Over 25 years ago, Cancer Center Amsterdam Foundation was established with a mission to raise money for research, facilities, and lifestyle care. In the pursuit of improvements in early cancer detection, better diagnostic methods, and more effective treatments, the Foundation annually grants funding to jump-start promising early-stage research projects at Cancer Center Amsterdam. In 2023, thanks to the contribution of donors, nine innovative cancer research initiatives will receive funding with a total budget of nearly € 1.5 million.

Fundamental, applied, and clinical research is essential for improving cancer treatments and care for our patients. However, securing funding for research that explores or implements new ideas can be challenging, particularly for early-stage projects that lack extensive data. Cancer Center Amsterdam Foundation addresses this gap by focusing on research projects that have a strong potential for clinical application and foster collaborations among researchers at Cancer Center Amsterdam.

This year, nine pioneering projects will receive support from the Cancer Center Amsterdam Foundation, marking a significant step toward advancing our understanding of cancer and improving treatment options.

Principal Investigators and Funded Research Projects

Kaspar Bresser: Re-programming cancer-associated dysfunctional T-cells through metabolic circuits € 175,000

Tineke Buffart: Exploring the oral microbiome in development of early-onset colorectal cancer € 87,352.50

Helga Simon-Molas: Exploit altered lipid metabolism to improve T-cell function in chronic lymphocytic leukemia € 175,000

Yunchao Yin: Small bowel centerline extraction for motion quantification during radiotherapy € 129,319.70

Cristina A. Gómez Martín: An exploratory extracellular vesicle based immuno-monitoring method to detect signals from tissue-resident immune cells. € 129,985

Danny Young-Afat: Towards a paradigm shift in breast cancer treatment – Introducing pre-operative radiotherapy for patients undergoing mastectomy with immediate breast reconstructions. € 175,000

Wouter Ouwerkerk: Germline genetic biomarker to predict metastatic risk in melanoma patients. € 174,986

Jouke Annema & Marieke Fransen: Immune checkpoint targeting of tumor and tumor-draining lymph nodes using endobronchial ultrasound in early-stage nonsmall cell lung cancer. € 152,800

Sarah Derks & Jasper Sanders, MEMENTO study: MEtformin as a MEtabolic iNTervention in Oesophageal adenocarcinomas to improve response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. € 277,468.20

Cancer Center Amsterdam thanks all donors for their invaluable support and congratulates the research leaders on securing funding for their groundbreaking projects. Your contributions and efforts are essential in driving forward our shared mission of advancing cancer research and improving patient care.

The evaluation committee was very impressed with the compelling and high-quality research proposals we received. This presented us with the demanding task of selecting projects for funding. The committee would like to thank all involved researchers – funded or not – for their commitment to advance cancer research and care.
Dr. Maarten Bijlsma
Scientific Director Cancer Center Amsterdam

For more information, contact Cancer Center Amsterdam, or watch our upcoming newsletters in 2024 for details regarding these projects.

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