August 29th 2023: Radboudpluim voor Martin ter Beest
Gisteren ontving Martin ter Beest, wetenschappelijk onderzoeker bij onze afdeling Medical BioSciences, een Radboudpluim. Hij kreeg de pluim uit handen van Jan Smit, decaan/vicevoorzitter Raad van Bestuur, voor zijn bijzondere verdiensten voor ons umc.
Martin maakt deel uit van het team dat moleculair onderzoek doet aan immuuntherapie voor patiënten met kanker. Martin zet zich bovenmatig in om meerdere onderzoeksprojecten tegelijkertijd te runnen met een uitzonderlijke expertise en creativiteit. Hij helpt de jonge onderzoekers en studenten met de eerste lab vaardigheden, en houdt in de gaten of het goed met ze gaat. Hij staat altijd klaar voor anderen en zet hij zichzelf nooit op de voorgrond. Dit typeert zijn betrokkenheid bij onze collega’s, de afdeling en de organisatie. Hij heeft deze pluim volgens zijn collega’s meer dan verdiend.
September 7th 2023: Thesis defense Anouk Becker
On Thursday September 7th at 10.30 am Anouk Becker will defend her thesis titled:
Exploring the modulation and development of type 3 dendritic cells in cancer and autoimmunity
May 17th 2023: Thesis defense Floris van Dalen
On Wednesday May 17th at 4.30 pm Floris van Dalen defended his thesis titled:
Chemical Tools to Capture Cysteine Cathepsins
For his thesis he received the Cum Laude distinction.
April 20th 2023: Thesis defense Rens Peeters
On Thursday April 20th at 2.30 pm Rens Peeters defended his thesis titled:
Metabolic regulation of healthy and malignant B cells
For his thesis he received the Cum Laude distinction.
March 2023: Interview Mark Gorris in Oncologieuptodate (- volume 14 – nummer 1)
March 30th 2023: Thesis defense Maria Camilla Operti
On Thursday March 30th at 10.30 am Maria Camilla Operti will defend her thesis titled:
Scale-up Manufacturing of Polymeric Immunomodulatory Nanomedicines – From Bench to Bedside
February 16th 2023: Radboudumc Masterprize for Andrea Rodgers Furones
Andrea Rodgers Furones received the ‘Radboudumc Masterprijs MMD 2021-2022’ for her master internship entitled
‘Decoding adaptive NK cell signaling in cancer. Studying antigen presentation and memory formation in adaptive NK cells against cancer’
February 10th 2023: Thesis defense Abbey Arp
On Friday February 10th at 12.30 pm Abbey Arp will defend her thesis titled:
The four-transmembrane prtoeins CD20 and CD53 control lymphocyte function
January 26th 2023: Thesis defense Marjolein Schluck
On Thursday January 26th at 10.30 am Marjolein Schluck will defend her thesis titled:
Tunable biomaterials for controlled T cell-based immunotherapy.
January 11th 2023: TIL-winners RIMLS Awards
During the Goodbye and Hello event on 11 January, the last RIMLS Award ceremony took place. After a warm welcome by RIMLS scientific director René Bindels, we honored the best achievements with prestigious awards in the various categories.
RIMLS Breakthrough Publication of 2022
Rens Peeters et al.: Fatty acid metabolism in aggressive B-cell lymphoma is inhibited by tetraspanin CD37. Nat. Commun. 2022 Sep 13;13(1):5371 (publication)
Jury comments: Four papers were nominated out of the more then 1300 RIMLS papers published last year. Thus, the nomination by itself is already a great honor. Four papers were nominated out of the more then 1300 RIMLS papers published last year. Thus, the nomination by itself is already a great honor. In the winning paper a new molecular mechanism was identified in line with the RIMLS slogan “Todays molecules for tomorrow’s medicine” and published in an excellent journal. This new mechanism was supported by both in vitro and in vivo data, and could provide a rationale to design new therapeutic approaches for B cell lymphomas and other malignancies.
RIMLS Master Thesis 2022
Rohit Rajesh Gokhale: Galectin-9: A New Paradigm in Dendritic Cell Migration. Unravelling Galectin-9 Function in Dendritic Cell Migration in Anti-Melanoma Immunity
Jury comments: The jury was impressed by the wide variety of techniques employed: isolation of primary cells, flow cytometry, live imaging and advanced confocal microscopy, Western blotting, etc). The winner showed great eagerness for experimental design and carried out follow-up experiments. A new mechanism for cell migration was unraveled. Lastly, this master thesis stands out because of the excellent figures and layout.
