3 researchers at the Jules Bordet Institute awarded the Bekales prize
11/09/2019
Three researchers at the Jules Bordet Institute awarded the Bekales prize
On 7 September the Bekales Foundation, under the aegis of the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine, awarded the "Leukaemia" prize to three researchers at the Clinical Cellular Research Therapy Laboratory of the Jules Bordet Institute, the reference centre in the fight against cancer in Belgium. Emerence Crompot, Laurence Lagneaux and Nathalie Meuleman were honoured for their major scientific contributions in the field of leukaemia.
Three researchers honoured
On 7 September three researchers jointly received the Bekales prize awarded by the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine: Emerence Crompot, Doctor of Biomedical Science at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Laurence Lagneaux, Head of Research FNRS at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and Nathalie Meuleman, Head of Clinic at the Haematological Department of the Jules Bordet Institute and Professor at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. All three are members of the team at the Clinical Cellular Research Therapy Laboratory of the Jules Bordet Institute and are actively engaged in research into chronic lymphoid leukaemia.
About chronic lymphoid leukaemia (CLL)
Chronic lymphoid leukaemia (CLL) is the most common leukaemia in the Western world. Research is very important as at present this leukaemia remains untreatable with traditional treatment and affects nearly 800 patients a year in Belgium. It has been demonstrated that leukaemia cells resist the cell death caused by chemotherapy as they receive survival messages from other cells in their microenvironment, in particular via extracellular vesicles. It is therefore essential to arrive at a better understanding of how this dialogue between leukaemia cells and cells in the microenvironment is established and brings resistance to the treatment administered and thus to cell death.
The Bekales prize
The Bekales Foundation supports research by awarding an annual prize and awards to researchers who have distinguished themselves in the field of leukaemia through their scientific contributions. This prize will enable the winners to continue their research at the Clinical Cellular Research Therapy Laboratory on the impact of extracellular vesicles present in the microenvironment on chronic lymphoid leukaemia cells.