Cancer Initiative: supporting second-year Master's students to help train up the scientists of the future

The Cancer Initiative, a major part of the Institut Pasteur's scientific strategy, is a concerted action by Institut Pasteur laboratories working on cancer. It is one of the priorities of the 2019-2023 Strategic Plan. 51 units in 10 different departments on campus conduct research projects dealing with issues related to oncology.

The aim of the Cancer Initiative is to build and support research on cancer by fostering a multidisciplinary and translational approach that combines cell, molecular and structural biology, genetics, developmental and stem cell biology, microbiology, virology, infection biology, immunology, chemistry and computational biology. It is coordinated by Sandrine Etienne-Manneville, Head of the Cell Polarity, Migration and Cancer Unit, and Ludovic Deriano, Head of the Genome Integrity, Immunity and Cancer Unit.

The various initiatives launched by the Cancer Initiative include a scheme to host qualified students who are interested in cancer research. In November 2020, it issued its first call for applications aimed at research teams involved in the initiative who wanted to recruit a second-year Master's student to work on a research project on cancer.

Despite the difficult context because of the epidemic and the restrictions on hosting students, a total of six second-year Master's students began their research projects between January and March, boosting the dedicated teams working on cancer and developing their taste for research. Congratulations!  

Find out more about their projects and see the summaries

Oral presentations will be held at the end of the students’ training period to give them an opportunity to present and share the results of their research alongside the Cancer Initiative units – a valuable exercise in knowledge-sharing.

Find out more about the Cancer Initiative