PEDIAC Scientific Committee: Two days of fruitful scientific exchanges at Gustave Roussy
Since 2021, the PEDIAC program, funded by INCA, has brought together 11 teams to better understand the origins and causes of pediatric cancers. Program members gathered on March 27 and 28, 2025 at the Gustave Roussy Institute in Villejuif for an annual scientific committee meeting.
During the first day, each team shared their latest scientific advances. So far, the program has contributed to the publication of 23 manuscripts, including recent publications on the initiation mechanisms of certain pediatric tumors [(Martin E et al., Nature 2024), (Ghantous A et al., Mol Cancer 2024), (Shiraishi R et al., Dev Cell, 2024), (Boudia F et al., Blood 2024)].
A session on methodological aspects of identifying genetic variants in whole genome sequencing data also allowed exchanges with several teams within and outside PEDIAC on optimizing specific filters and selecting appropriate control cohorts.
The second day was devoted to the ongoing project studying pollutant exposures and their impacts on different cell types and on the development of pediatric tumors, a transversal research axis that calls upon interdisciplinary collaborations which are the strength of the consortium.
Finally, the scientific exchanges highlighted the engaged projects that would benefit from support beyond the end of 2025 to sustain functional analyses that will require several more years of work.
