Lisa Depestel and Carolina Nunes laureates of the 1st Pieter Van Vlierberghe Award for best paper in oncology

CRIG launches the first 'Pieter Van Vlierberghe Award', a yearly award for the best paper in oncology published by young CRIG researchers. 

This initiative is taken to honor and remember CRIG group leader Prof. Pieter Van Vlierberghe, who lost his unfair battle against cancer in 2022 (in memoriam Pieter Van Vlierberghe). Pieter has been one of the driving forces of cancer research in Ghent, made great contributions in the field of (pediatric) leukemia and lymphoma, embodied the mission of CRIG to collaborate, and was an excellent leader, motivator and friend to many of us.

In 2023, the first second ‘Pieter Van Vlierberghe Award’ was given to CRIG researcher given to Lisa Depestel and Carolina Nunes for their paper ‘RRM2 enhances MYCN-driven neuroblastoma formation and acts as 
synergistic target with CHK1 inhibition’ (published in Science Advances 2022 - link to publication), opening new opportunities for improved treatment of neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer. 

The laureates were awarded during CRIG’s PrIOMiC-OncoPoint symposium on 3-4 May 2023, in the presence of >200 CRIG researchers and Prof. Van Vlierberghe’s family members (see photo below).