Johanna Joyce Lab

Today is #WorldCancerDay

~1 in 5 people will develop #cancer in their lifetime

Each diagnosis affects not just one person, but families, communities, and futures

Grateful today for patients, clinicians, researchers & advocates - and to appreciate that progress depends on acting together

#WCD2026

A team led by Ludwig @unil.bsky.social’s @lbejarano.bsky.social & @johannajoyce.bsky.social has discovered that a protein made by cancer cells, CD13, helps them establish colonies in the brain—identifying a potential drug target for the prevention or treatment of brain metastases. bit.ly/4afX64r

Tumor-derived CD13 helps cancer cells colonize the brain A new study published in Cell Reports shows that cancer cells activate CD13 to gain a foothold in the brain, long before tumors are established.

Tumor-derived CD13 helps cancer cells colonize the brain
🧠🧪🔬

Led by @lbejarano.bsky.social w/ many wonderful collaborators in @joycelab.bsky.social and in Lausanne 🙌

@cp-cellreports.bsky.social
@fbm-unil.bsky.social
@unil.bsky.social
@ludwigcancer.bsky.social

Article: www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Why do so few cancer cells manage to form metastases - and what helps the rare ones succeed?

Delighted to share our first publication of 2026 🎉🎉, led by the outstanding @lbejarano.bsky.social 🤩, where we reveal some insights into this - focusing on brain metastasis 🧠🧪🔬

www.cell.com/cell-reports...

This essay, co-authored by Ludwig @unil.bsky.social @johannajoyce.bsky.social ,calls for a revitalized strategy for cancer research in Europe, identifying 7 policy priorities ranging from support for basic research & biotech startups to investing in education & cancer prevention. bit.ly/44fFCSw

Photo of our lab members at our annual end of year party

Wishing you a very happy holiday season, from our lab to yours!! 🎄❄️⛄🌟

Grateful for everything we were able to celebrate together this year - and looking forward for new discoveries and adventures in 2026 💫

Very pleased to share our new review "The Evolving Landscape of Brain Metastasis" in @cp-trendscancer.bsky.social 🧠🔬🧪

Grateful to an outstanding team of co-authors, all pioneers in the #brain #metastasis field and to @valientelab.bsky.social for co-leading this 🙏🏻

Link: www.cell.com/trends/cance...

A warm welcome to Arnav Sandu, who joins our lab for his MD-PhD research - to study mechanisms of brain tumor recurrence 🧠🔬🎓

Congratulations also for receiving a prestigious Swiss national MD-PhD fellowship - a fantastic start to your PhD journey!!

Read more: www.unil.ch/news/en/1765...

#progress #fundamental #research #prevention #academic #translation #impact #innovators #train #retain #patients | Département d'oncologie fondamentale Unil 🦀𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞. In a new 𝑵𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒓 Commentary, Johanna Joyce joins three other European leaders to call for a bold, unified strategy to speed progress from discovery ...

European cancer research requires renewed urgency

Delighted to contribute to this @natcancer.nature.com Commentary where we call for renewed urgency in how Europe supports cancer research, prevention, and innovation - and outline seven strategic priorities to strengthen Europe’s leadership 🧪🔬🇪🇺

Group photo of the PhD students and PIs of the ADAPTMET international training network https://adaptmet.eu

Wonderful kick-off meeting this week in Barcelona for our new @adaptmet.bsky.social PhD ITN!

So inspiring to meet our 16 new PhD students, welcome new PIs and reconnect with friends from Evomet ITN - a true celebration of diversity and excellence in #metastasis research across Europe 🙌

adaptmet.eu

Behind the scenes at the EACR Congress - Episode 26 of The Cancer Researcher Podcast - The Cancer Researcher In this episode, we go behind the scenes of the Annual Congress of the European Association for Cancer Research, a four day congress dedicated to basic, preclinical and translational cancer research…

Join us behind the scenes at the EACR Congress!

