Netherlands Cancer Institute

We;re hiring Junior Group Leaders! 🔬✨
We’re looking for researchers in immunology, chemical biology, AI in biology, or protein design to launch their own independent groups in our collaborative, international environment.

www.nki.nl/news-events/...

We are part of @eu-life.bsky.social together with research institutes across Europe we want to strengthen research & innovation and be a voice for research in European policy
This series highlights our shared priorities. This time #Internationality🌍 Stay tuned for the NKI’s story #WeAreEULife

Postdoc alert in spatial biology!

Building upon our previous work with MSI cancers (e.g. de Vries et al, Nature, 2023), the Voest Group at the NKI is hiring a (fully funded) postdoctoral fellow with strong expertise in spatial cancer biology.

Learn more / apply here: www.nki.nl/careers-stud...

DEprot: a comprehensive R-package for the analysis of label-free quantitation mass spectrometry data Abstract. In recent years, studies investigating protein–protein interactions on a proteome-wide scale have increased exponentially. These developments wer

💡“DEprot” is now out on @narjournal.bsky.social Genomics and Bioinformatics.
With Nils Eickhoff ( @zwartlab.bsky.social, @nkinl.bsky.social & @oncodeinstitute.bsky.social), we designed this “all-in-one” tool to facilitate the analyses of LFQ-based proteomics data.

academic.oup.com/nargab/artic...

What better day than International Day of Women & Girls in Science to announce that The International Neuropsychological Society has awarded Sanne Schagen a Lifetime Award for Research?

Researchers discovered that the way immune cells and cancer cells are organized inside ovarian tumors can make a difference to how long patients live ➡️ nki.nl/news-events/news/new-study-maps-ovarian-cancer-s-immune-landscape-and-reveals-key-marker-linked-to-survival/

Pastry chef Müller brightened our day by delivering no fewer than 2,000 cream puffs for employees of the Netherlands Cancer Institute 🧁 Each year, Müller runs a campaign in which a donation is made to the Mike Multi Foundation for every cream puff sold.

Thank you!

@basvansteensellab.bsky.social

Out now in @natureportfolio.nature.com: PARM reveals gene regulation is far more predictable than thought. Lightweight, cell‑type specific, and experimentally validated. Enables functional prediction of regulatory mutations with just one dish of cells + one day of compute.
➡️ doi.org/10.1038/s415...

It’s amazing how much one can discover about a single protein. In the case of PhD candidate Niels Keijzer, that protein is USP1. During his PhD he unraveled several of its secrets ➡️ www.nki.nl/news-events/...

Liver metastases dampen IL18-driven γδ T cell activity and immunotherapy responsiveness in colorectal cancer van Renterghem et al. investigate the impact of liver metastases on immunity in MMR-d/MSI-hi patients treated with ICB. They show that IL18 activates liver-derived Vδ1+ T cells and predicts ICB benefi...

Why do patients with liver metastases respond so poorly to cancer immunotherapy?
Here we find a new immunological mechanism in MMR-d cancers centering on IL-18 and γδ T cells.👇 www.cell.com/cell-reports... @cp-cellrepmed.bsky.social

Congratulations @sarahmoser.bsky.social 🎊

Good news for many: women with breast cancer who receive silicone implants don’t have a higher risk of symptoms linked to Breast Implant Illness, concludes PhD candidate Jonathan Spoor based on a large Dutch study involving over 6,000 women ➡️ www.nki.nl/news-events/...

🎓 Our immune system has an effect on the tumor, and vice versa. It is more active in metastatic cancer. PhD candidate Noor Bakker sees major differences, especially in patients with triple-negative breast cancer. www.nki.nl/news-events/...

As per January German-English scientist Natalie Scholes (32) will start her own research group at the Netherlands Cancer Institute! ➡️ nki.nl/news-events/news/chemical-matchmaker-in-search-of-societal-impact-natalie-scholes-starts-research-group-at-the-netherlands-cancer-institute/

#NKI #research

🎉 Group Leader Leila Akkari @leilaakkari.bsky.social has been appointed Professor of Cancer-Immune Interactions at Leiden University. Congratulations Leila! www.nki.nl/news-events/...

