October 24 10:00 Leiden University
“I joined the research group of my supervisor, Christian Blank, when I was still a student. He has so many ideas ideas, several of which turned into major clinical trials. I coordinated two of these trials during my PhD, both focused on personalized immunotherapy for patients with melanoma that had spread to the lymph nodes. Melanoma patients often benefit from immunotherapy, because their tumors carry so many mutations that they appear foreign to the immune system. With the right treatment, we can trigger immune cells to recognize, attack, and clear the tumor. In our study, we investigated whether outcomes would improve when starting immunotherapy six weeks before surgery. This strategy turned out to be remarkably effective: approximately sixty percent of patients had such a strong response that they didn’t need any further surgery. I saw and treated many of these patients myself, which made the work all the more special to me. The experience of organizing, coordinating, and collaborating with others has been immensely valuable to me. The lessons I learned from this research will undoubtedly help me in my further development and in my current training as a microbiologist at UMC Utrecht.”
Irene Reijers will defend her thesis on October 24.
Research at the Netherlands Cancer Institute is financially supported by KWF Dutch Cancer Society.
Personalized Neoadjuvant Immunotherapy in Stage III Melanoma
prof. dr. C.U. (Christian) Blank & prof. dr. J.B.A.G. (John) Haanen