Donors and volunteers of the French association “Ligue contre le cancer” visit the IECB

On December 1^st 2011, the IECB teams led by Sébastien Fribourg, Martin Teichmann and Jean-Jacques Toulmé opened their labs to 27 donors and administrators of the Dordogne committee of the Ligue contre le cancer. An experience that matters to the donors and volunteers of the association, who raise almost 40 million euros every year for cancer research at the national level.

"In Dordogne, there are no research centers working on cancer. Our 250 volunteers and 5000 members therefore support the Bordeaux labs" explains Catherine Galvagnon, vice-president of the Dordogne committee of the Ligue contre le cancer. In order to gain understanding of the everyday work of researchers, the committee organized a day trip to Bordeaux. On December 1^st, three IECB project leaders (all affiliated to the Inserm research unit U869), as well as three teams from the Institut Bergonié, offered a guided tour of their labs to 27 donors and volunteers from Périgueux.

Visitors from the Dordogne committee of the Ligue contre le cancer,

accompanied by Carmelo Di Primo, Hélène Dumay-Odelot, Natacha Pérébaskine and Martin Teichmann from the IECB.

At the IECB, they had the opportunity to discover the work of the team "Gene Regulation and Tumor Research", led by professor Martin Teichmann. Accredited by the association in December 2010, his group identified an enzyme expressed only in stem cells and cancer cells, which facilitates cell proliferation. The team now endeavors to block this enzyme to slow tumor development. During the tour, Martin Teichman explained: "Working on human cells is very expensive. Since we were accredited by the Ligue contre le Cancer, the association has covered two thirds of our operating costs. With such funding, we have now been able to perform experiments that we could not afford before."

At the end of the day, the members of the association, who were able to distinguish healthy from cancer cells with a microscope, and observed fluorescent DNA under ultraviolet light, came back home more motivated than ever: "Getting to know the researchers we support and learning about their work prompt us to continue our commitment to support research against"  concluded Michel Hospital, vice-president of the Dordogne committee.