World Cancer Day takes place every year on February 4 to unite the world in the fight against cancer. This day aims to raise awareness by spreading information concerning the disease.

Insights into a H3K9 histone methyltransferase: structure trumps function!
How important is the spatial compartmentation of chromatin? In the latest paper from the Gasser lab, the focus- or agglomerate-forming activity of an enzyme that modifies histones, the protein that binds DNA to make chromosomes (SETDB1 or, in C. elegans, MET-2), is shown to promote transcriptional repression in the absence of its histone methylation activity. About 25% of the genes silenced by heterochromatin stay repressed as long as the catalytically dead MET-2 complex is able to form subnuclear agglomerates or foci. It does not silence the genes when foci are dispersed. This argues that the long-range condensation of chromatin into foci helps repress genes that must be turned off to maintain cell identity and integrity. Loss of this segregation often occurs when cells are reprogrammed or during oncogenesis. Work done at the FMI in Basel.

Prof. Heidi Diggelmann was a group leader at the Institut Suisse de Recherche Expérimentale sur le Cancer (ISREC) in Epalinges (1971-1991) before becoming head of the University of Lausanne Institute of Microbiology (1991-2001). She then served as a member of the ISREC Foundation Council from 2001 to 2012. The institute and the foundation are deeply grateful to Prof. Diggelmann for her invaluable expertise and her commitment to our missions over the past years.
After her studies in medicine in her hometown Bern, Heidi Diggelmann initially considered pursuing a clinical career in internal medicine. However, after a brief stint at the district hospital in Thun, she discovered the appeal of laboratory work during her research for her doctoral thesis in Bern. She was immediately attracted to the new field of molecular biology, still in its infancy at the time.
A renowned scientist, Heidi Diggelmann mainly devoted her 40-year scientific career to the study of carcinogenic viruses. Her research especially aimed to understand the mechanisms involved in the replication of retroviruses, known to cause various types of cancers in animals and human beings. Her studies were also devoted to the understanding of the immune system.
Heidi Diggelmann received numerous prestigious awards for her research, including the Friedrich Miescher Award (1976), the Max Cloëtta Prize (1984), the Otto Naegeli Prize of the Bonizzi-Theler Foundation (1992) and the “Prix de l’Etat de Berne” of the University of Lausanne (2002).
In addition to her research and teaching activities, Heidi Diggelmann was deeply committed to research policy issues. She was in particular a member of the Swiss Committee for Biological Safety (1990-1995), the ETH Board (1990-1996), the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences, as well as the Science et Cité Foundation. Furthermore, from 1997 to 2004 she was the president of the Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation.
The ISREC Institute’s scientists in 1988, standing from left to right: Paul Amstad, Christophe Reymond, Rex Tyrrell, Viesturs Simanis, Bernard Sordat, Peter Cerutti, Bernhard Hirt (Director), Otto Hagenbüchle, Elena Buetti, Erich Nigg et Markus Nabholz. Sitting from left to right: Peter Wellauer, Jean-Pierre Kraehenbuhl, Heidi Diggelmann, Lukas Kühn, Susan Gasser et Peter Beard.

Congratulations to our president, Prof. Pierre-Marie Glauser, who has received a “Best Teacher Award” 2021 in recognition of the success and quality of his teaching, as determined by his students.

Congratulations are in order for Prof. Anne Müller and Fabrice André: both are winners of a prestigious award in recognition of their scientific commitment.
Anne Müller (University of Zurich) was awarded the Cloëtta Prize 2021, together with Prof. Bart Deplancke (EPFL). The “Professor Dr Max Cloëtta” Foundation honors these two outstanding scientists for their exceptional scientific accomplishments.
During the 2021 Breast Cancer Symposium organized by the AACR (American Association for Cancer Research), Fabrice André will receive this year’s Outstanding Investigator Award for Breast Cancer Research, together with Prof. Helen M. Piwnica-Worms. This award honors their research, which greatly contributes to the understanding of mechanisms of breast cancer progression, as well as to translational research, clinical trials, and new drug approvals.

Congratulations to Prof. Mikaël Pittet, holder of the ISREC Foundation’s chair in immuno-oncology! According to the “Web of Science”, he is one of the most cited researchers in 2021. This is the second year in a row that he appears in this ranking.
This recognition underlines the excellence of his work, which focuses on the immune system, on the mechanisms by which it controls cancer and other diseases, and on its potential to be exploited for therapeutic purposes.

On November 24, the ISREC Foundation was presented a cheque amounting to CHF 100’000 by the Association Josy Marti – Echec au cancer de la Broye.
This association was founded in 1991 by Josy Marti, manager of the Café du Marché in Payerne, who meanwhile has unfortunately died of cancer.
Through this association, the ISREC Foundation has been the recipient of the amazing and loyal support of the Broye region for close to 25 years.
This expression of faith in the missions of the ISREC Foundation is an invaluable gesture in support of cancer research and advances and imparts energy to our projects.

Congratulations to Prof. Susan M. Gasser, scientific director of the ISREC Foundation, who was awarded an honorary doctorate title by the University of Fribourg during the Dies academicus 2021.
The Faculty of Science and Medicine of the University of Fribourg hereby honors this internationally renowned professor and epigeneticist for the excellence of her research and her unflagging leadership of the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in Basel. This recognition also underlines her commitment to the promotion of women in science in Switzerland. Susan M. Gasser has been awarded numerous important distinctions, such as the Latsis Prize, the Otto Naegeli Prize and the INSERM International Prize. She is a pioneer in the promotion of women in science: in her former function as the president of the Swiss national Science Foundation’s Gender Committee, for example, she initiated the PRIMA program for the promotion of exceptional women in science, which allows young women to reconcile family and a scientific career.
The ISREC Foundation is proud to be able to count on Prof. Gasser’s scientific expertise.

Congratulations to Prof. Mikaël Pittet: his publication entitled “Tumor-Infiltrating Dendritic Cell States Are Conserved Across Solid Human Cancers” has been selected by the renowned Journal JEM Cancer Immunotherapy 2021 as one of the most relevant reference articles on immunotherapy published in the past 12 months.

Congratulations to Prof. Ping-Chih Ho (holder of the ISREC Foundation Translational Oncology Chair from 2015 to 2020) and his colleague Giusy Di Conza on their publication in the renowned journal Nature Immunology. Their study describes a strategy used by cancer cells to convert immune cells (tumor-destroying macrophages) into cells supporting their growth and survival.