November 18th 2022: Thesis defense Mark Gorris
On Friday November 18th at 12.30 pm Mark A.J. Gorris will defend his thesis titled: Uncovering the Immune Cell Landscape of Melanoma Using Multiplex Immunohistochemistry and Computational Analysis
October 3rd 2022: Thesis defense Kim Cortenbach
On Monday October 3rd at 10.30 am Kim R.G. Cortenbach will defend her thesis titled: Dissecting and exploring the immune cell landscape in cardiovascular disease
September 28th 2022: Publication in Nature Communications
The paper Fatty acid metabolism in aggressive B-cell lymphoma is inhibited by tetraspanin CD37 by Rens Peeters of our Tetraspanin Group was published in Nature Communications. Read the publication here
Abstract:
The importance of fatty acid (FA) metabolism in cancer is well-established, yet the mechanisms underlying metabolic reprogramming remain elusive. Here, we identify tetraspanin CD37, a prognostic marker for aggressive B-cell lymphoma, as essential membrane-localized inhibitor of FA metabolism. Deletion of CD37 on lymphoma cells results in increased FA oxidation shown by functional assays and metabolomics. Furthermore, CD37-negative lymphomas selectively deplete palmitate from serum in mouse studies. Mechanistically, CD37 inhibits the FA transporter FATP1 through molecular interaction. Consequently, deletion of CD37 induces uptake and processing of exogenous palmitate into energy and essential building blocks for proliferation, and inhibition of FATP1 reverses this phenotype. Large lipid deposits and intracellular lipid droplets are observed in CD37-negative lymphoma tissues of patients. Moreover, inhibition of carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1 A significantly compromises viability and proliferation of CD37-deficient lymphomas. Collectively, our results identify CD37 as a direct gatekeeper of the FA metabolic switch in aggressive B-cell lymphoma.
Cells of an agressive B-cell lymphoma (cell nuclei in blue) without CD37 contain many fat droplets (in green).
September 19th 2022: Publication in Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry
The paper Inhibitory prodrug mechanism for cysteine cathepsin-targeted self-controlled drug release by Floris van Dalen of our Chemical Immunology Group was published in the Journal of Enzyme Inhibition and Medicinal Chemistry. Read our open access publication here.
September 16th 2022: Presentation Award for Rohit Gokhale
During the MMD Student Symposium 2022 Rohit Gokhale won the Presentation Award.
He presented the work done during his internship in the group of Laia Querol Cano.
September 5th, 2022: ESMI podcast – Edition #1: Jolanda de Vries
The ESMI introduces a new podcast format “DIVE INTO IMAGING SCIENCE”. The premise is simple: the hosts Tim Witney & Giannis Zacharakis invite one senior academic to discuss their favourite publication from the recent literature: pour yourself a nice glass of wine and join us as we delve into the recent literature.
In episode #1 we talked with the wonderful Jolanda De Vries from Nijmegen about how dendritic cell therapy got her into imaging and the latest therapeutic cell imaging methods. We touch on multimodality imaging, why imaging isn’t frequently used in the clinic for cell tracking, and why mouse models of cancer might never be good enough. The publication selected by Jolanda is a paper from Stanford “Imaging of nanoparticle-labeled CAR T cells” published in PNAS*.
You can find the podcast at: ESMI Podcast Jolanda de Vries
August 22nd 2022: “HOT PAPER” in Angewandte Chemie
The paper Enzyme-Activatable Chemokine Conjugates for In Vivo Targeting of Tumor-Associated Macrophages by Floris van Dalen of our Chemical Immunology Group in collaboration with the Vendrell lab at the University of Edinburgh was published in Angewandte Chemie as “HOT paper”. Read our open access publication here.
August 5th 2022: Publication in International Journal of Molecular Sciences
The paper Regulatory T Cell Depletion Using a CRISPR Fc-Optimized CD25 Antibody by members of our Chemical Immunology Group in collaboration with groups at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) was published in International Journal of Molecular Sciences. Read our open access publication here.
July 15th 2022: Best presentation award
Asima Abidi won the award for best presentation at the RIMLS PhD retreat 2022
June 28th 2022: Publication in Cell Reports
The Tetraspanin Group published their work with the title ‘Tetraspanin CD53 controls T cell immunity through regulation of CD45RO stability, mobility, and function‘ in the journal Cell Reports.
T cells depend on the phosphatase CD45 to initiate T cell receptor signaling. Dunlock et al. show that tetraspanin CD53 is required for CD45 function, T cell proliferation, and cellular immunity in vivo.
Read the publication here.
May 17th 2022: Thesis defense Camille le Gall
On Tuesday May 17th at 10.30 am Camille M. le Gall will defend her thesis titled: Dendritic cell-targeted vaccines for cancer immunotherapy
May 12th 2022: Jolanda de Vries KNAW member
ROYAL ACADEMY SELECTS 22 MEMBERS
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) has elected 22 new members, including three foreign members. Academy members, leading researchers from across all the disciplines, are selected for their scientific and scholarly achievements. The Academy has about 600 members. Members are appointed for life. The new members will be installed on Monday 12 September 2022.
