Dynamic regulation of tissue fluidity controls skin repair during wound healing.
Sarate RM, Hochstetter J, Valet M, Hallou A, Song Y, Bansaccal N, Ligare M, Aragona M, Engelman D, Bauduin A, Campàs O, Simons BD, Blanpain C.
Cell. 2024 Aug 11:S0092-8674(24)00825-0. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.07.031. Online ahead of print.
Pubmed PDF

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Prof. Cédric Blanpain has been elected as a new member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Founded in 1780, this Academy is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. Its members are selected through a competitive process that recognizes individuals for their excellence, leadership, and their preeminent contribution to their discipline and to society.

On April 18, 2024, Prof Cédric Blanpain received the 52th Fondation ARC Leopold Griffuel Award for basic research.
This award is one of the most prestigious in the field of scientific research, and the first prize of cancer research in Europe.

ULB press release (in French)
Fondation ARC press release (in French)

Prof. Blanpain supports Télévie research on Belgian TV at this occasion : RTL info reporting

Will we ever be able to get rid of breast cancer? Alexandra Van Keymeulen, Maître de recherche FNRS in the laboratory, tries to answer the question in a podcast.

Prof. Cédric Blanpain has been invited to give his opinion as part of the newspaper article prepared on the theme “A world in which we no longer die of cancer is possible”.

Un monde dans lequel on ne meurt plus du cancer est possible. Ludivine Ponciau. Le Vif L’Express, janvier 2024, p. 12-23.
PDF

On December 9th, Cédric Blanpain was the guest of the broadcast”Les éclaireurs” on RTBF, Belgian french-speaking TV and radio channel.
The recording is freely available via this page. 

On November 14, during the ceremony of granting noble favors, Professor Blanpain was elevated to the rank of baron by the King of the Belgians. He received this prestigious noble favor for his research work against cancer.

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Professor Blanpain was awarded the prize for the best presentation of the year in the field of biology by the Gordon Research Conferences attendees (regardless the conference).
Gordon Research Conferences is an international forum which organizes dozens of conferences in this field every year.

The team led by Prof. Blanpain has been shortlisted with 11 others teams for the last step of the Grand Challenges award.  
The Plasticity-Tx project aims to construct a catalogue of cell states to uncover the mechanisms that drive cancer cell plasticity and reveal new therapeutic approaches against cancer. 
Official announcement
Press release of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (in French)

Pharmacological targeting of netrin-1 inhibits EMT in cancer.
Lengrand J, Pastushenko I, Vanuytven S, Song Y, Venet D, Sarate RM, Bellina M, Moers V, Boinet A, Sifrim A, Rama N, Ducarouge B, Van Herck J, Dubois C, Scozzaro S, Lemaire S, Gieskes S, Bonni S, Collin A, Braissand N, Allard J, Zindy E, Decaestecker C, Sotiriou C, Salmon I, Mehlen P, Voet T, Bernet A, Blanpain C.
Nature. 2023 Aug 2. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06372-2.
Pubmed  PDF

Netrin-1 blockade inhibits tumour growth and EMT features in endometrial cancer.
Cassier PA, Navaridas R, Bellina M, Rama N, Ducarouge B, Hernandez-Vargas H, Delord JP, Lengrand J, Paradisi A, Fattet L, Garin G, Gheit H, Dalban C, Pastushenko I, Neves D, Jelin R, Gadot N, Braissand N, Léon S, Degletagne C, Matias-Guiu X, Devouassoux-Shisheboran M, Mery-Lamarche E, Allard J, Zindy E, Decaestecker C, Salmon I, Perol D, Dolcet X, Ray-Coquard I,Blanpain C*, Bernet A*, Mehlen P* (*last co-authors)
Nature. 2023 Aug 2. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06367-z.
Pubmed  PDF

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Interview with Cédric Blanpain and Alexandra Van Keymeulen in FNRS News.
Cancer : l’avenir de la recherche.  FNRS News, 128, juin 2023, p 52-55.
PDF

RHOJ controls EMT-associated resistance to chemotherapy.
Debaugnies M, Rodriguez-Acebes S, Blondeau J, Parent MA, Zocco M, Song Y, Latil M, Dubois C, Moers M, Impens F, Van Haver D, Rorive S, Allard J, Uemura A, Sotiropoulou PA, Salmon I, Méndez J, Blanpain C.
Nature 2023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05838-7
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Cédric Blanpain is being given the International Society of Stem Cell Research’s Momentum Award.  This is the first time that such a prestigious award is being given to a researcher working in Europe.

