Frédéric  THOMAS

CURRENT  CREEC  MEMBERS


Benjamin Roche
Director of Research IRD

Mathematical modeling


Pascal Pujol
Professor

Oncogenetic


justine Boutry
PhD student (2019-2022)

"Ecology and Evolution of host-tumour interactions".


Laure Talarmain
Post-doc (2021)

"Evolutionary-based therapy".


Anne-Lise Gérard
PhD student (2020-2023)

"Ecology and evolution of transmissible cancers".


Giulia Molle
Master 2 student Erasmus (2021)

"Ecology of host-tumour interactions"


mathieu Giraudeau
CNRS Chargé de Recherche

Cancer in wildlife species

Catherine Panabières
Lecturer

Circulating tumor cells

Flora Gouzerh
PhD student (2018-2021)

"Chemical ecology and cancer"

Sophia Belkhir 
Master 2 student (2021)

"Evolutionary based therapy"


Sophie Tissot
Master 2 student (2021)

"Ecology of host-tumour interactions"


CURRENT  PROJECTS

    Ecology and evolution of transmissible cancers
    PI : Frédéric THOMAS
    Collaborators: Beata Ujvari (Deakin University, Australia), Rodrigo Hamede (University of Tasmania), Benjamin Roche (MIVEGEC Montpellier), Nicolas Bierne (ISEM, Montpellier), Christine Destoumieux-Garzon (Université de Montpellier), Guillaume Charrière (Université de Montpellier)
    learn more ...
    Transmissible cancers are one of the most intriguing and unexplored host-pathogen systems. The pathogen is a clonal infectious malignant cell line, a rogue cell type that has derived and deviated directly from the host or from a closely related species. While the ultimate fate of malignant cells is usually to expire with the death of the host, evolutionary theory postulates that cancer cell lineages that are able to become transmissible (hence escape the demise of their host) will acquire higher fitness, and consequently be favoured by selection. Once the neoplastic process has crossed the threshold of contagiousness, malignant cells become new parasitic “species”. Currently, eight transmissible cancers (one lineage in dogs, two lineages in Tasmanian devils, and five lineages in four bivalve species), have been recorded in the wild, but their real abundance has most likely been underestimated. Transmissible cancers are a rare type of natural enemy but their ecological consequences can be major (e.g. > 85% population decline in 20 years in Tasmanian devils; epizootic outbreaks in marine mollusk populations). Altogether, the increasing number of case reports is raising major questions: Why do transmissible cancers emerge? How do they evolve? What are their ecological and evolutionary impacts and how to manage them? In this proposal, we wish to address these questions by exploring two contrasted and complementary host/transmissible cancer associations (i.e. vertebrate/invertebrate hosts, presence/absence of motile infective stages, different levels of host specificity) through a multidisciplinary approach.
     

    Project funding: ANR TRANSCAN (ANR-18-CE35-0009) 2019-2023
    [Photo credit: Fred THOMAS]

    Read more

MAIN  COLLABORATORS

Beata Ujvari
Deakin University (Australia)

Web page


Robert Gatenby
Moffitt Cancer Center

Web page


Rodrigo Hamede
University of Tasmania

Web Page


James Degregori
CREES, Montpellier

Web page



PHOTO GALLERY

Hydra oligactis
Photo: © Rivero lab
Tasmanian devil with a DFTD tumour
Photo: © Frederic Thomas
Tasmania Devil

Photo: © Manon Villa
Centre for Research on the Ecology and Evolution of DiseaSes
Montpellier
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