Mission

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”.

Your support

Some work in these two areas of research has already been done in various laboratories of the University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG). These collaborations will obviously be pursued, however, today CANSEARCH finances its own research platform specifically focused on pediatric oncology and hematology. This platform is the first laboratory of pediatric onco-hematology in Geneva.

In order to pursue these projects, we need your financial support.