South-ROCK is a pediatric cancer research consortium in which CRCM is fully involved.

It brings together some 250 researchers, clinicians and students working on childhood cancers in Lyon or Marseille, in one of the 3 hospital centers (Centre Léon Bérard, Hospices Civil de Lyon and Assistance-Publique Hôpitaux de Marseille) and 10 participating research centers (CRCL, CRCM, IBDM, INP, CIML, SESSTIM, CERESS, CIRC, Institut NeuroMyogène, CIRI). The mission of this center of excellence is to strengthen the multidisciplinary synergies between these two clusters, to accelerate advances in the fight against childhood and young people’s cancers.

SouthROCK is one of 3 centers accredited by INCa as part of the PEDIACRIEX23 call for projects.

On December 12 and 13, SouthROCK members gathered at the Palais du Pharo in Marseille for the first edition of their “Working Days”.

Over the course of two days, researchers and clinicians from Lyon and Marseille were able to exchange views on the various research axes of SouthROCK and set up the first collaborative projects that will enable the scientific program to be carried out. The main focus was on sharing models, tools and expertise, in order to capitalize on all the strengths present in this virtual center.

In addition to the close collaboration between Eddy Pasquier (CRCM) and Marie Castets (CRCL), the two scientific coordinators of SouthROCK, links are being forged and projects are emerging between the REMAP4Kids (Pasquier/André), COMPO (Benzekry/Ciccolini), iSCB (Morelli/Collette) and DISARM PEDAC (Vasseur/Tomasini) and researchers and clinicians from CRCL, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Centre Léon Bérard and Hospices Civils de Lyon.

The CRCM proteomics platform also plays a key role, coordinating all proteomic analyses at the center.

A first selection has already been made, and several Lyon-Marseille collaborative projects have been awarded a “Starting grant” by SouthROCK to enable their initiation and the generation of preliminary data to facilitate obtaining competitive funding.

These include Xavier Morelli’s collaboration with Lyon-based pediatric hematologist Carine Halfon-Domenech on the development of a DCK kinase inhibitor for the treatment of pediatric leukemia, and Sophie Vasseur and Richard Tomasini’s collaboration with Véronique Maguer-Satta (CRCL) and Rita Khouery (IARC) on the impact of pollutants on metabolism in young children, which may contribute to the development of pediatric cancers.

One of SouthROCK’s objectives is to structure and advance pediatric oncology research throughout the South of France. For this reason, researchers from Nice and Monaco have also been invited to take part in these two days of reflection and present their work in the field.

In an atmosphere that was both studious and relaxed, a number of ideas were generated, integrating developmental biology, the integration of multi-omics data and pharmacological screening, clinical trials and the physical and psychological well-being of patients and their families.

The main aim of SouthROCK is to provide holistic care for children with cancer, improving both care and the prevention of treatment side-effects.