On a cloudy Sunday morning our team of 7 people of our staff and family attend to the “Race for Gift” 2018 edition. NV Logistics choosed The CANSEARCH Foundation to be the beneficiary of a donation of CHF 1’750.-
The CANSEARCH Foundation finances research projects as part of the Child and Adolescent Onco-Hematology Unit of the Pediatric Department of the Geneva University Hospital.
The tasks of this unit are:
- to treat children with cancer or blood diseases
- to conduct research in order to improve the understanding and treatment of these diseases
To this end, the CANSEARCH Research Laboratory established the first platform in pediatric oncology and hematology in Geneva. This work allows to maintain a level of medical excellence in the Canton of Geneva. Through a public-private partnership, the Foundation can offer personalized and highly specialized treatments.
Research areas
Advances in pediatric oncology in recent years have been carried out thanks to two different areas of research:
- laboratory research on the study of biological parameters
- clinical research, allowing the development of new therapeutic strategies
Advances in the laboratory research field have an important impact on therapeutic clinical trials. One of these areas of research concerns “cancer genetics,” and serves in particular to characterize many tumors in very specific biological criteria, such as genetic defects (mutations, translocations, etc.) or expression of specific cell markers.
New therapeutic strategies
The more detailed analysis of genetic tumor abnormalities allows us to move forward with the development of new therapeutic strategies, notably taking into account the response of every child and youth to the proposed treatment. Indeed, there are genetic determinants specific to each individual that affect treatment response and also the short or long-term consequences. As a result, we can evaluate the necessary medication for each individual, both effective for its anti-cancer effect, and with fewer side effects. This research is grouped under the term “pharma-oncogenetics”.
