve dedicated your time and expertise to the research field… what’s your motivation for this?
Maybe it will sound naive but when I was young I was working in the family patisserie and everyday I watched many of our neighbours going through health problems and I thought that someday I would be able to help them. Although initially I wanted to become a physician, fortunately I became a cellular biologist, and I can say: "today, I am doing my best towards this aim". During my postdoctoral stage in the University of California, I got into the complex world of vesicle research – these micro-sized particles in the blood and urine govern a plethora of metabolic processes inside and outside the cells. Three years ago, I started to apply my knowledge about these vesicles to pursue the identification of novel biomarkers "more sensitive, more specific and less invasive" for prostate cancer that certainly will help to beat the disease. 

2. How does your work as part of Movember’s GAP initiative push the limits of research in prostate cancer?
I have to say that this is a great initiative. It makes possible the coordination of worldwide-distributed laboratories joining efforts and resources to identify mechanisms and biomarkers to better understand prostate cancer. In particular it makes it possible to study a special type of vesicles named exosomes that are present in blood and urine samples as a source for detecting the desired prostate cancer biomarkers. Certainly, Movember´s GAP initiative will accelerate the discovery of new tools and targets for the development novel therapies.

3. What does your project mean to a man living with prostate cancer?
The success of this coordinated project will provide non-invasive biomarkers that would offer the possibility of a routine test with no secondary effects in order to detect cancer earlier and importantly to evaluate the efficacy of a therapy. Remarkably, it will improve surveillance, allowing the detection of the disease in its early stages, making therapy more efficient and subsequently improving quality of life.

4. What has Movember’s funding through GAP allowed you to do that would not have otherwise been possible?
Exosomes are very small vesicles containing a disease-changing subset of nucleic acid, lipids, proteins and metabolites that can be isolated from body fluids. The funds provided by Movember are currently being used to develop new tools that will facilitate the isolation, purification and analysis of these vesicles. We are also applying the most recent technologies including transcriptomics and metabolomics to decipher the content of these vesicles in samples obtained from different cohorts of patients. The information provided by these technologies will unravel novel biomarkers and mechanisms responsible for the establishment and progression of the disease generating novel therapeutics targets.

5. Do you have a message for over 1.1 million Mo Bros and Mo Sistas around the world?
I would just say them that as scientists we are putting all of our efforts to improve quality of life, so they just have to believe in us and continue fighting because at the end we will beat prostate cancer.