The 2019 Bettencourt Young Researchers Prize was awarded to Mickaël Mathieu, a post-doctoral fellow in oncology, for his research on radiation-immunological tumor stimulation.

Sparse radiotherapy

“My focus is on improving cancer treatment with radiation therapy and immunology. We have shown that radiation therapy is only necessary on half of the tumor: once the immune response is activated, it can naturally eliminate the rest of the tumor.”Dr. Mathieu specializes in the radiation-immunological stimulation of tumors. Radiation therapy has been used to treat cancer since the 19th century. As a post-doctoral fellow, he is trying to describe the mechanisms proving that radiation therapy on 50% of the tumor is as effective as total irradiation. This would avoid over-irradiation and related side effects.

Mickaël Mathieu in a few words

2018: Doctoral dissertation: “The role of EZH2 and the PRC2 complex in the homeostasis of the adrenal cortex", under the supervision of Dr. Pierre Val, Laboratory of Genetics, Reproduction and Development, Clermont Auvergne University, Life Sciences Graduate School - Specialization in Physiology and Genetics

Mickaël Mathieu, post-doctoral fellow under the supervision of Dr. Adriana Haimovitz-Friedman, Memorial Sloane 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