Jan Paul Medema is Scientific and chair of the Research Management Committee of Oncode Institute. He is also group leader at Amsterdam University Medical Centers and Professor Experimental Oncology and Radiobiology at the University of Amsterdam. His group studies the biology and therapy of colorectal cancer from a heterogeneity point of view considering both the intra tumor heterogeneity that is defined by a CSC hierarchy as well as by clonal evolution and inter-tumor heterogeneity, which is defined by distinct subtypes as well as mutation profiles.

Bertholt Leeftink is the Managing Director of Oncode Institute, responsible for strategy, governance, and valorization at Oncode Institute — three core areas essential to shaping the organisation’s future. His appointment reflects Oncode’s ambition to further integrate science and impact in the years ahead. Leeftink brings a proven track record at the intersection of government, innovation, and business.

He previously served as CEO of NRG PALLAS, a global leader in the production of medical isotopes (2019–2024), and was Director-General for Enterprise and Innovation at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. In this role, he played an instrumental part in the founding of Oncode Institute in 2017. Leeftink is a strong advocate for public-private partnerships, has been closely involved in creating Invest-NL, and brings broad experience across the life sciences sector and beyond. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Amsterdam.

Ester is a biomedical scientist by training with experience in both an academic and a biotech environment. She obtained her PhD in the lab of Hans Bos at the UMC Utrecht. She studied signalling routes in cancer biology and continued this line of research at Galapagos in Leiden. In 2010 Ester moved into scientific project management and is managing director of CancerGenomics.nl since 2015. She has been involved with Oncode Institute since its early days and supported the founders in developing the scientific strategy. In her current role as Programme Manager, Ester supports the Scientific Director and Research Management Committee and is responsible for all programmes directly related to supporting research and the link to the clinic. This includes managing dedicated funds for clinical proof of concept projects and large equipment and technology applications.

Veerle is a molecular biologist by training, specialized in molecular immunology. She obtained her PhD from Utrecht University at the University Medical Center Utrecht, followed by postdoctoral research at King’s College London. After several years as a life sciences and business consultant, she joined Oncode Institute as Business Development Manager. Here she supports Oncode Investigators to develop valorization strategies and translate their scientific findings to truly benefit society. Furthermore, she uses her expertise to initiate public-private partnerships and provide support for funding applications to all Oncode Researchers.

Soumela’s educational background is in Political Science (MSc). Soumela has a demonstrated history of working within international (political) organizations and diverse branches supporting management and teams. At Oncode Institute, Soumela assists the Oncode Managing Board and Management Team by performing business operational, stakeholder management, and administrative tasks as well as office and event management. In addition, given her technology savvy skills, she is performing as the Oncode ICT superuser. 

Colette ten Hove is a molecular biologist by training, with a specialization in developmental biology. Colette has broad experience in research, education, and coaching. In 2020, she joined Oncode Institute, where she drives its patient engagement programme, dedicated to incorporating the patient’s perspective into Oncode Institute and its research teams. She regularly lectures to educate researchers on how to involve patients in fundamental research and continuously looks out for new opportunities to connect and collaborate with other patient engagement initiatives, with the goal of building a patient engagement network in which (future) researchers, clinicians and cancer patients, their relatives and patient representatives can meet and learn from each other’s expertise and perspective. Additionally, Colette leads the training & mentoring programme at Oncode Institute.

Ester is a biomedical scientist by training with experience in both an academic and a biotech environment. She obtained her PhD in the lab of Hans Bos at the UMC Utrecht. She studied signalling routes in cancer biology and continued this line of research at Galapagos in Leiden. In 2010 Ester moved into scientific project management and is managing director of CancerGenomics.nl since 2015. She has been involved with Oncode Institute since its early days and supported the founders in developing the scientific strategy. In her current role as Programme Manager, Ester supports the Scientific Director and Research Management Committee and is responsible for all programmes directly related to supporting research and the link to the clinic. This includes managing dedicated funds for clinical proof of concept projects and large equipment and technology applications.

Mariëlle has a background in international tradeshow and event management and Marcom project management and worked many years at Philips Healthcare / Lighting/ Electronics and several agencies. Since October 2019 she is event manager for Oncode Institute and responsible for the organisation of the Oncode Annual Meeting, the Annual Conference (KIT meeting) as well as smaller meetings, workshops and events. 

Marlinde is a programme manager at Lygature. After completing her biomedical studies at the University of Groningen, she did a Phd at the Pediatric Oncology department in the UMCG. Marlinde is passionate about oncology research and loves to bring people together and organize and manage projects. As a programme manager for Oncode, Marlinde supports Oncode researchers to translate their findings into the clinic. By organizing clinical workshops, she brings researchers and clinicians together to explore how fundamental research can address unmet clinical needs. She also focuses on the clinical proof-of-concept programme used to fund pre-clinical and clinical projects. She coordinates a team of experts to support and advice Oncode Researchers and clinicians who together applied for funding.

