Podcast: TRK fusion-positive GI cancers

Frédérique PENAULT-LLORCA, MD, PhD, graduated as a medical specialist in pathology in 1993 and in oncology in 1995. Also, in 1995, she received a PhD from the Université d’Aix-Marseille II in cellular biology and microbiology, on the topic of HER2. Professor PENAULT-LLORCA is currently professor of Pathology at the University of Clermont-Ferrand, CEO of the Comprehensive Regional Cancer Institute Centre Jean PERRIN, deputy director of the research team INSERM 1240 IMoST, and head of the Molecular Biology Plateform at Centre Jean Perrin, Clermont-Ferrand, France, and Vice-President of UNICANCER GROUP. She chairs the Immuno- Oncology group at UNICANCER R&D. She is a member of several pathology and oncology societies (ESMO, ASCO, ECP, AIP, SFP. Her main areas of interest as a pathology being female cancers. Professor PENAULT-LLORCA has conducted various biomarkers-based research studies in breast, ovarian, colorectal, gastric, and lung cancer in relation to response to targeted therapies and immunotherapies. She also acts as a coordinating pathologist for various oncology trials. Professor PENAULT-LLORCA has written more than 440 peer-reviewed publications and several books on female cancers and biomarker testing methods and issues.

Andrea Sartore-Bianchi is the Director of the Division of Clinical Research and Innovation at Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda in Milano, Italy, and Associate Professor of Oncology at the University of Milano. He received his MD and postgraduate degree in Oncology at the University of Pavia, Italy, and subsequently conducted preclinical research at Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.

His main clinical and research interests include precision oncology and the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers, particularly colorectal carcinomas, focusing on biomarkers of sensitivity/resistance to targeted therapies. He is principal and co-investigator in Phase I-III clinical trials for solid tumours and carried out initial studies paving the way for the use of RAS and Her2 as tumor tissue/ctDNA biomarkers in colorectal cancer. He has published 200 peer-reviewed articles in various medical journals with a H-index of 62 (Scopus).