He leads the research group “Cell signalling in tumor progression” at INSERM - University UMR 1037 unit. Recently, he has been appointed as the director of the Cancer Research and Therapeutic Innovation Foundation (RITC).

Gilles FAVRE brought a major contribution to the biochemistry and the cell biology of protein isoprenylation and he strongly participated in the preclinical and clinical development of prenyltransferase inhibitors in oncology. Since 2002, his work focused on the role of Rho GTPases in cancer biology. He contributed to elucidate the function of RhoB as a tumor suppressor gene, and its role in the cellular response to genotoxic stress. Recently, he developed new therapeutic strategies to control the function of Rho GTPases in collaboration of Industrial partners. As a medical biologist he translated the results of his research team to the clinic for the discovery of new biomarkers.

His research interest is now focused on oncosignalling pathways leading to metastasis and cell stress response. He is concentrating on new target and biomarker discovery, and on the translational research in breast and lung cancers and melanomas.

Gilles FAVRE is an active member of scientific societies including American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) and has a long experience in the evaluation of the cancer research at the international level through his participation to International scientific advisory Board including INSERM, French National Cancer Institute (INCa), and Alberta Cancer Board, Edmonton Canada.

Scientific activity record

106 publications in journals with impact factor such as : PNAS, EMBO Rep, Cell Death Differ, Cancer Res, Oncogene, FASEB J, J Biol Chem, Int J Cancer. Global citation report ISI Web of Knowledge (All Database) 12/ 2011, h-index: 26, 2010 citations. 4 patents

Main grant support from ANR, INCa, “Investissement d’avenir”, Ligue contre le Cancer, ARC, Pharmaceutical Companies…  4.5 M€ since 2005