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Prof Blanpain’s editorial in Fokus. Le Vif l’Express supplement, December 2023.
PDF

Yura Song (PhD student in bioinformatics), was selected to be one of the twelve speakers of the Young scientist special session, which was co-organized by Stanford University, K-bioX (a non-profit organization of Korean scientists in USA), Department of Pharmacy – Seoul National University, College of Medicine – Catholic university of Korea, College of Medicine – Chungang University (all are located in Seoul, Korea)​.  She got third prize with the paper “NR2F2 controls malignant squamous cell carcinoma state by promoting stemness and invasion and repressing differentiation“. Federico Mauri, Corentin Schepkens,…and Cédric Blanpain. Nature Cancer, volume 2, pages 1152–1169 (2021).

Podcast of the conference given by Cédric Blanpain at Collège Belgique, Royal Academy of Belgium, Brussels, September 2022.

Cédric Blanpain crée un nouvelle société pour remplacer ChromaCure, L’Echo, vendredi 2 septembre 2022.
PDF

Mesp1 controls the chromatin and enhancer landscapes essential for spatiotemporal patterning of early cardiovascular progenitors.
Lin X, Swedlund B, Ton MN, Ghazanfar S, Guibentif C, Paulissen C, Baudelet E, Plaindoux E, Achouri Y, Calonne E, Dubois C, Mansfield W, Zaffran S, Marioni JC, Fuks F, Göttgens B, Lescroart F, Blanpain C.
Nat Cell Biol. 2022 Jul;24(7):1114-1128. doi: 10.1038/s41556-022-00947-3. Epub 2022 Jul 11.PMID: 35817961
Pubmed PDF

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On June 16, H.E. Ambassador of Spain in Belgium awarded the laboratory the Orden del Mérito Civil (Order of Civil Merit).  She wanted to highlight the discoveries made by the laboratory on the Fat1 gene, thanks to the collaboration with many Spanish hospitals.

An interview published in L’artichaut, 39/4, April 2022, p. 46-49.
PDF

Le professeur Cedric Blanpain est élu à l’Académie des Sciences, Institut de France, dans la section de biologie humaine et sciences médicales pour ses travaux menés au sein du laboratoire des cellules souches et du cancer de l’Université libre de Bruxelles.
ULB press release

How does a research laboratory run in pratice?  This article highlights the work of Alexandra Van Keymeulen’s research group.
“La recherche, une vie de labo”, Télévie News, 7, December 2021.
PDF

A long-term fellowship has been granted to Chen Jiang (postdoctoral researcher in the lab) by the EMBO, a prestigious organization of more than 1800 leading researchers that promotes excellence in life sciences.   Thanks to this prestigious fellowship, Chen will be able to work on the mechanisms regulating stem cell multipotency during tissue repair and tumor initiation.

NR2F2 controls malignant squamous cell carcinoma state by promoting stemness and invasion and repressing differentiation.
Federico Mauri, Corentin Schepkens, Gaëlle Lapouge, Benjamin Drogat, Yura Song, Ievgenia Pastushenko, Sandrine Rorive, Jeremy Blondeau, Sophie Golstein, Yacine Bareche, Marie Miglianico, Erwin Nkusi, Milena Rozzi, Virginie Moers, Audrey Brisebarre, Maylis Raphaël, Christine Dubois, Justine Allard, Benoit Durdu, Floriane Ribeiro, Christos Sotiriou, Isabelle Salmon, Jalal Vakili and Cédric Blanpain. Nature Cancer, volume 2, pages 1152–1169 (2021)
Pubmed PDF

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Interview of Pr. Blanpain by Bastien Carninx in Fokus, November 2021, p. 10-11 et cover.  
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The European Association for Cancer Research’s Mike Price Gold Medal Award is a biennial award recognising a senior researcher who has made exceptional contributions to the progress of cancer research in Europe.
EACR announcement

Podcast published in the framework of the “Beating Cancer Together” Celebration organized by the Belgian Foundation against Cancer in April 2021.

