Oncode Investigator Sjaak Neefjes received the Spinoza Prize and Oncode Investigator Ton Schumacher received the Stevin Prize. Both were praised for their outstanding, pioneering, and inspiring work.

Metabolites of alcohol can cause DNA damage and therefore are a risk factor to develop cancer. Puck Knipscheer’s group published a Nature paper, in which they revealed the molecular pathways involved in the repair of alcohol-derived DNA damage. This line of research will be further pursued by her and her team in the context of an ERC Consolidator Grant Knipscheer received in 2020.

The lab of Oncode Investigator Marvin Tanenbaum, in collaboration with Frank van Kuppeveld’s group (University Utrecht), developed something special. Based on SunTag technology, they found a way to visualize viral infections by plus strand RNA viruses on a single molecule resolution. The technology termed ‘virus infection real-time imaging (VIRIM)’ allows studying the first few hours after a virus infects a cell. The tools developed in this study will be of great value to identify vulnerabilities in RNA+ viruses, such as zika, hepatitis-C and dengue, and can also help to develop therapeutic viruses against cancer.

Until last year, we only knew three core factors that could recognize DNA damage-at stalled RNA polymerases: CSA, CSB and UVSSA. Using CRISPR/Cas9 technology Oncode Investigator Jurgen Marteijn’s new research (Erasmus MC) has identified a fourth core factor, called ELOF1. Their findings give insight into how the important repair machinery works and protects against genome instability. This helps us to better understand the origins of cancer.

A new 3D imaging and analysis technique, developed in Oncode Investigator Anne Rios’ lab (Princess Máxima Center), brings the working mode of T-cell immunotherapies into live view. T-cell immunotherapy is already leading to promising results in children with leukemia.

For years Oncode Investigator Karin de Visser and medical oncologist Marleen Kok have been studying why only a subset of breast cancer patients benefit from immunotherapy. The key lies in an often overlooked immune cell: eosinophils. Known for their role in allergies, De Visser and Kok found out that these cells are pivotal for an immune response against breast cancer.