Jolanda de Vries is committed to applying insights from fundamental biomedical research to patient care. She made an important contribution to a still experimental method of treatment in which cells from a patient’s immune system are activated to fight cancer (immunotherapy). De Vries is a much sought-after speaker, she has set up exchange programmes for young scientists and has an excellent international network. This has enabled her to assemble a strong and diverse team around her, from which much is expected.
All new members can be found here: KNAW members
May 2nd 2022: Zwaartekrachtsubsidies bekend – Annemiek van Spriel en Martijn Verdoes.
Projecten die onder het Zwaartekrachtprogramma vallen behoren tot de wereldtop in hun onderzoeksveld of hebben de potentie om daartoe te gaan behoren. Met de subsidie kunnen onderzoekers wetenschappelijk toponderzoek doen en multidisciplinair samenwerken. Een van de pijlers van het programma is dat meerdere wetenschappelijke disciplines en universiteiten samenwerken.
De Universiteit Utrecht is de hoofdaanvrager voor het ‘IMAGINE!’ project, dat aangestuurd wordt door Anna Akhmanova. Vanuit het Radboudumc zijn Peter Friedl/CellBio, Annemiek van Spriel en Martijn Verdoes bij dit project betrokken. Het consortium ontvangt in totaal 20,8 miljoen euro.
IMAGINE!: Bekijken en besturen van cellen in onze weefsels
Cellen zijn de basiseenheden van het leven. Hoewel cellen al uitgebreid zijn bestudeerd, weten we maar weinig over hoe ze zichzelf organiseren tot weefsels en hoe moleculaire processen binnen de cellen weefselorganisatie mogelijk maken. Het programma IMAGINE! brengt biologen en technologieontwikkelaars samen om cellen te bestuderen en te manipuleren in zowel gezond als ziek weefsel. Het programma zal belangrijke kennis en gereedschappen opleveren voor regeneratieve geneeskunde, de behandeling van ziekten en het herbestemmen van bestaande geneesmiddelen.
April 15th 2022: Publication in Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer
Our paper Efficient targeting of NY-ESO-1 tumor antigen to human cDC1s by lymphotactin results in cross-presentation and antigen-specific T cell expansion by Camille Le Gall and other members of our Chemical Immunology Group was published in Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer. Read our open access publication here.
April 14th 2022: Twitterende Wetenschapper: Estel Collado Camps
Estel Collado Camps van het Radboud UMC twitter deze week op @NL_wetenschap over haar onderzoek. In haar postdoc tumor immunologie probeert ze er achter te komen hoe ons immuunsysteem zelf kanker kan bestrijden.
NPO Radio 1 ‘In de nacht van’ heeft een interview met Estel gehad – link: NPO Radio 1
February 16th 2022: Publication in Advanced Therapeutics
Marjolein Schluck, together with other members of our Chemical Immunology Group, published their work with the title Dictating Phenotype, Function, and Fate of Human T Cells with Co-Stimulatory Antibodies Presented by Filamentous Immune Cell Mimics in the journal Advanced Therapeutics. Read our open access publication here.
February 7th 2022: ERC Proof of Concept Grant for Martijn Verdoes
Martijn Verdoes, group leader of the Chemical Immunology Group, has been awarded an ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) Grant. The ERC PoC Grants are designed to support ERC grantees with the commercial or societal application of the results of their funded research. The project with the title “CNECT-VAX, C- and N-terminal Epitope Conjugate immune cell Targeted Vaccines” aims to validate the technical and commercial feasibility of a new cancer vaccine platform that uses nanobodies targeting dendritic cells to co-deliver antigens in vivo. The project is based on a novel molecular vaccine strategy that effectively delivers target antigens to DCs to concomitantly induce robust synergistic CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses.
See the official press release from ERC Europe here.
February 2nd 2022: Publication in Journal of Nanobiotechnology
Our paper Multiscale imaging of therapeutic anti-PD-L1 antibody localization using molecularly defined imaging agents by Iris Hagemans and other members of our Chemical Immunology Group, in collaboration with the group of Sandra Heskamp was published in Journal of Nanobiotechnology. Read our open access publication here.
Oncode collaboration: mobilizing innate leukocytes to attack tumors – Carl Figdor
In 2021, Oncode Institute organized brainstorm sessions to come up with ideas for cross-disciplinary synergies between Oncode researchers to tackle difficult challenges in cancer research. A group of Oncode Investigators from different institutes* came up with an exciting new idea requiring their collaboration to become successful. This launched a new Oncode Accelerator Project.
Cancer immunotherapy is a game-changing treatment that stimulates the T-cells of our immune system to kill cancer cells. Its success revealed the major obstacle that faces cancer immunotherapy today: the resistance of tumors to this T-cell mediated therapy. The group of Oncode Investigators are joining forces to face this problem. In this Oncode Accelerator Project, they call in the help of other immune cells, so called “innate leukocytes”. These cells are present in large quantities in tumors, can be rapidly recruited from the blood stream and when steered the right way can effectively fight cancer, independent of T-cells.
