Sandrine Huclier, a chemistry researcher at the SUBATECH laboratory (University of Nantes / IMT Atlantique), has obtained Franco-American funding in the form of a Fulbright – Monahan Foundation scholarship, which is awarded on the basis of excellence, to conduct her research activities in the field of personalized medicine in the United States. Only three researchers from the Pays de la Loire have ever been awarded this scholarship since the programme was created in 1948. This funding rewards Nantes’ expertise and research and confirms the impetus of the NExT (Nantes Excellence Trajectory) programme in terms of its “Future Health” approach.
Sandrine Huclier undertook the majority of her studies at the University of Nantes (Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in chemistry) before taking up an internship at the Mer Molécule Santé laboratory (Isomer), where she worked on molecules originating from sponges and algae. Following a post-graduate diploma, she became a PhD student, focusing on the environment, at the SUBATECH laboratory before becoming a lecturer at the University of Toulon. She returned to Nantes to work closely with the ARRONAX cyclotron. She has enjoyed a number of guest placements in the United States, at the University of Missouri and at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL).
FOR MORE PERSONALIZED TREATMENT
For a number of years, Sandrine Huclier has been carrying out research in the field of “theranostics” (an amalgamation of diagnostics and therapy). She is working more specifically on a pair of scandium-based isotopes – one used for imaging and the other for treatment -, which would allow patients with cancerous tumours to benefit from more personalized treatment. The Fulbright scholarship will allow Sandrine Huclier to continue her research into pre-clinical aspects at Stony Brook University (New York) for 6 months.
The Fulbright programme was established in 1948 and supports undergraduates’ postgraduates’ and French researchers’ study and research projects. Every year, it provides around a hundred grants to French candidates wishing to go to the United States. It now has more than 360,000 former recipients around the world and is proud that this includes 53 Nobel Prize winners and 78 Pulitzer Prize winners.
Furthermore, the founders of the NExT initiative will be supporting this project for the next 3 years in the form of an International Consortium involving Subatech, Arronax, the CRCiNA, the Canadian Triumf laboratory and 3 American laboratories: Stony Brook University (NY), the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Hunter College (NY).