Insights from three decades of BRCA1/2 modeling in mice - Nature Genetics This Perspective highlights the insights into the biology of BRCA1/2 afforded by mouse models and patient-derived tumor xenografts and emphasizes their value in addressing unresolved questions and pre...

🐭 In vivo veritas 🐭

Now out in Nature Genetics: @josjonkers.bsky.social and I describe currently available mouse models of BRCA1/2 and their roles in understanding BRCA1/2 biology, particularly in normal development, tumor suppression and therapy response.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

✨ Happy New Year! ✨
As we step into 2026, we want to thank all of you for being part of our journey in 2025. Together, we’ve achieved incredible milestones we’re looking forward to continuing to make a difference in cancer research. Let’s make 2026 a year of collaboration, innovation and inspiration

Inspired by an initiative from OLVG Hospital, team leaders, managers and directors stepped into care roles during Operation Oliebol including Henri van Luenen & @vanrheenenlab.bsky.social
Not because they had to, but to support colleagues working on New Year’s Eve

🎓 There are more and more options for breast-conserving treatment for breast cancer patients. However, PhD candidate Eva Heeling shows that aren’t offered the same options across all hospitals. More: www.nki.nl/news-events/...

Eleven research teams at the Netherlands Cancer Institute are starting new cancer projects thanks to funding from the Dutch Cancer Society. From personalized therapies to smarter detection, these projects push science closer to patients. Thank you KWF ❤️💙

Learn more: www.nki.nl/news-events/...

@zwartlab.bsky.social

Corticosteroids may re-sensitize metastatic HR+ breast cancer to endocrine therapy by mimicking cortisol-driven fasting responses. Our study, published in Nature, shows a potential new use for a cheap and widely used drug class. ➡️ www.nki.nl/news-events/...

Portret photo of Jos Meeussen and the cover of his thesis which contains musical notes

Cells appear as chaotic as a big city, but transcription factors behave like packages and are usually delivered smoothly. PhD candidate Jos Meeussen was able to track-and-trace them under his microscope: www.nki.nl/news-events/...

“Our session focused on having an open and honest conversation about research security, not as a restriction, but as a way to strengthen research practice. The discussion showed that integrating the perspectives of different actors is the way forward to build a more balanced and realistic approach to research security. Finding this balance is a shared responsibility that calls for ongoing dialogue between researchers, institutions, funders and policymakers,” said Henri van Luenen, Director of Operations at NKI.

💡Welcome to #EULIFEspotlight!

This month we celebrate Henri van Luenen, Director of Operations at @nkinl.bsky.social, who moderated the session “Research security in practice: making space for an honest conversation”, organised by EU-LIFE at the EU Conference on #ResearchSecurity

🔗 bit.ly/4hPXbhw

Joost Agelink van Rentergem received a Vidi grant for research on cognitive impairment ➡️ www.nki.nl/news-events/...

Last Thursday I defended my PhD at @erasmusmc.bsky.social Thank you so much to all that joined the defence and to @maxkoppers.bsky.social, @madelonmaurice.bsky.social, Celia Berkers and Vered Raz for the great scientific discussion.

Congratulations!

Honored to welcome Prof. Charles Swanton for this year’s Piet Borst Lecture ✨
The afternoon opened with a beautiful cello intermezzo 🎻
Inspiring from start to finish.”

Tumour-reactive heterotypic CD8 T cell clusters from clinical samples - Nature Tumour-reactive CD8+ T cells are enriched in functional clusters with tumour cells and/or antigen-presenting cells and can be isolated and expanded from clinical samples.

A new @nature.com.web.brid.gy paper by @peeperlab.bsky.social shows that T cells that cling to cancer cells are the most potent killers. These clusters, long overlooked, can be isolated directly from tumors www.nature.com/articles/s41...