The researchers want to understand which and when different types of innate leukocytes can help fight tumors. They also want to analyze how these different cells communicate which each other and with other cells, in order to discover how these cells can be manipulated to fight cancer. Finally, they want to predict the response of patients to therapies, with the ultimate aim to test them in the clinic.
Project leader Sjoerd van der Burg (LUMC) says: “This is the first and truly unique approach fully focused on the capitalization of the tumor-controlling role of innate leukocytes for treating tumors that are resistant to T-cell therapy. Success would revolutionize current cancer care. Within Oncode we have assembled an excellent multidisciplinary team with a high level of integrated expert knowledge. Since there are many different institutes involved, we also have access to unique toolboxes, mouse models, patient cohorts, regulatory molecule identification pipelines, facilities, drug repurposing libraries, and an antibody production platform – which will now be combined to serve this one goal in the most optimal way possible.”
The research at Radboudumc will be supervised by professor of Experimental Immunology Carl Figdor: “In this exciting project, we will in particular study the tumor microenvironment in biopsies from patients and in culture model systems, where we study the behavior of immune cells in the tumor. During the past 3 years Mark Gorris, Shabaz Sultan and Johannes Textor have developed a novel imaging platform to study the infiltration of immune cells in tissue sections of tumors in great detail. In this synergy grant, Oncode PI’s together aim to get detailed insight in the role of myeloid cells in the tumor.”
*The Oncode Investigators working on this project are: Sjoerd van der Burg, Sjaak Neefjes (LUMC), Karin de Visser, Leila Akkari, Tineke Lenstra, Jacco van Rheenen (NKI), Linde Meyaard, Jeroen de Ridder (UMCU), Miao-Ping Chien (Erasmus MC), Sarah Derks (Amsterdam UMC, location AMC) and Carl Figdor (Radboudumc)
RIMLS Best Msc Thesis of 2021 – Andrea Rodgers Furones
During the RIMLS New Year’s Event Andrea Rodgers Furones received the Award for Best Msc thesis of 2021.
The title of her thesis is: “Galectin-9: the grand master during dendritic cell-mediated T-cell immunity”.
She performed her internship from January 2020 until October 2020 in the
department of Tumour immunology, where she worked in a very challenging and innovative project with the
aim of elucidating the role of glycans in T-cell mediated anti-tumour immunity under supervision of dr. Laia Querol Cano.
RIMLS travel grant for Asima Abidi
During the RIMLS New Year’s Event Asima Abidi received a travel grant of € 1.000,- to visit a conference in Oregon, US in 2022.
December 1, 2021: Lymphoma Biology E-conference
Novel developments in pathobiology and targeted therapy of B-cell lymphoma
November 5th, 2021: Publication in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering
Our paper Robust Antigen-Specific T Cell Activation within Injectable 3D Synthetic Nanovaccine Depots by Jorieke Weiden, Marjolein Schluck and other members of our Chemical Immunology Group, in collaboration with the lab of prof. Sidi Bencherif (Northeastern University, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, United States and University of Technology of Compiègne, France) was published in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering. To read our open access publication here.
October 6th, 2021: NWO Open Competition XS-grant for Dr. Georgina Florez-Grau
Title: ‘All immune-defence mechanisms are balanced: fact or fiction? Truth-finding in cancer patients
Description : In this grant we want to study how to reverse the inhibitory effect of the tumor on the trained immunity to facilitate the development of beneficial trained-immunity types of immunotherapies for the benefit of patients.
July 12th, 2021: Publication in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer
Jeroen Creemers, Jolanda de Vries, Johannes Textor (Computational Immunology Group), and colleagues published a paper in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer that uses a mathematical model to explain why biomarkers for cancer immunotherapy can be difficult to find.
May 29th, 2021: Publication in Advanced Healthcare Materials
Our paper Enhanced Antitumor Efficacy through an “AND gate” Reactive Oxygen-Species-Dependent pH-Responsive Nanomedicine Approach by members of our Chemical Immunology Group was published in Advanced Healthcare Materials. To read our open access publication here.
April 14th, 2021: Publication in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
Our paper Semiflexible Immunobrushes Induce Enhanced T Cell Activation and Expansion by members of our Chemical Immunology Group was published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. To read the open access publication, click here.
April 12th, 2021: Publication in eLife
The paper “Artistoo, a library to build, share, and explore simulations of cells and tissues in the web browser” by Inge Wortel and Johannes Textor (Computational Immunology Group) was published in eLife (https://elifesciences.org/articles/61288) accompanied by a Digest: https://elifesciences.org/digests/61288/modelling-made-easier.