Cédric Blanpain

Cédric Blanpain is MD/PhD and board certified in internal medicine from the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium. Cédric Blanpain is full professor, WEL Research Institute Investigator and director of the laboratory of stem cells and cancer at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. His research group uses lineage-tracing approaches to study the role of SCs during development, homeostasis and cancer. His group uncovered the existence of stem cells and progenitors acting during homeostasis and repair of the epidermis and uncovered a novel paradigm of lineage segregation in the mammary gland and prostate. His lab was pioneered in using mouse genetics to identify the cells of origin of epithelial cancers. They identified the cancer cell of origin and the mechanisms regulating the early steps of tumor initiation in skin basal cell carcinoma, skin squamous cell carcinoma and mammary tumors. His lab developed novel approaches to unravel tumor heterogeneity and to understand the mechanisms regulating the tumor states responsible for tumor growth, metastasis and resistance to anti-cancer therapy. Cedric Blanpain received several prestigious and highly competitive awards including EMBO Young investigator award, ERC starting, ERC consolidator and ERC advanced grants, the outstanding young investigator award of the ISSCR 2012, the Liliane Bettencourt award for life sciences 2012, the Joseph Maisin Award for basic biomedical Science 2015, the Francqui prize 2020, the European Association for Cancer Research’s Mike Price gold medal 2022, the momentum award of the ISSCR 2023 and the Fondation ARC Léopold Griffuel Award for basic research 2024 . He has been elected member of the EMBO, the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine, the Academia Europaea, the French Academy of Science, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.