at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland

The overall aim of the Molecular Pharmacology Group’s research is the identification of optimized therapeutic strategies for the treatment of complex disease, mainly cancer. Our optimization strategy uses fundamental research to reveal the action mechanisms of the optimized drug mixtures. The latter, in turn, may identify novel signaling pathways, mechanisms of resistance and may lead to new drug discovery alleys.

The mainstays of the ongoing research are:                            ​

- design of personalized optimization of multidrug combinations

- identification of novel targets for treatment

- patient-derived 3D in vitro tumor models

- cell fate mechanisms

- overcoming acquired resistance of targeted drugs

- alternative to mammalian screening models

We work in a close collaboration with clinicians, engineers, biologists and  medical oncologists in order to perform clinically relevant translational research to improve cancer treatment efficacy, reduce side effects and probability of a drug acquired resistance. Our ultimate goal is to develop personalized synergistic combination therapies to the dynamically changing tumor response.

Recent news

• We welcome Laura Iacobucci as a PhD student in our lab!
  
• Prof. Patrycja Nowak-Sliwinska joins the board of Science Innovation Hub, UNIGE
  
• Boninchi Fundation supports our research
• We welcome Valentin Mieville as a PhD student in our lab!
  
• Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology publishes our article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41571-021-00496-y. Media attention: https://www.unige.ch/communication/communiques/2021/combiner-limmunotherapie-aux-medicaments-pour-vaincre-le-cancer/, https://www.ledauphine.com/sante/2021/04/10/une-etude-genevoise-fait-avancer-la-lutte-contre-le-cancer
• The microscopy image taken by Eloise Ducrey features the cover of Apoptosis