Dr. Alice Bernard-Tessier receives a Young Investigator Award by the Prostate Cancer Foundation

Based in the United States, the Prostate Cancer Foundation is one of the world’s most influential organisations dedicated to prostate cancer research. It has awarded Dr. Alice Bernard-Tessier, an oncologist at Gustave Roussy currently in the United States as part of a partnership with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a Young Investigator Award. This prize, presented for the first time to a French researcher, recognises her project aimed at better understanding the mechanisms of resistance to a targeted therapy to develop new therapeutic strategies.



Founded in 1993, the Prostate Cancer Foundation is a major player in prostate cancer research. It has already supported more than 2,250 programmes and contributed to the development of 14 new therapies that have significantly improved the prognosis for men affected by this cancer.
Dr. Alice Bernard-Tessier is an oncologist at Gustave Roussy and a specialist in prostate cancer. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University, in the laboratory of Dr. Himisha Beltran, where she has just received this Young Investigator Award.
This prestigious award, amounting to USD 75,000 per year for three years and cofounded by the CRIS Cancer Foundation, will support Dr. Bernard-Tessier’s research project dedicated to understanding the mechanisms of resistance that arise in some patients with hormone-resistant prostate cancer treated with PARP inhibitors, a targeted therapy.
 

Understanding resistance mechanisms

“PARP inhibitors are treatments that target a vulnerability in tumour cells related to DNA repair. They have proven effective in patients with metastatic, hormone-resistant prostate cancer carrying a BRCA1/2 mutation. However, in some cases, this treatment loses its effectiveness over time. The aim of my research project is to combine genomic, molecular and clinical data from the TRITON3 trial to identify the mechanisms responsible for treatment failure in certain patients,” explains Dr. Bernard-Tessier.
The results of this work could help guide treatment decisions and lead to the development of new therapeutic strategies to improve outcomes for patients with metastatic prostate cancer.
This international distinction is awarded for the first time to a French researcher. Gustave Roussy actively supports its young clinicians and scientists by offering dedicated development programmes and encouraging them to train at the highest level through collaborations with leading international centres such as the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard University. The aim: to foster and support emerging talents in oncology.