Oncode’s objective is to come up with transformative strategies to combat cancer. By securing base funding for Oncode Investigators we ensure they have the opportunity to take steps into uncharted scientific territory. This base funding enables them to set up high-risk, high-gain projects that would not normally be funded within the standard funding landscape.

In 2018 we transferred significant base funding to Oncode Investigators, with junior investigators receiving € 150k per year and senior investigators receiving € 250k per year. This base funding is meant to hire new scientific staff to carry out Oncode projects. Through it, we have established a research community of over 800 researchers.

It will take time before the effect of Oncode base funding can be measured. However, its effect on the way our scientists take on new projects is already evident. “If successful, our study will represent a highly promising drug repurposing program, expanding clinical applicability of abandoned therapies to improve patient treatment and outcome, […]. This research line is completely novel and would never have been initiated without Oncode funding,” says Prof. Wilbert Zwart, Oncode Investigator at NKI.

Prof. Madelon Maurice (UMCU) adds: “I employed Oncode funding to initiate a high-risk research line. Without Oncode funding, it would be hard to initiate this research line as common funding schemes require preliminary data to demonstrate feasibility of the proposed approach.”

Exceptional outcomes stem from recruiting the best and the brightest people and providing them with the support they need to reach their maximum potential. A total of 43 Oncode Investigators (including their entire research teams) from nine research institutes across the Netherlands were initially invited to join Oncode, bringing together almost 600 scientists. Oncode’sambition in 2018 was to further expand and diversify its scientific community, with special attention given to gender equality and attracting clinician-scientists and scientists who would strengthen under-represented areas of expertise.

This expansion was realized through two open recruitment calls: The Female Junior Investigator call, specifically targeted at attracting talented young female researchers, followed by the Open Recruitment Call, which was open to both male and female candidates at all career stages. In the last few months of 2018, Oncode welcomed seven senior and twelve junior investigators into the Oncode research community. Diversity was successfully increased through the addition of 10 female investigators and six non-Dutch investigators, and by welcoming three new research institutions to the Oncode community, namely University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG), Leiden University and Sanquin. Oncode also broadened its outlook with the addition of four clinician-scientists, three medicinal chemists/chemical biologists and four tumor immunologists.

With the recruitment of 19 new Investigators in 2018, the Oncode research community reached full strength, totaling 62 Oncode Investigators and over 800 researchers. Special attention will be given to safeguarding full participation and integration of these new investigators into running programmes, and guaranteeing them good visibility and participation during social and scientific events.

Good science takes time, with many of the results published in 2018 being the result of longstanding high quality work initiated by our investigators in the years prior to Oncode. Nevertheless, these published results are highly impressive, a testament to the outstanding quality of the Dutch oncology community and clear evidence that Oncode has brought together top level researchers throughout the country. The 2018 total of 326 publications and a median impact factor of 10.2 represent 5% and 23% improvements respectively compared to baseline. In total, 50 of these publications were written in collaboration with industrial partners, highlighting the Oncode community’s open and collaborative research culture.

One highlight was a publication in Nucleic Acids Research of a paper by Oncode Investigators Jurgen Marteijn and Wim Vermeulen et al on the role of the XRCC1 protein in the repair of oxidative damage in DNA[i]. This protein was previously known to play a role in a different DNA repair pathway that was also often deregulated in cancer.

Another highlight was a paper on breast cancer by Lodewijk Wessels, Edwin Cuppen and Hans Clevers et al, published in the January 2018 issue of Cell, describing a robust protocol for long-term culturing of human mammary epithelial organoids[ii]. Taking the heterogeneity of breast cancer as a starting point, they built a collection of over 100 different types of breast cancer organoids that can be used to study variation between patients, for example in terms of drug response and genetic make-up.

A third publication highlight focuses on melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer. NKI-based Oncode Investigators Daniel Peeper and Ton Schumacher laid the groundwork to include pre-surgical immunotherapy in the treatment of Stage III melanoma. Although follow-up is still required, their data shows that immunotherapy before surgery increases the immune response to combat the tumor. This

paper[iii], authored by Peeper, Schumacher et al, was published in Nature Medicine.

At Oncode we apply ourselves to improve and speed up translation of fundamental findings into the clinic. We do this by building bridges between clinicians and fundamental scientists and by dedicating funds to bring fundamental science into the clinic. This activity is mainly shaped through our Clinical Proof of Concept (cPoC) programme, with an annual budget of €2,5 million a year. A quarter of our cPoC budget will be specifically used for our Affordable Healthcare programme. This programme aims to support research projects that focus on precision diagnostics, drug re-purposing and combination therapies, potentially leading to more affordable medicines and personalized precision diagnostics.

The first cPoC funding call was launched early in 2018 and as part of the call procedure, multiple cPoC workshops were organized to support Oncode Investigators in setting up their studies and writing their proposals. After careful evaluation by the Clinical Advisory Board, six projects - focused on head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, melanoma, colon, breast and prostate cancer - received funding with a total budget of €1.26M. Building on the success of this first cPoC funding call, Oncode will expand its support activities in 2019 by providing Oncode Investigators with access to experts in setting up and executing clinical research projects.

Prof. René Bernards was one of the cPoC funding recipients. “The clinical Proof-of-Concept programme enabled the continuation of our clinical study on the use of an abandoned drug in BRAF mutant melanoma,” says Bernards. “The first results of these studies are very positive and were published in 2018. The trial will continue to enroll patients in 2019.”