Krijn Dijkstra receives KWF Young Investigator Grant

Krijn Dijkstra (senior postdoc) has been awarded a competitive Young Investigator Grant from KWF. This grant supports the establishment of an independent research line focusing on the functional implications of clonal cooperativity on immune evasion in cancer.

Cancers consist of multiple genetically distinct subpopulations (subclones). The traditional view is that these populations compete, with the strongest population dominating the tumor. However, the widespread presence of intratumor heterogeneity across human cancers prompts an alternative hypothesis: cancers benefit from maintaining heterogeneity because distinct subclones can functionally specialize and cooperate with each other, together making the tumor stronger. Using the YIG, Krijn and his team will use a combination of patient-derived organoid – immune co-cultures and advanced secretomics technologies to functionally dissect the impact of clonal cooperativity on immune evasion in human cancers.