“I still clearly remember the class in which I first heard about combination therapies. I can even recall the images. I must’ve subconsciously decided that that’s what I wanted to do. And lo and behold, I’m now getting my PhD on research on the topic. Recently, a new medicine became available for lung cancer and colorectal cancer patients for a certain mutation. The problem is that we see therapy resistance occur relatively quickly – similar to bacteria and antibiotics. I was tasked to find a second medicine that prevents this already aggressive tumor from finding a way out of the first medicine. After a lot of tests in cells and mouse models, it seems like I’ve been successful. It would be amazing if we could test this potential combination therapy in the clinic. Together with my promotor, Rene Bernards, I’m now talking to various pharmaceutical companies and investors to make this possible. Because Rene is approaching his retirement, I am officially his last PhD candidate: quite an honor. Thankfully, he will continue to conduct research, even after his retirement. And I will continue to work in his research group, but now as a postdoc.”
Robin will defend her thesis on April 23.
The thesis
Combine and conquer. As a strategy to treat RAS-driven cancers
Promotor(s)
prof. dr. R. Bernards