Link to the broadcast : https://www.rtbf.be/article/cedric-blanpain-ulb-on-manque-d-argent-pour-lutter-contre-le-cancer-10696753

Cédric Blanpain, Prix Francqui-Collen : “Ce qu’on découvre n’est jamais ce qu’on cherchait”.
Propos recueillis par Soraya Ghali
Le Vif, numéro 2, 14 janvier 2021, p.20-23.
PDF

Fat1 deletion promotes hybrid EMT state, tumour stemness and metastasis.
Pastushenko I, Mauri F, Song Y, de Cock F, Meeusen B, Swedlund B, Impens F, Van Haver D, Opitz M, Thery M, Bareche Y, Lapouge G, Vermeersch M, Van Eycke YR, Balsat C, Decaestecker C, Sokolow Y, Hassid S, Perez-Bustillo A, Agreda-Moreno B, Rios-Buceta L, Jaen P, Redondo P, Sieira-Gil R, Millan-Cayetano JF, Sanmatrtin O, D’Haene N, Moers V, Rozzi M, Blondeau J, Lemaire S, Scozzaro S, Janssens V, De Troya M, Dubois C, Pérez-Morga D, Salmon I, Sotiriou C, Helmbacher F, Blanpain C.
Nature. 2020 Dec 16. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-03046-1. 
Pubmed – PDF

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Cédric Blanpain has been awarded by the Francqui-Collen Prize 2020.  This prize is the highest scientific distinction in Belgium.  He is the 25th researcher from the Université libre de Bruxelles to win this prestigious prize.  On December 16th his Majesty the King Philippe will award him the prize officially.  

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In this podcast, Prof. Cédric Blanpain talks about the fight against cancer, the issues of aging and vaccination. Which prospects in research against cancer and aging? What future for researcher-entrepreneurs? What is the relationship between large pharmaceutical companies and public research? 
Link to the podcast on the web site of L’Echo 

Heterotypic cell-cell communication regulates glandular stem cell multipotency.
Centonze A, Lin S, Tika E, Sifrim A, Fioramonti M, Malfait M, Song Y, Wuidart A, Van Herck J, Dannau A, Bouvencourt G, Dubois C, Dedoncker N, Sahay A, de Maertelaer V, Siebel CW, Van Keymeulen A, Voet T, Blanpain C.
Nature. 2020 Aug;584(7822):608-613. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2632-y. 
Pubmed  | PDF

Mechanisms of stretch-mediated skin expansion at single-cell resolution.
Aragona M, Sifrim A, Malfait M, Song Y, Van Herck J, Dekoninck S, Gargouri S, Lapouge G, Swedlund B, Dubois C, Baatsen P, Vints K, Han S, Tissir F, Voet T, Simons BD, Blanpain C
Nature 2020 Jul 29. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2555-7
Pubmed  | PDF

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Defining the design principles of postnatal tissue growth
Dekoninck S, Hannezo E, Aragona A, Sifrim A, Malfait M, Gargouri S, de Neunheuser C, Dubois C, Voet T, Simons Benjamin D, Blanpain C
Cell. 2020 Apr 5. pii: S0092-8674(20)30277-4. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.03.015. [Epub ahead of print]
Cover article
Pubmed | PDF

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For the third time, Pr. Cédric Blanpain – Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer, Université libre de Bruxelles – has obtained a grant from the European Research Council (ERC). This new project called “TrackingTumorStates” aims to define at the single cell resolution, the mechanisms regulating tumor transition states, responsible for tumor growth, differentiation, invasion, metastasis and resistance to therapy.

Cédric Blanpain – Welbio Investigator, Director of the Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) – had obtained an ERC starting grant in 2007 (“CancerStem” 2007-2013), during which his lab identified the cells of origin of the most frequent epithelial cancers, demonstrated the existence of cancer stem cells within their natural microenvironment and identified intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms regulating their functions.

He has also obtained an ERC consolidator grant in 2014 (“EXPAND” 2014-2019), during which his group defined the cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating tissue expansion and cell fate decision during postnatal growth and repair of epithelial tissues.

