TEFAF Oncology Chair

We are very proud to announce that prof.dr. Alberto Bardelli has accepted our annual TEFAF Oncology Chair this year. Professor Bardelli holds a Full Associate Professorship at the Department of Oncology, Medical School, University of Turin, is former President of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR) and directs the Molecular Oncology Programme at the Candiolo Cancer Institute IRCCS. He is a geneticist expert in the field of precision medicine and liquid biopsies we look forward to his insights and expertise!

Appointed as 2020 TEFAF Honorary Chair professor is Prof.Laurence Zitvogel MD, PhD. Full professor Immunology, Biology Medical School Paris-Saclay and scientific director of OncoImmunology Gustave Roussy. Professor Zitvogel has been actively contributing to the field of cancer immunology and immunotherapy, bringing together basic and translational research. Her expertise is mainly dendritic cell and innate effector biology and relevance during tumor development as well as exosome-based vaccine designs. She pioneered the concept of immunogenic cell death. Her team discovered the critical role and impact of gut microbiota in cancer immuno surveillance and therapies. She was recipient of many awards, including the National Academy of Medicine, The translational Research INSERM Prize, the ASCO-SITC, the Brupbacher Award 2017 and the ESMO Immuno-Oncology Award 2017.

Inauguration of Prof.Zitvogel will take place February 18, 2020. Prior to the inauguration she invites all cordially to attend the symposium 'The Future of Cancer Immune Atlas' with confirmed speakers Prof. Rachel Rosenthal, UCL Cancer Institute London, Prof. Florent Ginhoux, Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) and Prof. Dieter Lambrechts, KU Leuven. 

Professor and Chairwoman Lisa Coussens, cancer biologist at the Department of Cell Development & Cancer Biology, and Associate Director of Basic Research in the Knight Cancer Institute, at Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU), Portland (US) has been appointed as Visiting Professor for the Chair of Oncology in 2019. Professor Coussens specializes in understanding the role of immune cells and their mediators as critical regulators of cancer development, and identification of immune targets for anti-cancer immunotherapy. She has published many important studies and has received a number of prestigious scientific awards recognizing her laboratories contributions to the field of tumor immunology.

Official Inauguration of Professor Coussens took place March 21, 2019, with an inaugural lecture titled 'Inflammation and Cancer; New Targets for Therapy in Cancer'. Prior to the Inauguration the TEFAF Symposium 'Micro-environmental Regulation of Cancer; Translating Basic Science to Clinical Applications' took place with special speakers invited by Professor Coussens; Michele de Palma, EPFL Lausanne, Karin de Visser, NKI Amsterdam and Mara Sherman, OHSU, MaraSherman Lab. 

This year for the first time 2 TEFAF fellowships were awarded to GROW PhD students Femke Ehlers and Nicky Beelen. Femke Ehlers will spend 6 months at the OHSU Knight Cancer Center, characterizing the natural killer (NK) cell-breast cancer cell interaction using state-of-the-art imaging techniques in order to develop clinically effective NK cell therapy for breast cancer. Nicky Beelen will visit the group of professor Coussens for 12 months to profile the immunce cell repertoire in breast cancer and to study the cytotoxic versus pro-tumor functions of NK cells and the interaction with extracellular vesicles.

In a special symposium on Friday 22 June 2018, we celebrated 10 years of TEFAF Oncology Chairs. The latest accomplishments and future developments in cancer epidemiology, prevention, biology, diagnostics and therapy were discussed by the TEFAF Oncology Chairs and other eminent scientists.