In 2018, 40,000 new cases of cancer were recorded in France, where this disease is the leading cause of death. Within the Institut Pasteur, more than 50 interdisciplinary teams are working on the subject. For the 2020 Pasteurdon (the Institut Pasteur’s public fundraising campaign), a podcast in French has been recorded. Two Pasteurian researchers, Sandrine Etienne-Manneville and Ludovic Deriano, are looking back at the definition of cancer, the challenges of research on the subject, screening and treatment options.