About ISCaM

Mission statement 
The mission of ISCaM (ex ISPDC, International Society for Proton Dynamics in Cancer) is to improve communication and to foster collaborative activities and research programs between European and non European scientists engaged in acidity, proton dynamics, metabolism and microenvironment in cancer research. ISCaM can consolidate, co-ordinate and facilitate International collaboration, facilitate translation of research to clinical development, and fundraise for Networking activities, scientific programs and projects, scientists mobility, young scientists grants and carrier programs
 
Aim of ISCaM:
To advocate and effectively promote our approach to cancer therapy in the scientific community, social community, Funding Agencies, Governments, and stimulate translation into clinical applications. To create a critical mass of scientists engaged in research activities on Metabolism in Cancer. To gain visibility at National, European and International level. To duly raise the necessary awareness of both the scientific community and society. To attract resources to finance and conduct research in the field of metabolism in cancer. To be recognized as an important counterpart for the European Commission, funding agencies and Industry. To represent the main scientific stakeholder in the field.
 
 
Statuto ISCaM [ITA]
ISCaM bylaws [ENG]

Board members

Nicola Baldini

Role: 
President

Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery, Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy. He is also a staff surgeon, Orthopaedic Oncology, Clinica Ortopedica e Traumatologica I, and Head of the Orthopaedic Pathophysiology and Regenerative Medicine Lab, Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Italy. Member of the Faculty of the PhD Program in Biomedical Sciences, University of Bologna.

Silvia Pastorekova

Role: 
Past President

  Prof. Silvia Pastorekova, DSc., is heading the Department of molecular medicine at the Institute of Virology, Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava, Slovakia. She principally contributed to identification, molecular and functional characterization of carbonic anhydrase IX, a component of pH-regulating machinery of tumor cells, and a marker of hypoxia with prognostic and predictive value.

Stine Falsig Pedersen

Role: 
President Elect

Professor at University of Copenhagen, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. Main research interests of Prof. Pedersen are regulation, physiology, and pathophysiology of pH regulatory ion transport proteins, in particular with respect to their roles in cell motility and cancer development, and in structure-function studies of the Na+/H+ exchanger NHE1 and the Na+,HCO3-cotransporter NBCn.

Paolo Porporato

Role: 
Treasurer

Paolo Porporato is a tenure-track research associate at the Department of Molecular Biotechnologies  at the University of Torino. Following a postdoctoral experience at Université catholique de Louvain​ in defining the metabolic determinants of tumor metastasis, he is currently  working on defining the impact of metabolism on the progression of cancer cachexia.​ 

Gyorgy Szabadkai

Role: 
Secretary
Gyorgy Szabadkai is Professor of Physiology at Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, UK, Associate Professor at the Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Padua, Italy and Satellite Group Leader at Francis Crick Institute, London, UK.His research focuses on understanding how mitochondria provide adaptation during the development of heterogeneous and chemoresistant tumours by studying the transcriptional program underlying mitochondrial biogenesis and the associated metabolic phenotype o

Sofia Avnet

Role: 
Board member

Sofia Avnet is a staff Biotechnologist at Orthopaedic Pathophysiology and Regenerative Medicine Lab, Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Italy. Avnet research activity is mainly focused on bone cell biology and bone tumors. She has recently gained interest in the role of the V-ATPase and of proton secretion in the tumor invasiveness and chemoresistance in Ewing’s sarcoma and osteosarcoma, and in the role of different ion/proton transporters in bone metastases. More recently, she also has been focused on the metabolic reprogramming during the stroma-tumor interactions.

Fatima Baltazar

Role: 
Board Member

Fátima Baltazar holds a first degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences, is Associate Professor of Pharmacology at the School of Medicine, University of Minho (Portugal), Principal Investigator at ICVS (Life and Health Sciences Research Institute) and Coordinator of the Surgical Sciences Research Domain (

Lucie Brisson

Role: 
Board member

Lucie Brisson is a research associate at the Inserm Nutrition Growth and Cancer unit, University of Tours, France.After completing a PhD on the modulation of type 1 Na+/H+ exchanger (NHE1) by the Nav1.5 sodium channel and its involvement in human breast cancer cell invasiveness, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Louvain (Belgium) studying the role of lactate metabolism in autophagy