Marseille, June 2025 – The DECIPHER project, led by Salvatore Spicuglia from TAGC (Inserm) and Mileidys Perez from Advanced BioDesign (ABD), has been selected as one of the 2024 winners of the ANR-LabCom program. The initiative will receive €363,000 in funding from the French National Research Agency (ANR) and €182,000 from A*Midex and to support scientific and industrial collaboration through the creation of joint laboratories.
A Joint Effort to Tackle Drug Resistance in Cancer
The DECIPHER lab aims to address a critical challenge in cancer research: treatment resistance. By combining TAGC’s expertise in functional genomics and systems biology with ABD’s experience in targeted cancer therapies, the project seeks to identify the biological mechanisms behind drug resistance and develop novel therapeutic strategies.
The research will focus in particular on acute myeloid leukemia (AML), T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), and breast cancer.
Key Research Areas of the DECIPHER Project
- Identification of resistance mechanisms: TAGC will investigate the genetic and epigenetic networks involved in therapy resistance.
- CRISPR/Cas9 functional genomics screening: High-throughput screening will be used to discover new therapeutic targets.
- Signaling pathway analysis: Innovative approaches will be applied to disrupt the adaptive networks of cancer cells.
- Advanced pharmacological studies: ABD will explore drug combinations, with a special focus on ALDH1 inhibitors.
A 54-months Strategic Collaboration
The ANR funding will support the project over three years, including the recruitment of experienced researcher Iris Manosalva, as well as the acquisition of necessary equipment and reagents.
By strengthening public-private collaboration, the TAGC-ABD partnership aims to accelerate the translation of fundamental discoveries into clinical applications, bringing new hope to patients facing resistant forms of cancer.
