Cancer Center Amsterdam actively promotes the international exchange of knowledge by granting travel funding to talented researchers. These scientists go abroad to gain know-how at state-of-the-art research institutes and implement their experience once back in the Netherlands. Likewise, scientists from other countries also come to Amsterdam UMC to gain and develop knowledge at our leading research laboratories. Belén Toledo, a PhD candidate at the University of Jaén in Andalusia, Spain, tells us about her experience as a visiting scientist in the lab of Elisa Giovannetti.
Funding from two international grants enabled Belén Toledo to join the Molecular Oncology Laboratory at Cancer Center Amsterdam. Research in this team, led by Prof. Elisa Giovannetti, focuses on chemotherapy resistance in pancreatic cancer.
Chemotherapy is still considered an irreplaceable front-line therapeutic strategy to treat cancer. But multidrug resistance represents a common hurdle that profoundly compromises clinical outcomes, especially in pancreatic cancer. It is key to identify new drugs that could reduce chemoresistance and thus combat tumors with existing treatments.” Belén Toledo
Internship
Supported by a European STSM CA21116 E-COST-Grant, Belén started a three-month research internship in Amsterdam in July 2023. The preclinical research focused on testing the effect of a pro-enzyme pancreatic formulation (PRP) on a panel of chemoresistant pancreatic cancer cell lines that had been previously established in the Giovannetti's lab.
“We wanted to evaluate the effect of PRP in the widest available range of pancreatic cancer cell lines to gain a better idea how this treatment may affect actual tumors,” says Belén. “So far, we have obtained very promising results. PRP seems not only to reduce chemoresistance of pancreatic tumor cells, but also appears to collaterally affect cancer associated fibroblasts, which are found in the tumor microenvironment.”
Currently, Belén is completing her research project at Cancer Center Amsterdam with support from an EMBO scholarship.
“I am really grateful to all for making this internship possible – my colleagues at the University of Jaén and Amsterdam UMC – Cancer Center Amsterdam, European funding agencies, and the company Propanc Biopharma (Australia), for providing financial resources to develop PRP. I have started writing my doctoral thesis, which will include two scientific manuscripts with research data from experiments performed during my stay in Amsterdam. I look forward to new pancreatic cancer projects in which I can apply all the knowledge that I acquired during these years.”
The Amsterdam Experience
“Amsterdam! You will never see anything like it - a city that you love or quite the opposite. When I arrived in the summer, it was just the right time to experience a beautiful sunny city and enjoy the many activities Amsterdam has to offer: bicycles, boat trips, museums, and wine & cheese tasting. I love that you can go from one place to another in the same day, like Edam, Zaandam, and Volendam.
“Now - that the weather is colder, and it rains a lot - totally different from Spain – but I still think Amsterdam retains its charm. It is a beautiful city, as well as its people, completely international, open-minded and with exceptional English! You will never feel out of place in this city, quite the opposite, every time you feel more connected. I hope my family can come visit in the next few weeks so I can show them the amazing things this city has to offer.”
For more information, contact Belén Toledo.
This article was created for Cancer Center Amsterdam.