Crown Bioscience, a global drug discovery and development services company providing translational platforms to advance oncology, inflammation, cardiovascular and metabolic disease research, awards its Patient-Derived Xenograft (PDX) grant programme to Dr Fabrice Lavial, Dr Christophe Caux and Dr Bertrand Dubois from the Cancer Research Center of Lyon (CRCL).
The grant programme was established to support oncology researchers pursuing scientific advancements in cancer using PDX technology. Following an extensive review, CrownBio's Scientific Steering Committee selected Dr Lavial and his colleagues at the CRCL due to their project's potential to create breakthroughs in preclinical oncology strategies. Their research combines PDX and iPS cell technologies to create patient-specific, humanised models.
These unique models will help scientists assess the efficacy of novel immuno-oncology therapeutics, reveal new information about the immune system's involvement in cancer and identify resistance mechanisms to current immunotherapies.
"CrownBio launched our PDX grant programme with the goal of accelerating the pace of preclinical innovation to improve clinical predictions with sound science," Dr Henry Li, SVP Global Scientific Research and Innovation commented. "The CRCL's iPS PDX models exemplify this goal by providing researchers with novel models they can use to formulate new strategies that harness immune cells to treat cancer."
Michael Prosser, VP Corporate Development and Strategy added: "We believe the cutting-edge research models that will be developed at the CRCL will deepen researchers' understanding of the immune system's role in cancer genesis and progression. Using this knowledge, researchers can make better decisions in drug development and design more effective immunotherapeutics, so we are proud and excited to make CRCL's concept a reality."
