CRIG 'young investigator proof-of-concept projects’: laureates 11th call
CRIG provides research grants for young (postdoctoral) cancer researchers at CRIG to initiate potentially high-risk and innovative cancer research projects. In this 11th call, following postdocs were awarded, and have started their project this month:
Dr. Elien De Bousser – ‘Study of the impact of DMSO on the anti-tumor potency of glyco-engineered CAR T cells’ (promotor of the grant: Prof. Nico Callewaert) - Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cells, designed to recognize specific antigens expressed on tumor cells, have revolutionized cancer immunotherapy. The process of human primary T cell isolation, in vitro cultivation and immunophenotyping has a strong influence on the final CAR T cells, and is of key importance for efficient anti-tumor immunity. During her PhD research, Elien has observed that certain chemical compounds can skew the differentiation of certain T cells towards a potentially superior type of T-cell with a higher anti-tumor activity. Therefore, she now wants to further investigate this observation via functional and expression studies.
Dr. Valerie De Meulenaere – ‘Theranostics in neuro-oncology: [68Ga/177Lu]PSMA in a rat model of glioblastoma’ (promotors of the grant: Prof. Ingeborg Goethals, Prof. Karel Deblaere & Prof. Christian Vanhove) - Glioblastomas are malignant primary brain tumours with a poor prognosis, making more efficient treatment options an unmet medical need. As there is some evidence that tumoral vessels of high grade gliomas express prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA), Valerie will conduct a preclinical study to investigate the efficacy of targeted radionuclide therapy with Lu – PSMA in a rat model for glioblastoma.
Dr. Kai Ling Liang – 'A method to direct differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells into hematopoietic stem cells for autologous stem cell transplantation’ (promotor of the grant: Prof. Tom Taghon) - Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are somatic cells that have been successfully reprogrammed back into an embryonic-like pluripotent state, and that can be differentiated to most cell types using optimized culture conditions. If the differentiation of patient-derived iPSCs could be directed towards hematopoetic stem cells (HSCs), this would enable autologous stem cell transplantation for leukemia patients. However, de novo generation of functional HSCs for iPSCS has not been successful due to lack of optimized in vitro culture conditions. Kai and colleagues have developed a new protocol to direct differentiation of iPSCs into HSCs, and now want to further functionally characterize these HSCs.
Dr. Benoit Louage – ‘A novel immunotherapeutic strategy for selective lysosomal degradation of immune-suppressive cell surface proteins in the tumor microenvironment’ (promotor of the grant: Prof. Bruno De Geest) – In his project, Benoit will investigate a novel class of cancer immunotherapeutics, that not only block their target proteins of interest, but also target them for lysosomal degradation.
Dr. Sandra Van Lint – ‘Targeted mRNA re-engineering enabling engagement of robust antitumoral T-helper immune responses’ (promotor of the grant: Prof. Karim Vermaelen) – mRNA vaccination is an emerging field in cancer immune therapy. Typically, introduction of synthetic mRNA in antigen-presenting cells results in presentation of RNA-derived peptide sequences on MCH class I molecules, resulting in triggering of CD8+ cytotoxic T-cells. However, to obtain a powerful anti-cancer immune response, the simultaneous induction of T-cell help via MHC class II is essential. Therefore, Sandra will design a novel mRNA construct that allows any cancer antigen to be targeted for processing and presentation on MHC class II by exploiting the intracellular vesicle sorting machinery.
