Fatima Mechta-Grigoriou

Dr. Fatima Mechta-Grigoriou serves as Research Director of Exceptional Class at Inserm and leads the "Stress and Cancer" laboratory at Institut Curie in Paris. She concurrently acts as deputy director of research unit U830 (Cancer, Heterogeneity, Instability and Plasticity) and Scientific Director of the Cancéropôle Ile de France. Her work centers on tumor heterogeneity and microenvironment dynamics to combat metastasis and treatment resistance.

Her research investigates tumor-stroma interactions with emphasis on Cancer Associated Fibroblasts (CAF), having identified immunosuppressive CAF subsets in breast, ovarian, and lung cancers. Her lab revealed the dual role of Reactive Oxygen Species in promoting tumor progression while enhancing chemotherapy sensitivity. Using single-cell analysis, spatial transcriptomics, multiplex immunohistochemistry, and tumor-on-chip models, her team integrates bioinformatics and mathematical modeling to characterize patient tumors at unprecedented resolution.

Recent publications demonstrate her lab's translational focus: leveraging patient-derived models for personalized immunotherapy assessment, mapping immunosuppressive fibroblast landscapes in breast cancer, and elucidating YAP/TEAD-mediated chemoresistance mechanisms in lung cancer. These studies collectively highlight tumor heterogeneity as the critical determinant of treatment response.

Her major scientific recognitions include:

• Rosen Prize (2021)
• Grand Prize of the Foundation Del Duca (2018)
• Grand Prize of the Pink Ribbon (2017)
• Duquesne award (2023)

She directs a multidisciplinary team of clinicians, biologists, and bioinformaticians within the Chemical Biology of Cancer unit, maintaining close clinical collaborations with Institut Curie's pathology department and international research networks. Her laboratory actively integrates artificial intelligence and mathematical modeling to develop novel diagnostic approaches and therapeutic strategies targeting the tumor microenvironment.