Predictive Oncology

Paoli Calmettes Institute

Predictive Oncology

Paoli Calmettes Institute

Emilie Mamessier

Team Leader

François Bertucci

Team Leader

Agathe Cohendet

Doctoral student

Alice Mogenet

Doctoral student

Alix Frejafon

Engineer

Arnaud Guille

Engineer

Claire Acquaviva

Researcher

Claire Germier

Technician

David Birnbaum

Hospital Researcher-Practitioner

Emilie Denicolai

Research engineer

Gwenaël Lumet

Engineer

José Adélaïde

Technician

Lucas Usclade

Engineer

Maëlle Picard

Doctoral student

Marc Lopez

Engineer

Marine Makoa

Engineer / lab manager

Mathieu Delattre

Research engineer

Max Chaffanet

Engineer

Olivier Cabaud

Research engineer

Pascal Finetti

Engineer

Pascale Tomasini

Hospital Researcher-Practitioner

Quentin Da Costa

Engineer

Rani Tazerart

Technician

Renaud Sabatier

Hospital Researcher-Practitioner

Our team brings together multidisciplinary profiles working together to develop tools that will ensure better management of aggressive solid tumors.

Our scientific priority is to combat aggressive or treatment-resistant metastatic breast and colon cancers. To this end, we are developing so-called "precision medicine" strategies (Figure 1).

Figure 1. General workflow. Figure generated with Canva.

To guide our projects, the team is headed by François Bertucci and Emilie Mamessier, two recognized experts in their respective fields.

François Bertucci is a medical oncologist and pioneer in tumor profiling. He is also head of the Translational Research Committee at the Institut Paoli Calmettes.
Emilie Mamessier is a researcher at INSERM, specializing in transfer research.

This co-direction enables us to combine innovative technical and scientific developments on relevant clinical issues, all thanks to valuable patient samples.

A multidisciplinary team

Our projects benefit from the involvement of a team of around twenty members, experts in a wide range of disciplines: bioinformatics, immunology, molecular and cellular biology, etc.

State-of-the-art equipment

In addition to the equipment available at CRCM, our laboratory has its own resources for carrying out our research (see figure 2):

Devices and robots for next-generation sequencing (NextSeq500, Robot Magnis)
Transcriptomics (Affymetrix) and On-chip comparative genomic hybridization (Agilent) platforms
Equipment for isolating DNA (BioRad droplet generator and reader) and circulating tumor cells (Parsortix, micromanipulator)
Microfluidic devices (Ibidi, Fluigent, peristaltic pump)
Real-time imaging system and microscopy
Cell culture rooms dedicated to human samples

Our mission

Together, we are working to :

Refine tumor classification,
Offer more therapeutic options,
Optimize treatment strategy,
A better understanding of resistance mechanisms,
A better understanding of metastatic processes.

This relies on the design of prospective clinical trials to collect samples at different stages of the disease and associated clinical data. This approach is essential, particularly for newer treatments for which only limited data are available.

Figure 2. All the techniques/technologies used in the team are designed to adapt to patient samples and meet clinical needs: tumor profiling and classification, single-cell resolution computational approaches, multiplexed immunofluorescence on FFPE tissue, patient tumor-derived organoids (single or complex co-culture), analysis of liquid biopsies, identification of new targets and design of new treatments. Figure generated with BioRender.

Key words

Treatment resistance
Aggressive cancers
Drug-conjugated antibodies
Circulating tumor cells
Tumor microenvironment

To tackle the issue of treatment resistance, we have structured our research program around 5 axes.

The projects

Tumor cell plasticity and the dynamics of treatment response

There are very few consensus biomarkers of response/resistance reported for each treatment. One of the reasons for this is the lack of resolutive analysis of timely samples (pre-, per- and post-treatment, and at progression) to identify the multiple mechanisms selected by treatment.

We aim to fill this gap using recent technologies (RNAseq from small, degraded, formalin-fixed samples) and/or preclinical models ( patient-derivedtumor organoids, patient-derived xenografts...) that we are developing in the laboratory.

