Newsletter > Letter n°2

The seven Cancéropôles are part of the French cancer research landscape, enabling at regional and inter-regional levels a better coordination of skills and resources, while breaking down barriers between sectors and disciplines. They give rise to large-scale multidisciplinary research networks and enable the emergence of innovative projects, gathering scientific, clinical, industrial communities, as well as dedicated stakeholders.
Those clusters bring together research teams from research institutions, university hospitals, cancer centers, pharmaceutical and biotech companies and are supported by French Cancer Institute (INCa) and many local governments.
Their ultimate goal: to give a better understanding and definition of new diagnostic, pronostic or therapeutic ways, and to allow an accelerated transfer of innovation from research to patients.

Cancéropôle Grand-Sud-Ouest (GSO) gathers the Limousin, Aquitaine, Midi-Pyrénées et Languedoc-Roussillon Regions.

Nanomedicine is present through different approaches in Bordeaux, Toulouse and Montpellier, with national labelled centers engaged on Nanotechnology research. Researches are led in diagnosis field, biological and medical imaging, new treatments (protein engineering, drug screening), cancer therapy (hyperthermia), drug delivery and targeting. Cancéropôle is strongly engaged to increase interactions between nanotechnologists (chemist, physics experts) and oncologists.

Cancéropôle CLARA gathers the Rhône-Alpes and Auvergne Regions.

Nanomedicine has a long existence in the inter-region, in particular in the Grenoble area around Minatec campus (CEA, INSERM, ESRF). The recent opening of Clinatec premises will boost projects in clinical settings. Lyon, Saint-Etienne and Clermont-Ferrand are also active in the field with teams covering nanoparticle based multimodal imaging, nanotoxicity and ligand chemistry .