Led by : Andréas Bikfalvi
The aim of the team is to expand our research activities to study the cross talk between angiogenesis and tumor biology, and in particular metastasis, and to reinforce the translational aspects of our research programs.
While angiogenesis is thought to promote tumor growth though the delivery of oxygen and nutriments to the growing tumor, recent evidence suggests that additional functions may be involved.
We are interested in unraveling paracrine effects of angiogenic vessels on primary tumor growth and to decipher the mechanisms of tumor invasion and metastasis. One other important aspect is also how to model tumor development and its relation to the tumor microenvironment, which is also the aim of the present project.
Evidence also indicates that tumors can escape therapeutic blockade. We are interested in identifying mechanisms of escape and new therapeutic targets to prevent/treat tumor escape. Furthermore, new surrogate markers are needed. We are exploring cellular, biochemical and functional markers in experimental cancer models and in cancer patients.
As said previously, the laboratory is heading in fundamental new directions by including systems biology and mathematical modeling. This project is embedded in national and international collaborations. This is major new orientation that will be developed more in the forthcoming years.
We have, furthermore, initiated a vascular biology project in collaboration with the “Institut Optique” for constructing in vitro blood vessels using micro-fluidic techniques. The laboratory is also involved in transversal activities within the university Bordeaux such as the cancer initiative Bordeaux (SIRIC), the vascular biology initiative (VIVA, DHU, RHU) or the bioinformatics initiative (G2P).