Collaboration is vital to Oncode’s strategy. Instead of competing with each other, we encourage researchers from different institutes to collaborate and explore new directions together. Oncode actively promotes collaboration by investing in community building, and targeted programs designed to drive collaborations for which Oncode Investigators jointly apply for funding with Oncode Investigators from different institutes and/or clinicians. 

In 2022, nine meetings and four technical trainings were organized where scientists could meet and discuss ideas to lay the foundations for new collaborations. A unique example of such a cross-disciplinary collaboration among Oncode researchers from diverse institutes, is a project that aims to tackle one of the most cutting edge challenges in Immuno Oncology – mobilizing innate leukocytes to attack tumours.  

Oncode was established based on the understanding that major breakthroughs in cancer treatment come from curiosity-driven and interdisciplinary basic research. Its scientific strategy evolves around three core concepts: a collaborative community of excellent scientists, base funds providing ‘freedom to explore’ for high-risk/high-gain research, and access to world-class technologies and infrastructures.

In 2022, our 61 OIs and their research teams had access to six technical trainings. Eight Oncode research facilities were running, and three pilot Technology Access projects were conducted. Oncode’s model to drive world-class science is proving effective, with results for the year 2022 including 404 peer-reviewed publications and prestigious grants and awards for OIs across the community.

With expert advice and targeted funding, our Clinical Proof of Concept (CPoC) programme supports the translation of our research findings from the lab to the clinic.

In 2022, no new CPoC projects were started, but four CPoC projects were successfully completed. Two of these projects focused on head and neck cancer. Researchers at the UMCU tested the feasibility of circulating tumor DNA analysis in head and neck cancer patients as a treatment response identifier. In addition, researchers at the Hubrecht Institute have made significant advancements in treatment options for head and neck cancer patients by utilizing patient-derived organoids. Together, these projects focus on improving the perspective of head and neck cancer patients.

We are always on the hunt for opportunities to collaborate with partners from industry to help the translation of our research findings into better treatments and diagnostics for cancer patients.

In 2022, this approach resulted in 183 new research-related agreements, which includes 11 new public-private research collaborations with a total contract value of €5,0M. During the year, 34 new invention disclosures were analysed and 71 patent applications were filed, concluding the year with an active portfolio of 53 patent families.

Patients and researchers are inherently linked but rarely meet. As Oncode ultimately aims to impact patients’ lives, we established a patient perspective programme through which (ex)cancer patients and researchers collaborate.

Since the launch of the programme in 2019, we have now coupled 12 (ex)patients to 8 Oncode research groups. They informally interact on a regular basis to learn from each other. In 2022, the Patient Engagement team organized two interactive seminars, contributed to several lectures, and organized a meeting where all researchers and patients that are part of the program could meet for the first time. We also launched a Dutch landing page for patients, their relatives and other interested parties. Finally, on world cancer day, we created a video to explain how patients and researchers can strengthen each other.

Over the course of Phase 1, Oncode has invested close to €10M in research infrastructure, enabling access to state-of-the-art technologies, infrastructures, facilities and technical training.

Through the Infrastructure & Technology program, Oncode has funded 10 infrastructure projects and supported the establishment of eight new state-of-the-art research facilities. To ensure optimal exposure and use of its facilities, as well as creating general awareness of innovative technologies to drive excellent science, Oncode frequently organizes technical masterclasses and workshops, and actively communicates about them through various media channels.

The Oncode Oncology Bridge Fund (OBF) provides pre-seed and seed capital to establish enterprises with commercially viable new technologies, originating from within our community.

In 2022, two new ventures – Cell Control and Simmunext Biotherapeutics – were incorporated. With committed investment capital amounting to €1.1M to three of OBF’s spin-off companies, the total committed investment capital to date amounts €2.6M. Since its launch, the OBF has invested in seven companies, together employing 32 FTEs in December 2022. With the first exit of a portfolio company established in 2022, the OBF currently has an active portfolio of six companies, with a full pipeline of new investments expected in the coming years.