Go inside the decision-making process - how the programme comes together, what the committee looks for in cutting-edge science, and how the meeting sparks the next big ideas in cancer research.

magazine.eacr.org/behind-the-s...

Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers 2025 The Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list identifies and celebrates individuals who have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their fields of research. Through rigorous selection criteria and ...

Honored to be among the #HighlyCited2025 researchers - which is truly a testament to the brilliant, dedicated scientists in my lab, and our many generous collaborators in Lausanne and beyond 🙏

@fbm-unil.bsky.social
@unil.bsky.social
@ludwigcancer.bsky.social

clarivate.com/highly-cited...

Time in the tumor: how cancer and immunity evolve together By tracking thousands of cells over time, a study in iScience from Johanna Joyce and Jean Hausser exposes how cancer and immunity evolve together and where therapy might strike most effectively. This ...

💡 A new study in @cp-iscience.bsky.social led by @johannajoyce.bsky.social (@fbm-unil.bsky.social @unil.bsky.social @ludwigcancer.bsky.social) & Jean Hausser (@scilifelab.se @ki.se) tracks how #breast #tumors change over time, cell by cell.
➡️ www.unil.ch/news/1762789...

Study reveals dynamics of breast tumor microenvironment over time | Johanna Joyce posted on the topic | LinkedIn How does the tumor microenvironment change as cancer progresses — and which cells appear, persist, or disappear along the way? In this new study, a wonderful collaboration with Jean Hausser and his l...

How does the tumor microenvironment change as cancer progresses - & which cells appear, persist, or disappear along the way?

Excited to share our new study on the #TME answering this question!

Great collaboration with the Hausser lab 🧪🧬🔬

Open access link: www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Read more ⏬

Researchers led by Ludwig @unil.bsky.social’s @johannajoyce.bsky.social, Spenser Watson and alumnus Jean Hausser have captured the temporal cellular dynamics of the tumor microenvironment over four weeks following tumor induction in a mouse model of breast cancer. bit.ly/4nCzA59

#CanSky #OncoSky

Could understanding how #cancer cells talk to their neighbours help stop the disease? Johanna Joyce, a regular at #VIBConf, will uncover these new ways to predict, prevent, and treat cancer. Join #THPT25 before 26 Nov and decode the therapies that outsmart cancer: vibbio.tech/3Le9oAr
#tumorbiology

Love our university campus in autumn 🍂🧡♥️

The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research is making a huge impact - in the US and globally 🙌

Very grateful for their support 🙏 - for an #ASPIRE award that funded our microbiome research, and for two #Momentum Fellows in our lab @lbejarano.bsky.social & @ale-matera.bsky.social

@themarkfdn.bsky.social

Delighted to join the annual #ASEICA cancer research congress in Bilbao 🇪🇸

An exciting agenda sharing our team's science in the opening keynote on Oct 8, joining a "Meet the Expert" on Wed evening, and the "Women Leading Science" roundtable Oct 9 lunchtime

@aseica.bsky.social @helloeacr.bsky.social

Photo of all our team members at our international lab dinner, with some of the dishes at the front of the picture

Celebrating our annual international lab dinner 🎉 👨🏽‍🍳 🧑🏻‍🍳

We are so fortunate to have this amazing team of motivated scientists, and very talented cooks 🤩 sharing delicious food & culture from around the world 🌍🌎🌏

Grateful for our #international #team 🇮🇹🇫🇷🇨🇦🇪🇸🇨🇭🇬🇧🇪🇬🇩🇪🇵🇹🇲🇽🇮🇪 - this truly enriches our science 🙏 🙌

A team led by Ludwig Lausanne’s @johannajoyce.bsky.social & former postdoc @alvarezprado.bsky.social reports a potential drug target whose loss in certain GBM cells triggers antiviral alarms to stall cell proliferation & makes GBM tumors in mice more amenable to anti-cancer immunity.
bit.ly/4nhZ7Bj

A pleasure to speak at the amazing #ImmunoRad meeting in the heart of Paris, at the beautiful Sorbonne Université, and to share the research of our wonderful team!

