The translational research Centre in oncohaematology (CRTOH)

The CRTOH was created in 2017 thanks to a public-private partnership between the Faculty of Medicine, the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) and a consortium of private foundations including the Dr Henri Dubois-Ferrière Dinu Lipatti Foundation, the Copley May Foundation, the Medic Foundation, the Lombard Odier - Fonds Jean Pastré Foundation and the Geneva Cancer League. The strong commitment of this consortium of donor foundations has made significant advances in the fight against cancer possible.

Today, the CRTOH has 37 research groups, including around 300 collaborators, who are affiliated with different departments of the Section of Clinical Medicine (Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics, Gynecology and Obstetrics, as well as the Hospital Department of Oncology), the Section of Basic Medicine (Cellular Physiology and Metabolism, Pathology and Immunology) of the UNIGE Faculty of Medicine, as well as the Section of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the UNIGE Faculty of Science, and the HUG.

The relevance of research performed at the CRTOH is identifiable in the form of a large number of publications (>750 during the first 5 years of its existence), as well as patent filings, collaborations with industry, the creation of startups, and numerous media interventionsto share the scientific advances of the Centre with a large public. The CRTOH has also contributed to the development of young scientists, as evidenced by numerous thesis defenses (>50), awards for outstanding theses and other successes (10), and scholarships for academic promotion (5).

The activities of the CROTH were coordinated by Professors Patrick Meraldi and Carole Bourquin from 2017 to 2022, then by Professors Mikael Pittet and Olivier Michielin since 2022. The CRTOH Steering committee also includes Professors Intidhar Labidi-Galy, Denis Migliorini and Patrycja Nowak-Sliwinska, and Dr. Valérie Dutoit-Vallotton.

The CRTOH is a member of the Swiss Cancer Centre Léman (SCCL), which comprises all the cancer research communities of the Lake Geneva region, including UNIGE, HUG, EPFL, CHUV, UNIL, Ludwig Cancer Research, the ISREC Foundation, and the AGORA Cancer Research Centre. Professor Olivier Michielin, from CRTOH, serves as SCCL co-director.