General objective of the department.
Each of the five teams in the Department studies a specific aspect of the perversion of information flow by the carcinogenic process. Uninterrupted information flow is central to the regulation of biological processes. Through receptors located either in its internal compartments or externally on its cytoplasmic membrane, the cell senses both its inner state and its environment. The continuous integration of this information triggers cellular responses which adapt the composition and distribution of effector molecules and metabolite pools.

Importantly, at each step, multiple and often major differences between the cancer cell and its normal counterpart are revealed. Through the identification and characterization of these differences in human breast cancer, members of the department share the common endeavor to identify and document specific processes with major potential for the improvement of cancer management.

Through the preferred use of global genomic techniques (genomics per se, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics), the teams collect large amounts of data providing a fine description of differences between two cellular states (i.e. normal vs cancer). The data are then mined to identify those differences which may be instrumental in determining the phenotypic divergence between the two states.

This department is composed of 5 research teams:
- Genetics of breast cancer. Direction Sylvie Mazoyer
- Alternative splicing and tumor progression. Direction Didier Auboeuf
- Nuclear domains and pathologies. Direction Jean-Jacques Diaz
- Oestrogen signalling and breast tumor. Direction Laura Corbo
- Signalling, metabolism and tumor progression. Co-direction Ruth Rimokh & Germain Gillet