What if cancer treatments could be tailored to each individual patient? That’s the aim of SPARC, an ambitious European initiative designed to bring personalized medicine into hospitals across the continent.
Over the next three years, researchers, clinicians, and care centers from eight countries will join forces to improve the management of common cancers like lung and breast cancer, as well as rare cancers.
The goal? Better care, delivered faster, with tailor-made treatments—while encouraging the sharing of best practices between countries.
IHU RespirERA’s Role: Sharing Its Expertise
IHU RespirERA plays a key role in the SPARC project. It leads a crucial mission: training healthcare professionals in these new, cutting-edge approaches.
In practical terms, IHU RespirERA contributes by:
- Designing a comprehensive training and certification model in personalized oncology, with a focus on liquid biopsy, an innovative technique to detect cancer through a simple blood sample.
- Explaining the functioning of Molecular Tumor Boards (MTBs), expert panels that help determine the most suitable treatment based on each patient’s genetic profile.
- Developing harmonized protocols, so that cancer centers across Europe can adopt common standards and practices.
Experts Committed to Advancing Cancer Care
Several IHU RespirERA members are fully engaged in SPARC:
- Professor Paul Hofman, Director of IHU RespirERA, is in charge of coordinating all training activities.
- Dr. Véronique Hofman, Professor Charles-Hugo Marquette, Dr. Jacques Boutros, and Dr. Jonathan Benzaquen bring their expertise in thoracic oncology to the project.
By leveraging cutting-edge technologies (such as artificial intelligence) the SPARC project seeks to make personalized cancer care more accessible, ethical, and patient-centered.
IHU RespirERA’s active involvement is a clear demonstration of its commitment to driving innovation for the direct benefit of patients living with cancer.
