January 2017
Early in 2017, a small exhibition in Luxembourg City highlighted a selection of ‘WiSE – Women in Science and Engineering’. Here we introduce one of the featured scientists, LIH’s Simone Niclou, oncologist and coordinator of CANBIO, one of the 11 Doctoral Training Units funded through the FNR’s PRIDE programme.
In addition to coordinating a PRIDE DTU, Simone Niclou, PhD, heads up the Norlux Neuro-Oncology Laboratory at the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), where she is also Head of the Animal Facility. Her field of expertise includes the biology of malignant brain tumours with a focus on angiogenesis, invasion, tumour metabolism and tumour heterogeneity.
She is a frequently invited speaker at various international scientific conferences, in addition to being a guest lecturer at national and international universities. She has also been the President of the Board of Directors of the Laboratoire National de Santé since 2015.
Research goals: Improving options for brain cancer patients
Simone Niclou’s research revolves around brain cancer. Her goal is to improve treatment and extend the life expectancy of patients.
With Glioblastomas – the most dangerous and common type of brain tumour – the life expectancy of the patients is only around one year, and there are but few treatment options. The goal of the research of Simone Niclou’s working group is to develop new therapies and medications, as much as it is to understand how brain cancer starts.
But Simone Niclou no longer conducts lab experiments – she leads a research group and is the coordinator of CANBIO, one of the 11 Doctoral Training Units funded through the first Call of the FNR’s PRIDE programme.
CANBIO stands for a Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) PhD training programme by the name of ‘Training in Cancer Biology: Focus on tumour escape mechanisms’. It addresses the clinical problem of tumour progression and recurrence. The PhD candidates on this programme will be involved in a a collaborative and interdisciplinary effort to deliver novel insight into tumour escape mechanisms, disease monitoring and large scale data analysis in highly malignant cancers.
Find out more about CANBIO on the LIH’s website.
WiSE women exhibition
Find out more about the WiSE women exhibition (20 January to 11 February 2017, Luxembourg City)
MEET THE SCIENTISTS: SIMONE NICLOU
RELATED PROGRAMMES
RELATED HIGHLIGHTS
March 2, 2023
Choosing the path of science and research can have many trajectories. To show a glimpse of what different science journeys can look like and inspire young girls to follow their passion for science, Research Luxembourg team players and the Ministry of Equality present season 2 of the series Women & Girls in Science: Meet Dimitra Anastasiou from LIST and learn about her love of combining languages and computer science, and the challenge of a relationship when both parties work in research.
February 27, 2023
Meet Sallam Abualhaija who comes “from a distant land where coffee aroma mingles with sand” and learn about her journey fighting social prejudice, stereotypes on her path to becoming a research scientist in artificial intelligence at the SnT at the University of Luxembourg.
February 23, 2023
Meet empirical economist Cindy Lopes Bento, who balances two jobs in two countries – one at FNR as Head of Science of Science, and at KU Leuven as Professor – with family life.
February 20, 2023
Meet Inma Peral Alonso and learn about her journey from being a researcher in physics to research facilitator, career and life coach at the University of Luxembourg.
February 16, 2023
Meet Anne-Marie Hanff, PhD researcher at LIH, and learn about her story and how she transitioned from being a nurse to a researcher at the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH).
February 13, 2023
Meet Thuc Uyen Nguyen-Thi, Research Scientist at LISER and learn about her journey from being a girl in Vietnam to a Research Scientist at the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
August 23, 2022
Is it possible to use mathematical indicators to alert about natural disasters and help in the early detection of disease and health issues? Over the past 15 years, scientists have been working on bridging mathematical theory and empirical evidence to do just that. To move the science forward, a key challenge is the underlying mathematical problem, as well as determining how the indicators should be applied.
August 8, 2022
Unhealthy lifestyles – unbalanced diet and physical inactivity – are the main factor in the leading cause of death in the world: cardiometabolic disease. Our socioeconomic environment plays a role in these lifestyle choices. Over a 9-year period, researchers are looking at how socio-economic and physical environmental characteristics of residential neighbourhoods shape our physical activity, nutritional behaviour and cardiometabolic health.
July 13, 2022
Online services are designed to offer great user experiences and accommodate our needs. They can also use manipulative design strategies to push us to disclose our personal information, purchase goods and subscriptions or spend an excessive quantity of time on apps and games. Learn about ‘dark patterns’ and an interdisciplinary research effort to free the web from manipulation.
June 16, 2022
Emma Schymanski is a chemist and environmental engineer, who embarked on her FNR ATTRACT Fellowship in 2018. Her husband Stan Schymanski is also an FNR ATTRACT Fellow, making them the first dual career couple to both benefit from this scheme. We spoke to Emma about her group’s detective work to find traces of chemicals in our environment and the associated challenges; her experiences as a woman in STEM; open science, and the experience of setting up your own research group for the first time.