These topics are covered in the Tumor Profiling and Preclinical Models groups. For further information, please contact F Bertucci, E Mamessier

The role of intratumoral heterogeneity in response to treatment

The tumor cells making up a tumor are heterogeneous, and this heterogeneity can be the cause of early relapse.

We aim to assess this heterogeneity in different types of cancer and at different stages of the disease(characterization at tissue and single-cell level), provide tools to measure the degree of heterogeneity in each tumor (multiplexed immunofluorescence of tumor cells and their microenvironment), and propose new markers and therapeutic combinations to overcome this heterogeneity (computational analysis, in vitro / in vivo tests).

This topic is covered in the Tumor heterogeneity in space and time group. For further information, please contact F Bertucci, E Mamessier and E Denicolaï.

Providing new treatments for aggressive tumors

When a tumor becomes resistant to a treatment, one strategy is to attack the resistance mechanism with the aim of achieving a lasting response.

We are developing pre-clinical models that enable us to test new therapeutic combination, without increasing overall toxicity.

This topic is addressed in the New therapeutic strategies and Preclinical models groups. For further information, please contact F Bertucci, E Mamessier and O Cabaud.

Early detection of treatment resistance with liquid biopsies

The earlier resistance to a treatment is detected, the sooner the clinician can take action and propose an ad-hoc therapeutic strategy.

We are therefore looking for new markers of resistance to treatment using liquid biopsies, which are minimally invasive methods that give us access to tumor material from a simple blood test.

This topic is covered in the Circulating Tumor Cells group. For further information, please contact E Mamessier and E Denicolaï.

Mechanisms of tumor cell survival during the metastatic cascade

When tumor cells metastasize, they are exposed to stress factors and mechanical forces that can kill them. However, some cells develop strategies to circumvent these stresses and continue their journey until they reach a new niche. This topic is addressed in the laboratory by E. Mamessier (identification and targeting of survival mechanisms in response to stress using patient-derived samples such as FFPE tissue, CTCs and PDTOs) and by C. Aquaviva (microfluidic approaches).

For further information, please contact E Mamessier and C Acquaviva.

In a nutshell

Team news

28 October 2025

The CRCM was featured in a La Provence report on innovative cancer therapies

Jean-Paul Borg discusses the advances made by teams in Marseille in the fields of molecular medicine, immunotherapy and targeted therapies.

28 January 2025

Renewal of the Ligue Contre le Cancer label for the Mamessier / Bertucci team

The Predictive Oncology team is proud to once again receive the support of the Ligue Contre le Cancer.

All our news

featured publications

05/2024

The co-expression of antigen targets as a rationale for ADC combination in urothelial cancer. Ann Oncol.

Bertucci F, de Nonneville A, Finetti P, Cohendet A, Guille A, Mamessier E

07/2016

SPAG5: the ultimate marker of proliferation in early breast cancer? Lancet Oncol.

Bertucci F, Viens P, Birnbaum D.

04/2017

Nectin-4: a new prognostic biomarker for efficient therapeutic targeting of primary and metastatic triple-negative breast cancer. Ann Oncol.

M-Rabet M, Cabaud O, Josselin E, Finetti P, Castellano R, Farina A, Agavnian-Couquiaud E, Saviane G, Collette Y, Viens P, Gonçalves A, Ginestier C, Charafe-Jauffret E, Birnbaum D, Olive D, Bertucci F, Lopez M.

11/2017

Validation and comparison of the molecular classifications of pancreatic carcinomas. Mol Cancer.

Birnbaum DJ, Finetti P, Birnbaum D, Mamessier E, Bertucci F.

08/2023

Predictive power of tertiary lymphoid structure signature for neoadjuvant chemotherapy response and immunotherapy benefit in HER2-negative breast cancer. Cancer Commun (Lond).

Bertucci F, De Nonneville A, Finetti P, Mamessier E.

08/2022

Low cholesterol biosynthesis favors epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition maintenance and influences tumor molecular subtyping and disease-free survival in colon cancer patients. Cancer Commun (Lond).

Aulas A, Liberatoscioli ML, Finetti P, Cabaud O, Birnbaum DJ, Usclade L, Birnbaum D, Bertucci F, Mamessier E.

All our publications