Editorial

In 1977, the British biologist and Nobel prize laureate Peter Medawar epitomized a virus as ‘a piece of bad news wrapped up in a protein’. More than four decades later, we are all experiencing firsthand just how bad this news can really be. 

Alain Kummer

Managing Director


Chris De Jonghe

Valorization Director


Geert Kops

Scientific Director & Head of the Institute

But there is also good news: we are happy to announce that Oncode has successfully passed an important milestone. We had a digital visit by an independent International Reviewing Committee (IRC) at the beginning of November. “This is a very enthusiastic community” remarked the Committee, and we agree. It is exactly because of this enthusiasm, and the renewed sense of community we felt during Oncode’s Annual Scientific Meeting in September, that we are looking forward towards April for a new edition of the Scientific Meeting and the chance to meet. Digitally - if needed but let´s keep our fingers crossed for an actual chance to meet in person. 

"This is a very enthusiastic community” remarked the Committee, and we agree"

As we slowly move towards the end of this unusual year, perhaps we can look back at all that we have learned in 2020 - about resilience, adaptation and community. In the Dialogue section of this magazine, Oncode Investigator Leila Akkari (NKI) and clinician Jeanine Roodhart (UMC Utrecht) share their thoughts on all these matters through the experiences and challenges they faced in these last months. After the Dialogue, read further for a chance to get to know Oncode Investigator Jarno Drost a bit better, and to take a bit of a deep dive into the work of Oncode Investigator Sylvie Noordermeer. 
 
Last but not least, in this issue you also get to meet Alain Kummer, Oncode’s new managing director as of last September. What are his experiences so far entering a virtual institute which operates mostly from virtual offices? More about his ambitions in the first of our brand-new guest column section.  
 
Enjoy reading!  

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