On April 26th 2021, Hannah Wurzer, doctoral candidate within the Cytoskeleton and Cancer Progression (CCP) group of the LIH Department of Oncology (DONC), and Dr Clément Thomas, Leader of the research group, were awarded the ‘Marian Aldred Award’ by Think Pink Lux (TPL). The symbolic EUR 20,000 cheque was handed over to the two awardees during a ceremony that took place at the LIH premises in Strassen, in the presence of Mrs Carrie Cannon and Mr Laurent Vanot from the Think Pink Lux committee.

“We are very grateful to Think Pink Lux for their generosity and for being active supporters of the high-quality translational research we perform within our group and at LIH in general. The donation will help us broaden our understanding of how the cytoskeleton confers increased resistance to immunosurveillance on cancer cells, and how we can exploit this knowledge to identify molecular targets to restore an effective anti-tumour immune response”, explain the two awardees.

“We are delighted to be able to back young and dynamic researchers here in Luxembourg, particularly in the current times when research funding is directed at solving COVID-19. Sadly, cancer continues during a pandemic and remains a significant burden in modern-day medicine, calling for the development of novel and innovative therapeutic approaches”, states Carrie Cannon from TPL.

Think Pink Lux is a Luxembourg non-profit association started in 2009 by a group of volunteers, with the goal of supporting women living in Luxembourg with the day to day reality of cancer. Think Pink Lux aims to raise awareness of cancers affecting women and to support women and their families living in Luxembourg with cancer. To this end, the ‘Marian Aldred Award’ was instigated in 2012 following the untimely death of Marian Aldred, one of the Think Pink Lux committee’s founding members, due to ovarian cancer. The award provides funding to young scientists in support of their cancer research projects.

Since its inception, ThinkPink Lux has funded a PhD student at Laboratoire de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire du Cancer (Hôpital Kirchberg) with EUR 63,000 and has already financed several students at the LIH Department of Oncology under Dr Clément Thomas through the Marian Aldred award, for a total financial commitment amounting to EUR 116,000.