Many thanks to all the organisers for such a stimulating conference at the intersection of #cancer #radiotherapy and #immunity 🙏 ☢️⚕️🧪🔬

Let’s reject budget cuts in education and research! We, researchers, students, and members of the administrative and technical staff of the University of Lausanne (UNIL), firmly oppose the budget cuts announced for UNIL by the government of Vaud on 24t...

Dear friends at the University of Lausanne - please consider signing this petition

This is to say NO to the funding cut of 24 million CHF that will negatively impact the quality of our teaching & research 🧪🧑🏼‍🎓 - and have a knock-on effect on the local economy

All students, staff, faculty can sign ⏬

Photo of new lab members outside the Agora Cancer Research Center, Lausanne, left to right: Matteo Poncina Inés Panigua Cabana Alessandro Gigliotti Juan Daniel Martin del Campo Flores

A warm welcome to our new lab members!

Matteo Poncina 🇮🇹 starting his PhD in the Adaptmet ITN

Inés Panigua Cabana 🇪🇸 joining us for her postdoc

Alessandro Gigliotti 🇨🇭 & Juan Daniel Martin del Campo Flores 🇲🇽 doing their master thesis research with us

Looking forward to exciting science together 🙌 🧪

#adar1 #adar1 | Oncologie | UNIL-CHUV 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄: 𝐅𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚 🧠 Glioblastoma is one of the deadliest cancers. A new study in 𝑪𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝑹𝒆𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒔 by Ángel Álvarez-Prado and Johanna Joyce shows how reawakenin...

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄: 𝐅𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚

#BrainTIME 🧠🦠🔬🧪

UNIL news 📰: www.unil.ch/news/1757312...
#OpenAccess article 🔗: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

@alvarezprado.bsky.social @ahernandezb.bsky.social
@joycelab.bsky.social
@fbm-unil.bsky.social @unil.bsky.social

Cancer cell and microenvironmental rewiring by ADAR1 loss impairs glioblastoma tumor growth and extends survival Álvarez-Prado et al. report that targeting ADAR1 triggers cancer-cell-intrinsic anti-proliferative mechanisms and fosters anti-tumoral immune responses, blocking tumor growth and extending survival in preclinical mouse models of glioblastoma.

Cancer cell and microenvironmental rewiring by ADAR1 loss impairs glioblastoma tumor growth and extends survival

Congratulations to all the ERC Starting Grant awardees 🧪 including @alvarezprado.bsky.social & @lbejarano.bsky.social, two brilliant former postdocs from my lab who have started their own labs this year in 🇱🇺 and 🇪🇸

Could not be more proud of Leire and Ángel 🤩 🎉 🎉 🎉

#proudmentor 😊
#ERCStartingGrant

Thrilled to share that I’ve been awarded an ERC Starting Grant for the METAVASC project, focused on studying the vasculature in brain mets 🙏🎉

Huge thanks to the ERC, mentors & collaborators that made this possible!

We’ll soon recruit PhDs, postdocs & techs, stay tuned😊
@erc.europa.eu #ERCStG

I’m beyond thrilled to announce that we’ve been awarded the ERC Starting Grant! 🥳🥳🥳

This exceptional support will let us look into how ageing and genetic variation shape responses to therapy against brain metastatic tumors 🧠

Let’s go! 🤩

#ERCStG #Ageing #Immunogenomics #BrainMetastasis

Cancer cell and microenvironmental rewiring by ADAR1 loss impairs glioblastoma tumor growth and extends survival Glioblastomas are the most frequent and aggressive primary brain tumors. Current treatments invariably fail, a consequence of the pronounced heterogen…

Thrilled to share our new study from @joycelab.bsky.social on glioblastoma, the most aggressive brain tumor. Targeting ADAR1 slows tumor growth & mobilizes the immune system — a step forward for future treatments. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 🔗 1/3