Kaat De Wever

Doctoral fellow – Pediatric Precision Oncology Lab Ghent – Center for Medical Genetics (UGent)
Principal investigator: prof. Kaat Durinck (PhD)
Research focus
Neuroblastoma is a pediatric tumor originating from the sympathetic nervous system responsible for 10-15% of all childhood cancer deaths. Half of all neuroblastoma patients present with high-risk disease and nearly 50% relapse and die of disease. In addition, cytotoxic standard therapies cause serious lifelong side effects including growth retardation, delayed cognitive development, infertility and increased risk for secondary tumors. Options for a precision medicine approach for this group of patients are limited. Evidence is emerging that embryonal tumors such as neuroblastoma are marked by a blueprint of replicative stress resistance which protects them from DNA damage-induced premature ageing, an adaptation that can serve as a novel therapeutic vulnerability. Notably, CDK12 was recently discovered as a key regulator to ensure expression of various genes involved in the DNA damage response and therefore poses an innovative and novel entry point for combination therapies. Given these observations, the host lab identified a series of synergistic drug interactions with pharmacological CDK12 inhibition.
During my PhD mandate, I aim to take these findings to the next level and functionally dissect the molecular basis of these synergistic interactions in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, I will evaluate the impact of these synergistic drug combinations on the interaction of neuroblastoma tumor cells with the tumor microenvironment in vitro and in vivo using dedicated model systems.
Biography
In 2024, I obtained my Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences (major in Cancer) at the University of Ghent. For my thesis, I performed my research on the optimization of 3D ex vivo cancer models in the Lab of Experimental Cancer Research and the Lab of Experimental Surgery. Currently, I am a full-time doctoral fellow at the PPOL lab of Prof. Dr. Kaat Durinck, investigating CDK12 inhibition in neuroblastoma to test potential combination therapies and immunomodulation both in vitro and in vivo.
Contact & links
- Lab address: Center for Medical Genetics Ghent (CMGG), Medical Research Building 1 (MRB1), 2nd floor, office: 120.038, entrance 34, campus UZ Gent, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
- Pediatric Precision Oncology Lab Ghent
- Centre for Medical Genetics Ghent
- ORCID
- Kaat De Wever is interested to receive invitations for talks and presentations