Alexander’s educational background is in physics (BSc) and nanoscience (MSc). His growing fascination for biology and medicine led him to pursue a PhD in biophysics at the University of Groningen. Subsequently, he decided to continue his journey in the Life Sciences branch as a Business Consultant. In this role he was helping both academic and industrial parties to obtain funding, establish partnerships, build consortia, conduct market research and develop commercialisation plans. At Oncode, Alexander leverages this expertise to support Oncode Researchers with company creation, acquiring funding, establishing collaborations and with other valorization strategies, ultimately creating impact for society.

Alina’s educational background is in psychology (BSc) and occupational health psychology (MSc). Being familiar with statistics and datasets, Alina worked in research assistant and data analysis jobs in both commercial and educational environments. At Oncode, Alina assists the Oncode Valorization Team with all necessary (legal) administrative support by performing data entry and data management tasks. In addition, she is responsible for the prevention officer tasks, given her academic background in psychology.

Amber Liu is a Business Developer at Oncode Institute. With a clinical pharmacy background from the University of Toronto, she has taken her patient-centric perspective in scouting for novel innovations in life sciences with high impact potential and supported their commercial development. Prior to Oncode, she developed funding strategies, business cases, conducted market assessments and new business development activities at strategic funding consultancies in The Netherlands. While at a health tech accelerator, her focus was on validating the business case of a given innovation and testing the value proposition with end-users. At Oncode, Amber facilitates the translation of research into clinical applications through identification and evaluation of innovative technologies or new therapies. This involves developing and implementing effective valorization strategies, fostering strong stakeholder relationships, and proactively engaging industry partners to pursue collaborative opportunities.

With an educational background in law, Emil has gained over 25 years of experience as a patent attorney and business developer. In his capacity as business development manager at the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) he drafted and negotiated licensing, R&D and IP agreements and helped creating two start-up companies. He joined ActoGeniX as general counsel and was responsible for all business development, legal and IP matters. The company raised a total of €45MM in three consecutive financing rounds. Emil is a registered European patent attorney and acts as CEO of Allero Therapeutics. At Oncode Emil helps to translate fundamental research to the market by developing and executing IP strategies, advising and assisting in company creation and building and maintaining stakeholder relations.

Harma has an MSc in Biotechnology and a PhD in Cancer Genomics. Having worked more than 15 years in Life Science industry at Philips and Cergentis, she has extensive experience in commercial development, while always maintaining a close connection to research. As a Business Developer at Oncode she will use this expertise to support Oncode Investigators with all valorization strategies that can make their research impactful for patients as soon as possible.

With more than fifteen years of experience as legal secretary and paralegal in a corporate, commercial environment, Mariëlle provides Oncode with all necessary legal (administrative) support, acts as secretary to the Supervisory Boards of both Oncode Institute and Oncode B.V., acts as the valorization and organizational coordinator and manages the Technology Development programme.

Saharla Ahmed joined the Valorization Team in 2020 as a Business Development Manager. Before joining Oncode, Saharla worked as senior consultant at Catalyze BV., where she supported and advised a range of scientists and companies across the life sciences industry. Prior to that, she worked in the Innovations Division of the Wellcome Trust in the U.K., where she was responsible for managing an international portfolio of early-stage product development programmes covering therapeutics, vaccines, diagnostics and medical devices. Saharla has a BSc in Genetics and a MSc in Intellectual Property Law, from Queen Mary University of London.

Shobhit is the Fund Manager of Oncode Oncology Bridge Fund. Prior to joining Oncode Bridge Fund, he was an early stage investor at UvA/AMC Ventures for 4 years, where he made investments in tech and life science spin offs from the two institutions. Before UvA ventures, Shobhit supported early stage ventures with fundraising and business strategy at ACE incubator in Amsterdam. He trained as a pharmacologist at the University of Oxford and started his drug discovery career at Pfizer UK. Shobhit holds a PhD in immunology from the University of Amsterdam.

Valentina has a broad experience in scientific research, with a bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology and a major in Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience from the Colegio Mayor and the Group of Neurosciences of Antioquia, Colombia. Because of her strong affinity for translational research in biomedical sciences, she moved to The Netherlands to follow a master’s program in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease at Radboud University, where she also conducted her PhD research at the Department of Medical BioSciences from the Radboudumc, working in the application of human tissue models to investigate novel anticancer protein therapies. As an IP analyst at Oncode, Valentina supports the patentability assessment of new inventions and helps Oncode build a strong patent portfolio with solid scientific support.

Over 17 years of experience in Molecular Biology, Yuva completed her MSc. degree at EMBL Heidelberg and conducted her PhD research on the topic of Chromatin and Biomedical Genetics at Hubrecht Institute as a Marie-Curie fellow. Interested in clinical aspects of the research, she joined to oncology specialized clinical research organization SMS-oncology, gaining experience both in clinical trial management (early phase paediatric and adult trials) and Business Development aspects. At Oncode, she is driving the industry engagement programme to enable new alliances and collaborations between Oncode and biopharma to fast-forward research and innovation. Furthermore, working closely with Oncode Investigators, she supports technology, clinical and IP assessments for efficiently translating fundamental research into clinical benefit. She is the founder and designer at Art 4 Science, a scientific visualization – graphic design company.