Dutch Cancer Society awards 10.6m euro in research grants to the Netherlands Cancer Institute

Augmented reality in the operating theatre

Surgeons sometimes have difficulty identifying malignancies in tissue while operating. In order to improve precision when excising tumours, surgeon Theo Ruers will receive over €500,000  to develop an augmented reality system that adds previously recorded images of the tumour to live images on the operation monitor. If the development stage runs smoothly, he will use augmented reality in the final year of his research on colon cancer patients with liver metastases.

DNA breaks occur all the time

More fundamental is the study being conducted by Jacqueline Jacobs into DNA repair. She has been awarded a grant of over €640,000. DNA in the body's cells breaks and is repaired again all the time. When problems arise during repair, a cell can become cancerous. Dr Jacobs explains that "we do not yet have a thorough understanding of the repair process". Her research focuses on expanding this body of knowledge. "This type of fundamental research is vital for getting to the heart of DNA repair, which will give us further insights into how cancer develops. Based on that, we can improve diagnostics and treatment methods."

Getting pregnant after cervical cancer

The Dutch Cancer Society awarded gynaecologist Nienke van Trommel almost €400,000 for a study into the treatment of cervical cancer. By giving patients chemotherapy prior to surgery, the operation can be less invasive and the cervix can be spared to a better degree. Van Trommel hopes that this will enable patients to become pregnant and carry the baby to term. She says: "We hope that this new treatment will give women the same survival chances as with surgery alone, and that their odds of having children will increase."

Blood test for ovarian cancer

Gynaecological oncologist Christianne Lok will be using a grant worth over €700,000 for a research project to develop a blood test to determine whether ovarian tumours are benign or malignant, thereby preventing unnecessary surgeries.

Radiologist Astrid Scholten will be using a grant worth over €800,000 to conduct a comparative patient study into whether partial breast radiation treatment before surgery could lead to better cosmetic results than radiation after surgery.

Complete list of projects funded by the Dutch Cancer Society in this round