Christine is co-leader of the Breast Cancer group of the Leuven Cancer Institute (LKI) with Prof. Dr. Hans Wildiers and co-developer/co-leader of the breast cancer research autopsy program at UZ/KU Leuven with Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Floris. 

Besides her teaching duties, Dr. Desmedt is committed to overseeing an excellent multi-disciplinary research team that seeks to further personalise breast cancer treatment for and with patients. The main research areas of her laboratory research are the molecular characterisation of breast cancer (including the unraveling of metastatic progression), gaining a better understanding of rarer cancer subtypes such as Lobular and mucinous breast tumoors, identification of mechanisms of treatment efficacy, and exploring the impact of patient body fat on breast cancer biology.

Renée is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. Her work explores the therapeutic potential of targeting extracellular matrix (ECM) remodelling in Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC).

The extracellular matrix is a a network of proteins and other molecules that surrounds and supports cells and tissues.

Renée aims to uncover molecular mechanisms driving ILC and identify markers in the blood, body fluids or tissues that show how well the body responds to different treatment. 

Steffi’s team focuses on understanding the unique aspect of Lobular Breast Cancer biology, with the final goal to personalise treatments for patients with ILC. In order to achieve their goal, they engage in multi-disciplinary research, collaborating with pathologists, medical oncologists, bioinformaticians, breast surgeons and more.  They are also generating ILC models, which faithfully represent the disease so that they can better understand drug resistance and metastases.

Steffi was awarded the 2024 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Distinguished Lectureship in Breast Cancer Research Award for her groundbreaking work in translational breast cancer research, which has really advanced the understanding of Lobular. This is the first time that a dedicated Lobular researcher has won this award, firmly putting Lobular Breast Cancer on a global stage.

Dr Alicia Okines is a Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, and Honorary Faculty at the Institute of Cancer Research in London. 

Alicia studied Pharmacology and then Medicine at the University of Sheffield. During her specialist medical oncology training at the Royal Marsden Hospital, she completed an MD(Res) investigating two signalling pathways involved in tumour growth and spread, Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and therapies to target them at the Institute of Cancer Research.

Her research interests principally lie in clinical trials and translational research in metastatic breast cancer including brain disease. She has a special interest in Lobular Breast Cancer and continues to develop new studies for women living with this disease.

Anne received two consecutive INSERM grants (2003 – 2013), which allowed her to carry out her PhD in the laboratory of Dr. Delattre (INSERM U830). One of her first results was the identification and validation of a DNA-based prognostic signature (biological markers used to predict the likely course or outcome of a disease), for patients with early HER2-negative small luminal breast cancer. 

Her research activities are aimed at better characterising histologically distinct subtypes of breast cancer in order to contribute to breast cancer classifications, which is important for diagnosing and determining the likely outcomes of a disease. In particular, she has studied the physical and structural characteristics of breast cancers such as Lobular tumors, rare types of invasive tumors including metaplastic carcinomas, and ductal carcinomas in situ (DCIS). 

In collaboration with Dr. Mechta-Grigoriou, her research focused on deciphering the characteristics of the stroma in breast cancers, in particular, Lobular carcinomas.

Together with Dr. Derksen (Utrecht) and Dr. Desmedt (Leuven) she co-founded the European Lobular Breast Cancer Consortium. 

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer worldwide and tumors of other hormone-sensitive tissues such as the endometrium, the prostate, and testes are also on the increase. An understanding of ‘in the body’ hormone action is critical for cancer prevention and for effective therapeutic approaches to hormone-sensitive disease. As Lobular is predominantly a hormonally driven disease, Cathrin’s research is critical for increasing the understanding of this distinct disease.

Cathrin’s research aims to unravel hormone action in physiologically and clinically relevant settings taking transdisciplinary approaches. Her group is composed of scientists with different backgrounds and she collaborates with mathematicians, physicists, engineers, computer scientists, and clinicians from different specialties. Through her appointment at the Institute for Cancer Research in London, she is further developing the translational aspects of her research to provide clinical benefits for patients. 

Elinor’s current research is focused on understanding how the different  components of the tumour microenvironment interact with each other in Lobular Breast Cancer and how this can lead to it spreading to other parts of the body. 

Together with Thurkaa Shanmugalingam, a very talented junior doctor who is training to be an oncologist, they have a project which is looking at isolating circulating tumour cells from women with Lobular Breast Cancer to understand how it evolves over time and becomes resistant to different treatments. 

Naomi Eastwood is a Manchester Cancer Research Centre funded PhD student at the University of Manchester. She is interested in exploring the roles of epigenetic regulators (biochemical mechanisms that turn genes on and off) in cancer, and her project is specifically focused on understanding the role of chromatin (a mixture of DNA and proteins that form our chromosomes) remodelers within Lobular Breast Cancer context.

Dr. Sankari Nagarajan is a Lecturer in Chromatin Biology. For the past 14 years, she  worked on hormonal positive breast cancers in the context of ductal cancers and has now developed her group towards exploring the non-genetic mechanisms of cancer progression in Lobular cancers. She is currently interested in developing Lobular specific gene biomarkers and targeted therapies for patients who lose important chromatin-associated proteins.

“Working with Lobular cancers and LBCUK is a great privilege. The charity and their patient advocates are very friendly, highly collaborative and knowledgeable in that they even understand the tough aspects of our science. It is so easy to get their perspective and support on our research and they help us in bringing translational aspects to our findings from the lab. Hopefully together we can develop better research and ensure Lobular cancers are increasingly studied and treatable.”

Esme is a postdoctoral training fellow in the Breast Cancer Now Research Centre at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, working with Professor Clare Isacke on Lobular Breast Cancer.

Her research focuses on how and why Lobular Breast Cancer spreads to distinct places such as the ovaries and peritoneum, how cancer cells interact with ‘normal’ cells in these sites, and whether we can target Lobular Breast Cancer in these sites.

Previously in her PhD at the University of Edinburgh with Professor Val Brunton, Esme worked on how cancer-associated fibroblasts, a type of normal cell in the breast, can potentially interact with and promote the aggressiveness of some types of Lobular Breast Cancer cells.