Research cluster

Aim

The Cancer Research Center AGORA is the place where fundamental and clinical research meet to push back the limits of science. The place where researchers and clinicians work together to find solutions to the challenges posed by cancer. The place where exchanges, contradictions, and confrontations will lead to the therapies of tomorrow.

Since 2018, approximatively 300 scientists and clinicians are working in the AGORA cancer research cluster, initiated by the ISREC Foundation on the premises of the University Hospital in Lausanne.

This building brings together multi-disciplinary teams composed of doctors, biologists, immunologists, bioinformaticians, and bioengineers from the different partner institutions. Their numerous and constant interactions make it possible to accelerate the development of new therapies for the immediate benefit of the patient.

The integrated and interactive Cancer Research Cluster AGORA also forwards our understanding of the mechanisms underlying each type of pathology and helps develop targeted and optimized therapies for cancer patients. Scientists and clinicians work together to provide answers to the multiple challenges posed by this disease, through exchange and confrontation of points of view or diagnoses and therapeutic approaches.

The ISREC Foundation, responsible for the construction of this building, is also member of the interdisciplinary centre for applied cancer research (SCCL, Swiss cancer center Léman), which brings together the competences of the universities, federal institutes of technology (EPFs), hospitals, clinics and public and private institutions.

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Topics

Melanoma

A HIGHLY MALIGNANT SKIN CANCER

Undoubtedly the most visible oncological pathology, melanoma is paradoxically progressing steadily in Switzerland, with a relatively high prevalence rate among the population.


Glioblastoma

THE MOST AGGRESSIVE FORM OF BRAIN CANCER

Both rare and virulent, glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive type of tumor in the central nervous system. It accounts for 50% of all primary malignancies in the brain. While the prevalence of gliomas remains low (2 to 5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Europe and North America), this tumor is extremely aggressive.


Lung cancer

THE LEADING CAUSE OF CANCER-RELATED DEATHS IN MEN AND THE SECOND LEADING CAUSE IN WOMEN

Lung cancer is one of the most common and most fatal forms of cancer among men and women. The particularity of this disease is its high level of dependence on environmental factors, especially the inhalation of or even simple chronic exposure to cigarette smoke, due or not to passive smoking. The high number of lung cancer cases within the population remains a cause for concern.


Breast cancer

THE MOST COMMON FORM OF CANCER IN WOMEN IN SWITZERLAND

Accounting for more than one third of all cancer cases, breast cancer has the highest prevalence and is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in women. The risk of developing breast cancer is highest in women aged 50 and older.


Pancreatic cancer

A CANCER OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM THAT EQUALLY AFFECTS MEN AND WOMEN

Also called pancreatic adenocarcinoma, this type accounts for 4% of all cancerous diseases. It is more often diagnosed in industrialized countries and occurs most frequently around the age of 70 in men and 75 in women.


Tumour invasion and metastasis

THE STUDY OF MALIGNANT CELL MIGRATION

When cells of a primary tumour, located in a particular organ or type of tissue, manage to migrate from the initial site to neighbouring tissues and into blood vessels, they can be transported by the lymph, the blood or even by microorganisms (viruses, bacteria, parasites) to other parts of the body where they can form secondary tumours called metastases.


Angiogenesis

A PATHOLOGICAL PROCESS IN TUMOUR GROWTH AND METASTASIS DEVELOPMENT

Just like healthy tissues, a tumour needs oxygen and a blood supply to feed its growth. To this end, it activates the formation of new blood vessels from the capillaries in neighbouring healthy tissues.

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