TheranosMet is one of the 8 laureates in Biology & Health of the first call for research projects by MUSE (Montpellier Université d’Excellence). The 3-year MUSE program includes support for a PhD student.
TheranosMet focuses on the theranostic use of RBD nanoparticles. RBDs are Receptor-Binding Domains derived from retroviruses that target nutrient transporters. RBDs that bind transporters known to play key roles in cancer cells are being developed at IGMM in collaboration with Metafora-biosystems. This novel program, based on studies performed by Donatella Giovannini and Jawida Touhami, in Marc Sitbon’s group, paves the way for novel utilizations of RBD-mediated strategies in the imaging and treatment of pancreatic cancers, colorectal cancers and liposarcomas.
The project, sponsored by EVOCAN, the Montpellier University Hospital Federation (FHU) in cancer, is led by Marc Sitbon at IGMM, in collaboration with Lætitia Linarès, from Laurent Le Cam’s group at IRCM (UM and INSERM U1194), and Sébastien Carrère, a surgical oncologist at the Montpellier Regional Cancer Institute (ICM). The project will benefit from an active collaboration with Metafora-biosystems, a start-up dedicated to the theranostic development of new metabolic ligands, and the Center for Cancer Systems Biology headed by Marc Vidal (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School).
