How COVID-19 affects our scientists

01-04-2020

COVID-19 has dramatically changed the daily reality of all of our researchers. Most of them cannot perform scientific experiments because of social distancing measures at Netherlands Cancer Institute. How do they live through this surreal time, staying healthy and sane? Can they still advance their research, get creative and spend their time in a useful way? In these short stories our scientists share their experiences.

14-04-2020

"Not being with my family in Spain is tough", says cancer researcher Antonio Mulero Sanchez. "My mother lost her job due to corona, and she and the rest of my family have been locked up in their homes for weeks now. That's really challenging. My mother went to the rooftop terrace the other day and only then she fully realized how much she needed that fresh air. I feel fortunate to be able to go running daily in a quiet park close to my house. Luckily, my family is still healthy, except for one uncle. The upside of this crisis is that they've finally worked out how to video-call me, 4 years after I moved to the Netherlands. Even my 87 year old grandma video-calls me now."

09-04-2020

Imagine graduating at your kitchen table. A few months ago no one would have believed that was possible, but for Judy Jacobse this bizarre idea became reality today. Not a full house, no party. After many years of hard work, she defended her thesis at the kitchen table in the (virtual) presence of only her paranymphs and PhD committee - in gown, yes. "A great pity. But I could accept it. That celebration party and dinner will definitely happen later!" For five years, Judy studied women who had been treated for breast cancer in the past. Several breast cancer treatments increase the risk of cardiovascular disease for a long time, including in women younger than 50 years at the time of treatment. Judy did important work for timely identifying the women at highest risk of cardiovascular disease in the future.

06-04-2020

Robin Jansen has just started her PhD research and now she already has to freeze her work. Due to the coronavirus scientific research at the Netherlands Cancer Institute has partially come to a halt. Over the next four years Robin will be searching for new applications of patent-expired drugs for cancer patients. She'll also investigate compounds that ended up on the shelves because they didn't live up to the developers' expectations. "Luckily I'm still in the start-up phase of my research. Now I'll have a lot of time to read and design experiments."

03-04-2020

Cheers! How to properly say goodbye to your colleagues in times of social distancing? Virtual farewell drinks turned out to work quite well for cancer researcher Feline Dijkgraaf and 20 colleagues. After years of doctoral research, her time at our institute was over. After a lot of talking, a poem and a farewell song that should under no circumstances be allowed to go online, there has even been dined. To top it off, a coordinated postal action covered her doormat with postcards the next morning. Feline will defend her thesis later this year.

03-04-2020

Just before social distancing kept most researchers from the Netherlands Cancer Institute at home, the teams of Titia Sixma and Tassos Perrakis managed to make this spectacularly detailed image of apoferritin. This iron storing protein is approximately 10.000 times smaller than a grain of sand. The team's newly installed cryo-microscope allows the researchers to visualize individual molecules, and will allow studying how cancer drugs interact with their targets, for example. This image of the well-known apoferritin protein serves as a check that the microscope works well, after an installation process that involves a lot more than just buying the machine and plugging in the power line.

01-04-2020

"We have to adjust enormously now that corona forces us to work from home", says researcher Marlize van Breugel from the Netherlands Cancer Institute. That takes quite some effort, but eventually it will make her life easier. How? "Together with some colleagues we're doing an online R programming course. Normally we spend most of our time in the lab and we've postponed this course time and again. However, once we can program in R analyzing our research data will be much smoother!"

How COVID-19 affects our scientists

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