"This is a new hope for disease prevention, research and control. This center will make it possible to carry out more innovative and impactful work, after years marked by the Covid crisis that has penalized cancer care and research," said Jérôme Salomon, the former French Director-General of Health appointed this year Assistant Director-General of the WHO.
The imposing monolith hollowed out with a large cylinder and open corners includes 15,000 m2 of state-of-the-art laboratories, meeting spaces and offices as well as in the basement a vast secure "biobank" housing some 6.5 million samples stored in freezers or nitrogen tanks.
Built in three years on decontaminated land, the new CIRC welcomes some 350 international researchers who left their old Guillot-Bourdeix tower in the 3rd arrondissement in February.
IARC's vocation lies in training and research on the prevention and causes of disease, in particular on the role of risk factors related to the environment and lifestyle, and on the study of their interaction with the genetic capital of each.
On the other hand, the center does not intervene directly in cancer control measures or in the field of treatment and care, unlike the state-of-the-art centers in Lyon Léon Bérard or Lyon Sud.
New headquarters of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon on May 12, 2023 © JEFF PACHOUD / AFP
"We are better equipped than ever to advance research, our +biobank+ can hold 10 million samples and we have the capacity to double our staff, or even increase it to 1,000 employees thanks to teleworking," said IARC Director Elisabete Weiderpass, recently re-elected for a second five-year term.
"By 2040, cancer cases are expected to increase by 40%, so IARC will have to grow," she warned.
Funded by the Metropolis of Lyon, the town hall, the State and the region, this new headquarters provides "a response adapted to the needs of prevention and treatment", welcomed for his part the Minister of Health François Braun, celebrating "the Capital of the Gauls" as "one of the strongholds of global health".
Located in the 7th arrondissement in the south-east of the city, the "Biodistrict Lyon Gerland" already hosts the International Center for Research in Infectiology (CIRI), a number of companies in the sector (Sanofi Pasteur, Genzyme, L'Oréal, Aguettant, Boehringer Ingelheim...), the Jean Mérieux P4 laboratory dedicated to the most dangerous viruses and some 3,000 researchers in the fields of health and biotechnology.
WHO is also due to open a global training centre there in 2024 to accommodate some 16,000 people per year.
© 2023 AFP