Olivier Feron is the head of the Cancer Translational Research Laboratory at the Institut de recherche expérimentale et clinique (IREC) of the University of Louvain. Lately, his team significantly contributed to the understanding of the phenotypic adaptation of tumor cells to cycling hypoxia and the use of lactate, glutamine and fatty acids as alternate energy fuels (vs. glucose) in tumors. Current research topics of the lab include the study of different aspects of the tumor metabolism impacting on, or influenced by, the tumor microenvironment, in particular hypoxia and acidosis. The lab of Prof. O. Feron has also implemented a technological platform to identify and validate new chemical entities (NCE) targeting tumor metabolism and stimulating anticancer immunity, as well as innovative prognostic cancer biomarkers.
The expertise of Olivier Feron’s lab is acknowledged by more than 200 publications in peer-reviewed journals (h index = 64, source GS 04/2017), patents and grants from various foundations engaged in the fight against cancer and from major regional, national and european agencies. Honors include receiving the Prize Galien and being one of the youngest scientists elected to the Royal Academy of Medicine.
Olivier Feron is a member of the board of the Belgian Association for Cancer Research (BACR) and of the FRS-FNRS Doctoral School dedicated to Experimental Oncology. He is also member of the scientific committee of the (belgian) Foundation aganinst cancer and editor-in-chief of Frontiers in Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs.
Recent publications:
Corbet C, Pinto A, Martherus R, Santiago de Jesus JP, Polet F, Feron O. Acidosis Drives the Reprogramming of Fatty Acid Metabolism in Cancer Cells through Changes in Mitochondrial and Histone Acetylation. Cell Metab. 2016 Aug 9;24(2):311-23.
Pinto A, Mace Y, Drouet F, Bony E, Boidot R, Draoui N, Lobysheva I, Corbet C, Polet F, Martherus R, Deraedt Q, Rodríguez J, Lamy C, Schicke O, Delvaux D, Louis C, Kiss R, Kriegsheim AV, Dessy C, Elias B, Quetin-Leclercq J, Riant O, Feron O. A new ER-specific photosensitizer unravels (1)O2-driven protein oxidation and inhibition of deubiquitinases as a generic mechanism for cancer PDT. Oncogene. 2016 Jul 28;35(30):3976-85.
Corbet C, Feron O. Cancer cell metabolism and mitochondria: nutrient plasticity for TCA cycle fueling. Biochim Biophys Acta (Review on Cancer) 2017 [Epub ahead of print]
List of publications (member of the team being first or last author)