A boost of €4,1M for joint proton therapy research TU Delft, Erasmus MC and LUMC

News - 11 December 2019 - Communication

The next round of funding has been awarded to 13 researchers within the HollandPTC R&D consortium. All awarded projects are collaborations between 2 or 3 centres.

Marco van Vulpen, professor at TU Delft, Erasmus University Roterdam and Leiden University and medical director of the HollandPTC R&D programme board emphasizes: “It is of great value for the research to bring people from different backgrounds together. We’ve organized HollandPTC around the principle of collaboration and are very happy with the collaboration that we see in the awarded projects. We congratulate the researchers with their grant and look forward to working together.”

The grants are awarded to: 

Dr. Dik van Gent and dr. Jeremy Brown (Erasmus MC and TU Delft)

Influence of intrinsic biological variability on the outcome of proton radiotherapy in head and neck cancer.
To identify biological factors that influence the outcomes of proton radiotherapy in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma and use them to develop a predictive framework to estimate cellular/tissue response as a function of linear energy transfer (LET) and dose (rate).

Prof. dr. Marcel Tijsterman (LUMC), dr. Jeroen Essers (Erasmus MC), prof. dr. Roland Kanaar (Erasmus MC) and prof. dr. ir. Marcel Reinders (TU Delft) Reinders (TU Delft)

Elucidating mechanisms of proton-induced DNA damage response and molecular signatures to enhance tumor control (PROTON-DDR).
To obtain a biological rationale to further optimize proton therapy, in particular for head & neck cancers.

Dr. ir. Marius Staring (LUMC), dr. Anna Vilanova (TU Delft) and dr. René van Egmond (TU Delft)

Human-centric AI for contouring in head-and-neck cancer therapy.
To initiate a research program targeted at the development, implementation, and evaluation of human-centric AI and man-machine interaction for highly efficient re-contouring and quality assurance (QA) in head-and-neck cancer.

Dr. Remi Nout and dr. Jeremy Schiphof-Godart (LUMC and Erasmus MC)

On-line adaptive proton therapy for cervical cancer to reduce the impact on morbidity and the immune system (PROTECT).
To reduce radiotherapy-related morbidity in women with locally advanced cervical cancer.

Prof. dr. Ben Heijmen and prof. dr. Coen Rasch (Erasmus MC and LUMC)

Fully-automated multi-criterial planning for intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) for clinical practice (AUTOPT).
The development and validation of a system for fully automated multi-criterial intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) planning, including options for beam angle selection.

Sciencecommunication Health & Care

Carola Poleij