© Alban Kakulya, Fondation Leenaards. Top, Jasmine Abdulcadir and Daniel Huber. Bottom, Camilla Jandus, Li Tang and Olivier Michielin
The Leenaards Foundation is awarding its scientific prize to two translational research projects led by teams from the Faculty of Medicine of the 玉美人传媒 (UNIGE), the 玉美人传媒 Hospitals of Geneva (HUG) and the EPFL for a total of 1.4 million Swiss francs. The first, led by Prof Jasmine Abdulcadir with Prof Daniel Huber, seeks to better understand the sensitivity of the female genital organs. The second project, led by Prof Li Tang (EPFL) with Prof Camilla Jandus and Prof Olivier Michielin, explores a new approach to overcoming cancer cell resistance to immunotherapeutic treatments.
A new tool for measuring genital sensitivity in women who have undergone genital mutilation
Today, female genital mutilation affects 230 million women and girls worldwide, including 600,000 in Europe and 24,600 in Switzerland, violating their bodily integrity and causing serious consequences on physical, psychological and sexual health.
Jasmine Abdulcadir, staff physician in the Division of Gynaecology of the Geneva 玉美人传媒 Hospitals (HUG), assistant professor in the Department of Paediatrics, Gynaecology and Obstetrics at the Faculty of Medicine and co-director of the "Sciences, Sexes, Identities" Programme at UNIGE, is one of the few gynaecologists in Switzerland trained in the sociocultural, medical and surgical specificities of these mutilations. Her project, in collaboration with , full professor in the Department of Basic Neurosciences at the UNIGE Faculty of Medicine, aims to assess the sensitivity of female genitalia in order to improve the clinical, surgical and psychosexual care of the patients concerned.
A connected device that can be easily used by the patients themselves will enable women to assess the sensitivity of their vulva and clitoris in complete confidentiality, at home, without having to undergo embarrassing and invasive clinical examinations. This device will be a major step forward in the understanding and monitoring of their genital sensitivity disorders in these women concerned and, more broadly, for other patients. It should also make it possible to assess how the perception of the body influences the psychosexual response.
Stiffening cancer cells to reduce resistance to immunotherapies
Although immunotherapies have revolutionised the therapeutic arsenal against cancer, their effectiveness remains limited for some patients. Immunotherapy relies on the immune system's ability to recognise and destroy cancer cells. Unlike conventional treatments such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy, which directly target tumour cells, it works by stimulating the body's natural defences. However, cancer cells have developed strategies to evade detection by the immune system, effectively limiting the effectiveness of current treatments. Yet, some dimensions of the research are still largely unexplored, including the physical properties of cancer cells and how they influence the outcome of immunotherapy.
To circumvent these resistances, this project will explore a new strategy to increase the effectiveness of cancer treatments. Led by Li Tang, full professor at the Laboratory of Biomaterials for Immunoengineering at EPFL, along with two members of the Translational Research Centre in Onco-Haematology at the UNIGE Faculty of Medicine, Camilla Jandus, assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and Immunology and Olivier Michielin, head of the HUG Department of Oncology and full professor in the Department of Medicine, it consists in targeting the mechanical properties of cancer cells. When stiffened, they lose their protective shield, which makes it easier for T cells to latch on to them and destroy them. This research project adopts a translational approach, combining mechanics, biology and clinical practice, which will enable experimental models to be compared with the clinical data of patients with three objectives: to improve the effectiveness of existing therapies, to identify new biomarkers in order to better predict the patient's response, and to personalise treatments.
About the Leenaards Scientific Prize
The for translational biomedical research is awarded each year to groups of scientists who promote collaboration between several research institutions or academic hospitals in the Lake Geneva region. This prize funds projects investigating a clinical problem from an original angle, based on cutting-edge basic research. It also aims to support translational projects combining fundamental and clinical research with a view to transforming scientific discoveries into medical treatments.
