About us
The mission of ISCaM (ex ISPDC, International Society for Proton Dynamics in Cancer) is to improve communication and to foster collaborative activities and research programs between European and non European scientists engaged in acidity, proton dynamics, metabolism and microenvironment in cancer research.
ISCaM can consolidate, co-ordinate and facilitate International collaboration, facilitate translation of research to clinical development, and fundraise for Networking activities, scientific programs and projects, scientists mobility, young scientists grants and carrier programs.
Read ISCaM Statute at this link
Our Mission
Our mission is to advocate and effectively promote our approach to cancer therapy in the scientific community, social community, Funding Agencies, Governments, and stimulate translation into clinical applications.
- To create a critical mass of scientists engaged in research activities on Metabolism in Cancer.
- To gain visibility at National, European and International level.
- To duly raise the necessary awareness of both the scientific community and society.
- To attract resources to finance and conduct research in the field of metabolism in cancer.
- To be recognized as an important counterpart for the European Commission, funding agencies and Industry.
- To represent the main scientific stakeholder in the field.
ISCaM numbers
10 years of activities
25
Travel Grants Awarded
180
Members
10
Annual meetings
Board members
Pawel Swietach
President
Oxford University, UK
His laboratory at the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics investigates signalling by small molecules in the heart and in cancer, with a particular focus on hydrogen ions, which determine pH. His research focus on the understanding of the mechanisms by which cells handle their acidic products and how, in turn, acid/base chemistry affects biology.
Paolo Ettore Porporato
Past-President
Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences
University of Turin, Italy
Paolo E. Porporato currently works at the Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Molecolari e Scienze per la Salute, Università degli Studi di Torino. Paolo does research in Cell Biology, Cancer Research and Molecular Biology. Their current project is 'Targeting and treatment of cancer-associated cachexia and muscle atrophy'.
Alessandro Carrer
President-elect
Veneto Institute of Molecular Medicine (VIMM)
Padua, Italy
Alessandro investigates metabolic dependencies and their impact on epigenomic reprogramming during pancreatic carcinogenesis. He trained at University of Pennsylvania and his lab employs mouse transgenics to dissect metabolic and epigenomic perturbations that lead to tumor onset.
Elena Rainero
Secretary
University of Sheffield, UK
Her laboratory studies the role of the extracellular matrix in controlling cancer cell metabolism. Elena recently demonstrated that starved breast cancer cells internalise and digest matrix components to sustain their proliferation. Her lab is now characterising the molecular mechanisms and the metabolic pathways regulating this process, to identify novel potential therapeutic targets. Her lab is also interested in defining the role of extracellular matrix remodelling and trafficking in controlling cancer cell invasion and metastasis.
Margherita Cortini
Treasurer
Tenure-track scientist
Department for Research, Innovation and Technology
Rizzoli Orthopaedic Specialty Hospital, Bologna, Italy
Margherita’s research focus is the understanding of the interaction between tumor and stromal cells and their reciprocal metabolic reprogramming during primary and metastatic tumor growth.
Cyril Corbet
Board member
Experimental and Clinical Research Institute UC Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
His research group investigates the metabolism of therapy-resistant cancer cells (incl. cancer stem cells) and the interplay thereof with the tumor microenvironment in order to develop new targeted therapies overcoming conventional treatment escape.
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Maria Rodriguez Colman
Board member
Center for Molecular Medicine (CMM)
Institute of Biomedical Sciences (IRB), Lleida, Spain
The Rodriguez Colman Lab investigates the "Metabolism of Stem Cells and Cancer" at the subcellular, cellular and tissue scale. To that end, they use organoids models, a multicellular and hetero-cellular system able to recapitulate the complexity of stem cell and differentiation dynamics. Organoids are derived from healthy adult, embryonic or cancer tissue. Next to research analysis of bioenergetics, metabolomics and other omics, they perform cutting-edge 4-D live imaging to gain insights of metabolic changes at different scales with temporal resolution. They introduce fluorescent based genetic reporters to monitor metabolism in different cellular compartments and cell type specification changes, and analyze these complex long-term live imaging data with machine learning based single cell tracking coupled to in-house analytical pipelines. Her lab investigates the molecular mechanisms by which metabolic changes drive cell fate decisions in health, development and disease.