LIH Researchers Receive Think Pink Lux's Marian Aldred Award

On Tuesday 8 March 2022, Think Pink Luxembourg asbl (Think Pink Lux), a local non-profit organisation supporting women living in Luxembourg with cancer, awarded its "Marian Aldred Award" to two researchers from the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH).

Takouhie Mgrditchian, postdoctoral researcher within the Cytoskeleton and Cancer Progression (CCP) group of the LIH Department of Cancer Research (DOCR), and Dr Clément Thomas, Leader of the research group, have been awarded the Marian Aldred Award. Think Pink Lux, represented by Kathy Liebl and Laurent Vanot, handed over a symbolic cheque for €25,000 to the two recipients during a ceremony at the LIH premises in Strassen.

This donation will support the group’s research on tumour immune escape mechanisms. Immunotherapy aims to reactivate or boost the immune system against cancer. Although it is one of the most promising anti-cancer therapies, it fails to elicit an effective and durable response in many patients. According to Think Pink Lux, it is urgent to understand the causes of such failure.

The CCP group recently established that tumour cells can alter the morphology and molecular composition of the immunological synapse and thereby escape from cytotoxic lymphocyte-mediated killing. With the Marian Aldred Award, the two researchers will evaluate several potential molecular targets to prevent alteration of the immunological synapse by tumour cells. The identification of such a target is expected to open new avenues for the development of therapeutic approaches aimed at restoring an effective antitumor immune response in patients and improving the efficacy of immunotherapy. 

"We are very grateful to Think Pink Lux for their generosity and for being active supporters of the translational research we perform within our group and at LIH in general. The donation will help us better understand of how tumours escape immunity and resist to immunotherapy", explained the two awardees

"We are delighted once again to be able to support young and dynamic researchers in Luxembourg under the guidance of Dr Clément Thomas.  We are very grateful to all our sponsors, donors and supporters whose generosity allows us to do this", noted Freda Deed, Treasurer of Think Pink Lux. "Cancer remains not only a significant burden on healthcare systems, but also a condition about which we need constantly to enlarge our medical knowledge.So the the continuation of research is extremely important, not only to extend the scope of effective treatments, but also to enable those with cancer to adapt and live with it". 

Think Pink Lux is a Luxembourg non-profit founded in 2009 by a group of volunteers, with the goal of supporting women living in Luxembourg with the daily reality of cancer. The non-profit set up the Marian Aldred Award in 2012 following the death of Marian Aldred, one of the Think Pink Lux committee’s founding members, due to ovarian cancer. The award provides funding to young scientists in support of their cancer research projects.

Since its inception, Think Pink Lux has funded a PhD student at the Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire du Cancer at Hôpital Kirchberg with €63,000 and has already financed several students at the LIH Department of Cancer Research under Dr Clément Thomas through this award, for a total financial commitment amounting to €141,000.