With his new ERC Advanced Grant (TrackingTumorStates, 2020-2025), he and his team will define at the single cell level the different tumor states. Within a given tumor, some cancer cells actively proliferate, while others differentiate, others migrate and give rise to metastasis, or finally some cells enter in a dormant state and resist to chemotherapy.

In the project TrackingTumorStates, using multidisciplinary approaches that combine single-cell lineage tracing, single-cell genomics, epigenomics and transcriptomics together with pharmacological treatment and genetic perturbations, Prof. Blanpain and his team will define in a comprehensive and integrated manner the identities and functions of distinct tumor states at single-cell resolution. By identifying the mechanisms that regulate tumor cell state transitions and functions, Blanpain and colleagues hope to define new tumor vulnerabilities and provide new therapeutic opportunities.

“I am so grateful to the ERC to fund my new research project studying tumor transition states and their role during tumor progression, metastasis and response to therapy. Without the ERC, my lab would never be able to make many of the discoveries we made over the last 10 years. It is so exciting and encouraging for all our European countries to have the ERC, which had made so much good things and change the dynamic of the European research” comments Cédric Blanpain, the first Belgian scientist that already obtained three ERC grants since the launch of the first ERC call in 2007.

Benhadou F, Glitzner E, Brisebarre A, Swedlund B, Song Y, Dubois C, Rozzi M, Paulissen C, del Marmol V, Sibilia M, Blanpain C  
Epidermal autonomous VEGFA/Flt1/Nrp1 functions mediate psoriasis-like disease
Science Advances 2020 Jan 8 ; 6(2):eaax5849.  doi : 10.1126/sciadv.aax5849
Pubmed  | PDF

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Revenco T,  Nicodeme A,  Pastushenko I, Sznurkowska MK, Latil M, Sotiropoulou PA, Dubois C, Moers V, Lemaire S, de Maertelaer V and Blanpain C
Context Dependency of Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition for Metastasis
Cell Rep. 2019 Nov 5; 29(6):1458-1468. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.09.081 
Pubmed  | PDF

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Prof. Cédric Blanpain was awarded the price for biomedical research 2019 from the AstraZeneca Foundation.  Every two years, the AstraZeneca Foundation, together with the Académie Royale de Médecine de Belgique (ARMB) and the Koninklijke Academie voor Geneeskunde van België (KAGB), awards a prize to a Belgian biomedical scientist for research that has contributed, or could contribute, to improving human health.  S.A.R. Princess Astrid gave this distinction to Prof. Blanpain at the Royal Academy in Brussels. Jean-Claude Marcourt, the Belgian’s French Community Minister for Research, together with other guests including the members of the Blanpain’s lab, were also present at the ceremony. 

Crédits : AstraZeneca Foundation – Laurent Dubrule

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A podcast made by ULB recherche

Prof. Blanpain makes the cover of this special edition PDF

In the distant future, will cancer still be so frightening?  Will it be easily and totally curable?  Prof. Blanpain has accepted to answer these questions for the new Télévie campaign.  PDF

Is the creation of biotech companies as a logical extension of scientific research work worthwhile?  Read under the link below the viewpoints of Jean Stéphenne, former GlaxoSmithKline CEO and Prof. Cédric Blanpain.

“Il nous faut des chercheurs qui puissent écouter”, L’Echo, 10 December 2018.  PDF

Sánchez-Danés A, Larsimont JC, Liagre M, Muñoz-Couselo E, Lapouge G, Brisebarre A, Dubois C, Suppa M, Sukumaran V, Del Marmol V, Tabernero J,Blanpain C.A
Slow-cycling LGR5 tumour population mediates basal cell carcinoma relapse after therapy.
Nature. 2018 Oct; 562(7727):434-438. doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0603-3. Epub 2018 Oct 8.
Pubmed  | PDF

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“Des fêtes dans une Wallonie en panne de leadership”, Le Soir, 15-16 September 2018.   PDF

In the framework of its summer series, Le Soir publishes a long portrait of Prof. Cédric Blanpain : « Mon moteur?  La découverte de l’inconnu »,  11 August 2018. PDF