Recognized for its studies with an international scope, the Oncopole of Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), a cancerology center, has just recruited a talented researcher to develop new projects in the fight against cancer. In September 2022, Inserm, the Toulouse Cancer Santé Foundation and Oncopole jointly launched a call for applications for the creation of a research chair in the field of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC in English). They finally selected Doctor Lorenzo Scipioni, a 36-year-old postdoctoral researcher of Italian origin then active in the department of biomedical engineering at the University of California at Irvine. For two months, he has been based in the Pink City, at the Toulouse Cancer Research Center (CRCT, a joint Inserm, CNRS and Toulouse III-Paul Sabatier University research unit). For five years, he will direct the Oncobreast chair, whose objective is to better understand the genetics, biology and microenvironment of the very aggressive triple negative breast cancer.
“This is an important and remarkable event for us, because it shows that we can unite different energies to come together and offer a chair of excellence for a young talent,” underlines Professor Gilles Favre, director of the Toulouse Cancer Health Foundation. “Succeeding in attracting Lorenzo Scipioni is positive for Toulouse, for the Oncopole and CRCT community. This will make it possible to develop unique techniques at national and global level. »
TNBC, representing 9,000 cases in France each year, with a poor prognosis, is very complex to control. While 88% of breast cancer patients survive five years, only 15% survive the same length of time with TNBC.
Analyzes as close as possible to the cells
The Italian doctor’s research program relies on innovative technologies, in particular the molecular analysis of single cells, as sources of new targets and therapeutic strategies. A physicist and holder of these very innovative technologies, he will offer new perspectives and opportunities to numerous research teams at the CRCT and the Oncopole, more focused on biological or clinical questions.
“A doctor checks the heart, the lungs, orders blood tests to check that the kidneys and liver are working well,” explains Doctor Lorenzo Scipioni. “With our technology, we can do the same thing for cells, even if they are millions of times smaller than an individual. In reality, cells also have small organs, called organelles, which regulate their breathing, their digestion, their movement, their ‘thought’. By combining chemical tools, highly advanced microscopes and computer science, including artificial intelligence, we can now access all this information. »
The creation of this Oncobreast chair was financed by Oncopole to the tune of 500,000 euros, Inserm for 500,000 euros and a donation of one million euros by TotalEnergies to the Toulouse Cancer Santé Foundation.
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