Latest project updates
Oncode Institute aims to outsmart cancer and impact lives. To achieve this, Oncode focuses on three pillars: excellent research, intensive collaboration and powerful valorization. The research strategy is focused on understanding the basic mechanisms of cancer to realize the ultimate goal: safer and more effective medical solutions as well as personalized precision diagnostics. Oncode brings together excellent cancer researchers in The Netherlands: 61 research groups from 12 different Dutch research institutes collaborate on 6 interdisciplinary research themes. To speed up the translation of scientific discoveries into clinical applications, Oncode has a dedicated team of specialists to support scientists in the valorization process.
12 partner institutions
61 Principal Investigators
€ 120 million
funding for 5 years
About Oncode Institute
Over the past decades, the scientific and medical community has made tremendous progress in understanding and treating cancer. However, the disease still has a large burden on society as cancer has become the primary cause of death in The Netherlands. In an effort to address this unmet clinical need, Dutch cancer researchers have joined forces within Oncode Institute. To come up with new avenues for treatment and diagnosis, Oncode focuses on better understanding the fundamental mechanisms of cancer biology. With the ultimate goal to improve long-term survival and the quality of life of patients.Oncode serves as a platform for excellent cancer researchers in The Netherlands to collaborate, share knowledge, expertise and technology. As a virtual Institute it stimulates scientific freedom and offers dedicated support to optimize the translation of fundamental insights into clinical applications. Outsmarting cancer, impacting lives. Visit the Oncode website for more information about the project.
Over 800+ Oncode researchers working under a single strategy that focuses on six different research themes:
- Development of novel technologies
- Understanding the critical drivers of tumour growth and the causes of resistance
- Analysis of network perturbations in tumours and tumour-host interactions
- Causes and consequences of genetic instability
- Identification of critical drug combinations and biomarkers for personalized cancer treatments
- Mobilising immune defence
Oncode invests heavily in the transfer of results from fundamental research into clinical applications. A team of dedicated specialists will help Oncode researchers with valorization of their findings. Furthermore, Oncode offers tailored training programs for affiliated researchers and actively invests in diversity through its Young Female Investigator program.
Accelerating innovation by partnership management
Based on its broad experience with partnership management and communication, Lygature has become a partner of Oncode. Lygature supports Oncode Institute with the following services:
- Program management
- Communication & external affairs
- Finance & IT-infrastructure
- Patient engagement
Lygature together with
Project updates
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Oncode Investigator Jarno Drost co-leads research that unravels the origin of a form of childhood cancer
Malignant rhabdoid tumor (MRT) is a rare type of childhood cancer. Its origins have been unknown until now. A recently published paper in Nature Communications, co-led by Oncode Investigator Jarno Drost in collaboration with researchers at Wellcome Sanger Institute unravels its origins. Beyond that, the study also identifies two drugs to fight it.
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Oncode Investigator Louis Vermeulen wins the prestigious Ammodo Science Award 2021
Oncode Investigator Louis Vermeulen (Amsterdam UMC) studies how derailments in the genetic material of stem cells can cause colon cancer, and focuses specifically on the earliest development of tumors. He combines biochemistry and genetics with mathematical and physical models to map the dynamics of stem cells. Because he is not afraid to venture outside the beaten path, his innovative approach has made a major contribution to fundamental concepts within molecular oncology. This is why he is amongst the eight outstanding mid-career scientists working in the Netherlands awarded this year’s Ammodo Science Award.
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‘The Wings of Science’ – a story of basic research with real life impact
What do Dutch researcher and Oncode Investigator Rene Bernards (NKI) and British columnist and podcaster Deborah James have in common? They are both on a mission to fight cancer. Bernards’ ultimate goal is to bring his research findings to the clinic and by that to impact people’s lives. James turned her own stage 4 bowel cancer diagnosis into a mission not only to fight the illness but also to change the conversation around it. The two met in 2018: as James was running out of treatment options, it was Bernards’ innovative therapy that came to her rescue.