The 2019 Bettencourt Young Researchers Prize was awarded to post-doctoral fellow Eléonore Toufektchan for her work on the consequences of the presence of DNA in the cytosol of cancer cells.

DNA off the wall?

"Normally, the nuclear envelope confines DNA to the cell’s nucleus. In cancer cells, the envelope is altered and the DNA comes into contact with the cytosol, the part of the cell around the nucleus. This causes a catastrophic accumulation of mutations in the DNA. My goal is to study the impact of this process on chromosomal rearrangement and immune system activation."

Dr. Toufektchan is trying to understand the consequences of DNA’s aberrant presence in the cytosol. The resulting alterations in the genome can lead to the development of cancer. If the nuclear envelope ruptures, cytoplasmic DNA is detected by the cGAS-STING signaling pathway, which triggers an inflammatory response.

Dr. Toufektchan is developing a new cytoplasmic DNA purification strategy to understand what can limit the inflammatory response and trigger chromosome fragmentation.

Eléonore Toufektchan in a few words

2018: Doctoral dissertation: “Involvement of the p53 pathway in bone marrow failure syndromes", under the supervision of Professor Franck Toledo, Paris University, the Complexity of Life Graduate School - Specialization in Cellular Biology

Post-doctorate under the supervision of Dr John Maciejowski, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York

Bettencourt Prize for Young Researchers

Created in 1990, the Bettencourt Prize for Young Researchers is one of the first initiatives of the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller. Until 2021, this prize was awarded each year to 14 young doctors of science or doctors of medicine, to enable them to carry out their post-doctoral stay in the best foreign laboratories. 349 young researchers were distinguished. The prize endowment was €25,000.

All the award-winners