He studies cancer cells and their cellular environment in order to new therapies. Now, ETH Zurich Professor Andrea Alimonti is being awarded the Cloëtta Prize.
Andrea Alimonti is one of the recipients of this year's Cloëtta Prize. He is a professor of Experimental Oncology at ETH Zurich and the Università della Svizzera italiana, as well as the director of the Institute of Oncology Research (IOR) in Bellinzona.
Alimonti studies how cancer cells age and how they interact with the immune system. He is investigating this using the example of prostate cancer. One of his most significant achievements is the development of a cancer therapy that actively induces the ageing of cancer cells. This pro-senescence therapy stops the growth of cancer cells, allowing the immune system to attack and eliminate them.
Certain immune cells promote tumours
He also played a major role in the discovery of a new type of immune cell called myeloid-derived suppressor cells. In prostate cancer in particular, these cells create an environment that favours cancer cells, promoting their growth and rendering standard cancer therapies ineffective. In the future, one approach to cancer therapy may be to target myeloid-derived suppressor cells and thus decimate the cancer. Several of the therapies developed in Alimonti's laboratory have already been tested in clinical trials.
The Cloëtta Prize is awarded annually by the Prof. Dr. Max Cloëtta Foundation to two individuals who have made significant contributions to medical research or related scientific disciplines in Switzerland. The prize is endowed with 50,000 francs each and is named after Max Cloëtta (1868–1940), a professor of pharmacology at the University of Zurich. In addition to Andrea Alimonti, Andrea Ablasser, a professor at EPFL, will be honoured with a Cloëtta Prize this year. The award ceremony will take place on 29 November 2024 in Lausanne.