Johanna Joyce is a Professor at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and Full Member of the international Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research.  Her laboratory investigates the microenvironment in which a tumour arises and the critical influence that non-cancerous immune and stromal cells can have on tumour progression, metastasis and therapeutic response.  

They have uncovered regulatory signals provided by the normal tissue stroma and immune cells to the cancer cells, and determined how normal cells can be modified by the cancer cells to produce a variety of factors that enhance tumor malignancy.  A major focus of the lab’s recent research has been to deeply and comprehensively interrogate the immune landscape of brain tumours, and then use this gained knowledge to develop novel strategies to therapeutically target the tumour microenvironment.

Prof. Joyce has been recognized for her contributions to cancer research through a series of awards including the Robert Bing Prize, Cloetta Prize, Swiss Bridge Award, American Cancer Society Scholar Award, Rita Allen Foundation Award, V Foundation Award, Sidney Kimmel Foundation Award, and many others.  She is a Member of EMBO, a Fellow of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences, and serves as the inaugural Executive Director of the Agora Cancer Centre Lausanne. She is originally from Ireland, and received her B.A. degree.in Genetics from Trinity College Dublin.