Connecting Oncode researchers across groups, institutions and areas of expertise is an ongoing challenge. In 2018 we involved the research community in co-creating a platform that enables scientists to find each other and make connections, based on an individual researcher’s skills and expertise.

Based on the idea that we have a greater chance of outsmarting cancer and impacting lives if we work together, Oncode’s mission is to drive innovation through collaboration. But how do you connect researchers across institutions, locations and technical competencies? Oncode researchers often meet each other at events, conferences, training sessions and theme-meetings, but despite these opportunities they often struggle to find the right people outside their own labs or institutes.

To address the challenge, Oncode co-created a digital community platform with the goal of helping researchers find the expertise they need. In the development of this tool, a conscious effort was made to ensure that it should be built for the community, by the community. A User Board comprising enthusiastic young Oncode researchers was created, and in their first brainstorming session they took a ‘deep dive’ into the drivers of, and barriers to, collaboration. 

Commenting on the Oncode digital community platform, Oncode Researcher and User Board member Marten Hornsveld said: “The community platform will breach the walls of our single institutes, as connecting with the right people, tools, equipment, and events required to spark your project will become easy and fast!”

At the end of 2018 we built a platform that showcases the expertise of Oncode researchers (currently with more than 700 active users), complete with the genes, techniques, model systems and types of cancer they work with, as well as their background and current research focus. By enabling researchers to search the platform based on the expertise they’re looking for, we are confident it will support collaboration across labs, institutes and areas of expertise.

Oncode’s mission to outsmart cancer and impact lives means that the research we enable should be guided by patients, through consultation with patient organizations and practicing clinicians and through learning from patient stories first-hand.

Patients are the ultimate stakeholders in cancer research. They not only have first-hand experience of diagnostics and treatments and the potential they offer, they are also the final and most important recipients of Oncode's research and valorization efforts. Patient engagement and the development of patient-centric solutions are high priorities, and Oncode intends to incorporate patients’ knowledge and experience throughout the institute’s programmes and research.

In 2018, orientation meetings with interested parties, including KWF, ZonMw, Radboud UMC, Athena Institute, DORP, NFK, and EPF were organized. In addition, a brainstorming session that brought together the Oncode research community and patient representatives (five from each group) made it clear that proper implementation of patient engagement into Oncode will not only require ongoing attention and effort, but also a continued and dedicated focus on the set objectives. To guarantee this focus, Oncode has installed patient representatives within its major Advisory Boards.

In the future, the focus will be on how Oncode’s ultimate end-user – the patient – can become part of Oncode’s DNA. To achieve this we will set up a Patient Engagement Sounding Board, with participating researchers acting as patient engagement ambassadors within the research community to echo the importance of the topic. Oncode aims to function as driving force, facilitator, initiator, and inspirator for the insertion of patient engagement within its research community, with the ultimate goal of connecting the worlds of fundamental research and patients.

Our aim is to build a broad interconnected research community and to foster interactions between researchers from different institutions and disciplines. What better way of facilitating this than through face-to-face meetings. In 2018 we organized a series of meetings and events to bring the cancer research community together, strengthen the network and share knowledge and expertise.

The flagship event was the Oncode - Cancer Genomics Centre (CGC) Annual Conference, which brought together cancer researchers from all over the Netherlands. Last year’s topic ‘From tissues to cells to molecules: multi-scale visualization of cancer processes’  featured world-class speakers from different parts of the globe, each representing a different focus. The event attracted a dynamic mix of people in the oncology field, and showcased the fact that the cancer research community is young, diverse and very motivated to create impact.

To foster more in-depth interaction between researchers working on the Oncode research themes, Oncode also organized Scientific Theme meetings. These meetings provided researchers with an informal platform to share their latest research findings and establish new interactions and collaborations. The three Scientific Theme meetings that took place in 2018 attracted 171 Oncode Researchers from across our different Partner Institutions.

In addition, Oncode initiated a programme of year-round lectures, workshops and (technical) masterclasses to support the goal of excellent science. These included workshops in Oncode’s clinical Proof Of Concept programme, its valorization speaker series and masterclasses about exploratory development and single-cell technologies.

Sippe de Vries, a PhD student at UMCU, attended the masterclass on single-cell technologies: “It came at the perfect moment as we wanted to embark on single-cell sequencing for one of our projects. The masterclass provided a good overview of current state-of-the-art single-cell sequencing […]. We already followed up on it.”

To impact patient lives, fundamental science needs to reach the clinic. That’s why we invest in strengthening the link between Oncode Investigators and clinicians. Geert Kops, Scientific Director of Oncode, says: “The aim of the game is to bring both worlds closer together. We create awareness and educate our Oncode community about clinical research and the opportunities it offers them. At the same time, we invest in bringing the clinical community up to speed about the latest developments in cancer biology and technical capabilities. In this way we focus our fundamental science towards unmet clinical needs and increase the value of fundamental insights in cancer.”

A concrete example of how we do this in practice is the framework we are establishing to facilitate a bidirectional flow of information between Oncode Investigators and clinicians. The value of these efforts was illustrated when we helped to establish the ‘Utrecht Clinical Connection’, in which nine Oncode Investigators and sixteen clinicians/clinical researchers came together. They discussed which clinical questions and needs could be addressed by the Investigators and which discoveries/technologies from the Investigators could be translated into valuable clinical practices by the clinicians. The meeting was received very positively by all participants and close interactions between the UMCU Cancer Center and Oncode are planned for 2019.