Pr Antoine Italiano (institut Bergonié) joins Gustave Roussy to head the precision oncology program

Villejuif, 25 february 2020

Pr Antoine Italiano (institut Bergonié) joins Gustave Roussy to head the precision oncology program

Gustave Roussy announces the creation of a new generation precision medicine program, under the direction of Professor Antoine Italiano, currently in charge of the Early Phase Trials Unit at Institut Bergonié (Bordeaux, France). Pr Antoine Italiano will join Gustave Roussy's teams at part-time on March 1 2020 and will work at both sites.

This new step strengthens the existing links between the two institutions. In 2019, they signed a collaborative agreement to expand the offer of therapeutic innovation to cancer patients.

"The advanced characterization of the tumor and its immune environment through modern precision medicine tools is one of the very promising strategies for patients. Gustave Roussy, a leader in this field, has made it a strong research axis for more than a decade. Strengthening our teams and collaborations on this topic is crucial to energize this important precision medicine program.”

Prof. Jean-Charles Soria, General Director of Gustave Roussy

 "On behalf of the Bergonié Institute, I am particularly proud to continue this long-standing collaboration between the Bergonié Institute and Gustave Roussy that will pave the way for an ambitious new generation precision medicine program in oncology."

Prof. François-Xavier Mahon, Director General of the Bergonié Institute

"I am proud to work with Gustave Roussy's teams for the development a new generation precision medicine program in oncology. This program will be based on the most advanced technologies in terms of both tumor profiling and their immunological context, as well as on the integration of big data to propose innovative clinical research studies that can lead to crucial paradigm shifts in routine cancer management.”

Professor Antoine Italiano, head of the new Precision Medicine program at Gustave Roussy

Aged 42, Pr Antoine Italiano is the head of the Early Phase Trials and Sarcoma Units at Institut Bergonié (Bordeaux, France). Pr Italiano trained as a medical oncologist and obtained the Best Medical Thesis Price from Nice Medical School in 2005. He gained a PhD degree in Molecular Aspects of Cell Biology in 2008 and completed his training with a post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Cristina Antonescu at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer center, New York, USA. His main research interests are in early clinical development, phase I trials across solid tumors, pharmacodynamic biomarkers, early phase II trials and sarcoma. He is also involved in translational research aspects related to sensitivity and resistance to immunotherapy and targeted therapies, notably in soft-tissue sarcoma models. Pr Italiano has been the Principal Investigator of more than 50 phase I trials during the past 5 years as well as more than 40 phase II and phase III trials in sarcomas. Pr Italiano is member of ASCO, AACR, and ESMO. He is peer reviewer for several oncology journals and has contributed to over 300 peer-reviewed publications, including publications as first or last author in the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Oncology, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Jama Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research and Annals of Oncology.

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