Dassault Group and Institut Gustave Roussy, premier European cancer research center

Institut Gustave Roussy (IGR) and Dassault Group first joined forces in 2001 around an ambitious and innovative project: creating an in-patient structure specifically dedicated to adolescents suffering from cancer. Until then, these patients were hospitalized in wards intended either for adults or young children.

The adventure continued with the organization of several original fundraising events to support research: Cent Femmes pour la Vie, Cent Hommes pour la Vie, Du Rose pour la Vie.
Since 2007, Dassault Group has contributed to research initiatives targeting a single pathology and a single team of researchers. This system led to a partnership with Prof. Fabrice André a pioneering oncologist and recipient of several international awards for his breast cancer research program “Révolution Cancer.” A world first, this project was designed with the goal of curing more patients more effectively by creating personalized breast cancer protocols.

The research conducted by Prof. André’s teams, with the support of Dassault Group, gave rise to molecular medicine by demonstrating the clinical feasibility of sequencing tumors in women suffering from breast cancer to identify potentially cancer-causing molecular anomalies.

Prof. André and his team aim to expand the scope of molecular medicine – a field that has already delivered tangible results – and further explore promising leads to identify new therapeutic targets.
While maintaining its support for breast cancer research, in 2019 Dassault Group decided to champion two other research programs as well:

colon cancer, research conducted by the teams of Dr. Laurence Zitvogel. Dassault Group contributes specifically to funding the “ColoVax” project, which addresses the functional links between anti-tumor immunosurveillance and the makeup of intestinal microbiome in cases of colon cancer.
lung cancer, research conducted by Prof. Benjamin Besse. This project, known as “VIRSCAN,” focuses on exploring the impact of viral background in patients suffering from bronchial cancer.

In addition, a partnership was concluded with Dassault Systèmes in 2011 as part of the “Sciences de la Vie” program, which aims to create a tumor modeling system relevant for genome analysis.

Our values – innovation, passion, commitment – and a number of challenges have helped us forge a strong and lasting relationship with Institut Gustave Roussy.