CV Science

Fabienne LESUEUR Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer

Course and current status

Since 2020      Co-Leader of the Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer Team, INSERM U900,    Institut Curie, Paris, France

2013 - 2020     Research associate (CR1/HDR), Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer Team, INSERM U900, Institut Curie, Paris, France

2007 - 2012     Team leader, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France

2005 - 2007     Postdoc. Fellow, Dpt of Genetics, Institut Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France

2004 - 2005     Postdoc. Fellow, Centre National de Génotypage, Evry, France

2002 - 2004     Postdoc. Fellow, Strangeways Research Lab.,  University of Cambridge, UK

1997 - 2001     PhD student in Genetics, University Lyon I, France

Scientific summary

 My research focuses on the identification of genetic factors involved in the aetiology of cancer, and on the assessment of the clinical utility of new findings. One important axis of my research is on breast and ovarian cancers but I also develop studies on other cancer types (melanoma, differentiated thyroid cancers…).

By applying massive-parallel sequencing and other “omics” technologies both in the tumour and in the germline to large population-based and family-based studies, I aim to further our understanding of the mechanisms behind tumour development and progression, and to more precisely estimate tumour risks of genetically predisposed individuals in order to evaluate the clinical utility of identified genetic risk factors. These translational research projects focus on both rare predicted pathogenic variants in cancer susceptibility genes and on the effect of SNPs expressed as polygenic risk scores. This is achieved by taking into account the effects of other factors (either genetic or environmental/lifestyle factors) in national studies involving the family cancer clinics and the molecular diagnostics laboratories from the national network forming the Genetic and Cancer Group supported by UNICANCER.

We also participate to international collaborative efforts to identify the sources of variation in high-risk populations, for instance in hereditary breast and ovarian cancer families segregating a BRCA1 or a BRCA2 mutation, which is a key point in order to adapt the screening of mutation carriers and also to develop new prevention strategies.