Dr. Olivier Saulnier, winner of the Fondation TOURRE - Institut Necker 2025 Award

“I am deeply honored to receive the TOURRE Foundation Award, which comes with a prize of 15,000 euros. This is a significant recognition that I wholeheartedly share with my team. It reflects the dedication, creativity, and hard work we have all put in together over the years. This award highlights the work we have accomplished together and gives us real momentum to keep moving forward. It is a moment of pride, but also a reminder of all that we can still achieve,” says Dr. Olivier Saulnier.

Pediatric cancers are the leading cause of disease-related death among children, and brain tumors account for about 20% of these cases. Among them, embryonal tumors, which affect the youngest children, are particularly aggressive. Dr. Olivier Saulnier’s project focuses on these rare and complex forms, including medulloblastoma—the most common malignant brain tumor in children—and atypical rhabdoid tumors, which are particularly dangerous in very young patients.

Dr. Olivier Saulnier’s team is working to better understand how these cancers arise by tracing their origins back to fetal development. Combining bioinformatics with large-scale genomic analysis, the researchers are studying the cells and molecular processes involved that, from the earliest stages of human development, can be hijacked and lead to a tumor. A better understanding of these events could lead to the identification of new therapeutic targets.