Amsterdam, 19-12-2006
Daniel Peeper, a researcher at the Netherlands Cancer Institute since 1995, has been awarded a ‘Vici’ grant by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). The grant represents 1.250.000 euro, allowing a research program for 5 years.
The research project Dr. Peeper will be in charge of aims to identify novel targets in anticancer therapy. A key problem in cancer treatment relates to the lack of available selective drugs. Most anticancer drugs currently used in the clinic impinge on targets such as DNA replication enzymes, which are shared between normal and tumor cells.
This creates only a small therapeutic window: since most drugs were selected based on their ability to eradicate dividing cells, cycling normal cells are killed concurrently as ‘off-targets’. Therefore, there is an urgent need for molecularly targeted therapeutics that kill cancer cells selectively.
Peeper and colleagues will use newly available techniques to discover genes whose inactivation kills cells only if they have specific alterations in oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. The researchers anticipate that this study may lead to the discovery and characterization of specific proteins and eventually signaling pathways, inactivation of which allows for selective and effective cancer intervention.
Vici grants are awarded to excellent researchers with a successful track record in research and who belong to the best of their field. Furthermore, they have proven to be able to train and coach young investigators.
166 researchers, including historians and psychologists, applied for the Vici grant. On the basis of international reviews and an advisory board, the grant was awarded to 30 investigators.
For more information, please refer to Dr. Peeper’s website.