Editorial

As we transition to a life that is closer to how things used to be before the pandemic, Oncode Institute has started a new year, a year of transition, moving towards its second phase. As William Bridges said, ‘Without transition, change is just a rearrangement of the furniture’. And while change is challenging, it is also exciting. As Bridges also says, ‘It is when we are in transition that we are most completely alive’.

At the end of last year, Oncode - together with many partners - submitted the Oncode-PACT proposal to the Growth Fund Commission. In these last years, we put a lot of effort in efficient and early-stage mining of discoveries in cancer research, all with patient benefit in mind. Yet each new possible therapy is at great risk of failure because of the lengthy and costly drug development process.

The goal of the Oncode-PACT is to bring together and build out a state-of-the-art drug development infrastructure. We want to make it easily accessible and to innovate the drug development process itself. This is about the future, but in a sense, it is the promise of a new beginning. The impact this could have is quite literally keeping people alive, and that perspective is our very drive and what makes us feel alive, as we wait for the outcome of the submission.

In tone with this, start reading the March issue of our digital magazine with the Dialogue section, in which medical oncologist Miriam Koopman and Oncode Investigator Hans Clevers discuss the underlying problems of drug development as well as possible solutions, with a pinpoint on the role of Oncode to create bridges between the world of science and the world of pharma.

Further on, read the Lab visit section to find out what makes Oncode Investigator Laura Heitman’s research on drug-receptor interactions unique. And finally, catch up with all our latest updates and don’t miss getting to know Oncode Investigator Jop Kind better, through the candid interview he gave us in the Portrait section.

Enjoy reading!