#49 - Reverse-engineering cancer survival - Nicolas Wolikow - Cure51

Can we learn from extreme cancer survivors to develop new treatments?

This is the bet that Nicolas Wolikow and his team at Cure51 are making.

Backed by the world's top cancer centers and specialists, they work around the clock to build the largest-ever health dataset of patients who defied the odds—people diagnosed with stage 4 cancer who were given a few months to live, yet survived more than five years.

The goal is to understand what makes their biology unique and what characterises their incredible response to the treatments they received.

A unique approach to identify new therapeutic targets and enrich our arsenal against a disease whose incidence continues to grow day by day.

In this episode, Nicolas lifts the veil on the rigorous method they follow to achieve this feat, from the collection of clinical and multi-omics data to the identification of these targets and their validation in clinical trials.

A method to reverse-engineer cancer survival, founded on the latest progress in computational biology and medical science, and whose success depends on the close collaboration between patients, hospitals, and industrial partners!

Timeline:

• 00:00:00 - Nicolas' background as an entrepreneur at the interface of healthcare, technology, and digital innovation
• 00:06:45 - Understanding the mechanisms behind cancer thanks to exceptional survivors
• 00:10:24 - Stories of patients in full remission after a stage 4 cancer diagnosis
• 00:12:21 - Building the platform to host the largest dataset of cancer survivors ever made
• 00:14:36 - Making sense of the survivors' data to identify underlying biological mechanisms
• 00:19:28 - Early findings and novel therapeutic targets investigated so far
• 00:28:18 - The economic model behind Cure51
• 00:30:45 - Convincing hospitals and health systems to join Cure51's mission

What we also talked about with Nicolas:

• HLTH Europe
• Cancer stages
• Chemotherapy
• Rosalind Franklin
• Variant.bio

We cited with Nicolas some of the past episodes of the series:

• #40 - Cracking biology through AI - JP Vert - Owkin

As Nicolas mentioned during the episode, you can learn more about Cure51's activities on their website, and follow their latest news on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.

You can reach out to Nicolas via LinkedIn and find more details about the ROSALIND study in this abstract.

To hear Camille Moses' incredible story as a cancer survivor, we invite you to listen to her testimonial on the Project Purple podcast.

This conversation is part of Impulse's exploration of how science, medicine, and technology are transforming cancer care.

If you want to give me feedback on the episode or suggest potential guests, contact me over LinkedIn or via email!

And if you liked the episode, please share it, subscribe to the podcast, and leave a 5-star review on streaming platforms!

You can also support my work by doing a PayPal donation @ImpulsePodcast!

Lastly, don't forget to follow our activities on LinkedIn and our website!