News overview

22 September 2020
Oncode and ZonMw fund new Affordable Healthcare Project
Oncode’s Affordable Healthcare Programme is set up with the aim to make cancer treatment available to patients at an affordable price. Together with ZonMw, Oncode focuses on Proof of concept studies with the aim to contribute to sustainable healthcare. Oncode and ZonMw will fund new research on guided therapy in a specific type of esophageal cancer: esophageal adenocarcinoma. This clinical study aims to find out how safe and effective the addition is of stroma-targeting agent Tocilizumab to the standard of care of esophageal cancer.


3 September 2020
New biosensor measures activity of control enzyme MPS1
Researchers from the group of Oncode Investigator Geert Kops (Hubrecht Institute) have developed a biosensor that can precisely depict the activity of the MPS1 enzyme in living cells. MPS1 is responsible for accurate distribution of DNA during cell division; errors in this process can lead to cancer. Using the new biosensor, the researchers discovered that the MPS1 enzyme is significantly less active in colorectal cancer cells. The results were published in the scientific journal Current Biology on the 3rd of September.


18 August 2020
Pre-existing immune-resistant cancer cells identified in melanoma
Researchers at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, led by Oncode Investigator Daniel Peeper with Julia Boshuizen as first author, have discovered a cluster of tumor cells that are refractory to immunotherapy and that exists even prior to treatment. This finding, which was published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, may lead to new therapies that eliminate cancer more effectively.


22 July 2020
Masterclass: insights and best practices for managing research data
With the goal of cutting through complexity and offering clear understanding and the tools needed to handle research data management with a hands-on approach, Oncode recently organized the Research Data Management (RDM) Masterclass, part of its Open Science and FAIR Data programme. Issues such as data management planning, RDM budgeting, essentials, exposure and impact, and GDPR and informed consent were explained in context, with examples and exercises to further knowledge and understanding.


20 July 2020
Metastatic prostate cancer hijacks DNA program for embryonic development
Metastatic prostate cancer cells that spread throughout the patient’s body reactivate a DNA program responsible for fetal prostatic development, new research shows. Cancer researchers led by Oncode Investigator Wilbert Zwart (NKI) and Matthew Freedman of the Harvard Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, demonstrated this process in tissue samples taken from hundreds of surgically removed prostate tumors.


9 July 2020
Oncode funds project on clinical implementation of the MeD-seq assay
We are pleased to announce that the 11th grant within the cPoC programme has been awarded to Oncode Investigator Joost Gribnau (Erasmus MC). Together with colleagues, he will work on the clinical implementation of their recently developed MeD-seq assay. The goal of the project is to deliver proof of concept of the clinical applicability of their MeD-seq assay, which is able to detect tumor-specific epigenetic patterns in the circulating cell-free DNA in the blood of patients. The researchers will evaluate whether this assay can predict early recurrence in colorectal cancer patients with surgically removable liver metastases.


30 June 2020
New colleagues at Oncode Institute
We are pleased to welcome Saharla Ahmed and Colette ten Hove to Oncode Institute. Saharla started as a Business Developer in the Valorization Team and Colette joined as a new Programme Manager in the General Support Team. We asked them to describe their role within Oncode briefly.


30 June 2020
Oncode Institute appoints Alain Kummer as its new Managing Director
Oncode Institute today announced that its Supervisory Board has appointed Alain Kummer as Managing Director per September 1st, 2020. On the same day, Ton Rijnders, Oncode’s General Director, will step down from his position. As of September 1st, the new Oncode Managing Board will consist of Geert Kops (Scientific Director and Head of the institute), Chris De Jonghe (Valorization Director) and Alain Kummer (Managing Director).


22 June 2020
New research: multiple low dose therapy
Combining low doses of several cancer drugs at the same time might overcome the important problem of resistance, researchers from the Netherlands Cancer Institute conclude. The lab of Oncode Investigator Rene Bernards shows promising results for this multiple low dose approach. Their paper is published in the scientific journal Nature Communications on June 22nd.

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