dr. Alexandra Reekmans (MD)

Children with hematological malignancies (acute lymphoblastic leukemia or acute myeloid leukemia) are currently treated according to standardized treatment protocols. Over the past decades, improvements in outcome were driven by the optimization of multi-agent chemotherapy regimens, monitoring of residual disease and use of (cyto)genetic prognostic markers for risk-stratification. However, relapses still occur, and the outcome for the refractory or (multiple) relapsed patients remains poor. The emerging precision medicine approach might improve the prognosis of these patients. To assign these patients to the best personalized treatments, there is need for deep molecular characterization, comprehensive immunophenotyping and functional drug response profiling. 

In this project we will generate patient-derived xenograft models from individual pediatric relapse and refractory leukemia patients to complement the original patient material for molecular analyses, flow cytometry and drug response profiling (ex vivo and in vivo). This way, the project can add indispensable information to assign the patient to the most appropriate early phase clinical trial.
 

• 2012-2018: Master in Medicine, Ghent University
• 2018-present: Master in Specialist Medicine: Pediatric Medicine, Ghent University
   

• UZ Gent, Medical Research Building 2 (entrance 38 - 1st Floor), Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
• Alexandra Reekmans is interested to receive invitations for presentations or talks