The Alpe d’HuZes/KWF Fund will invest €4.5 million in Oncode Institute over the next two years. Made possible by the participants of Alpe d’HuZes, this funding accelerates innovative cancer research and enables promising ideas to more quickly develop into applications for patients. The investment supports multiple innovative research projects and aligns with the Alpe d’HuZes research themes: understanding, detection, and cure.
Alpe d’HuZes
Alpe d’HuZes is a unique sporting event that raises as much money as possible for cancer research and for improving the quality of life of people affected by cancer. On the first Thursday of June each year, 5,000 participants cycle, run, or walk up Alpe d’Huez, each up to six times. Since 2006, more than €245 million has been raised. One hundred percent of donations go to the Alpe d’HuZes/KWF Fund and are fully and carefully allocated to scientific cancer research as well as initiatives that improve the quality of life of people with cancer.
Allocation of the additional boost to Oncode Institute
Oncode Institute’s approach is focused on speed. Researchers can start quickly, collaborate intensively across institutes, and explore new research directions without lengthy and complex preliminary processes. This flexibility makes it possible to seize opportunities as they arise and to investigate high-risk, high-reward ideas. Researchers are selected based on proven scientific excellence, and the projects are innovative in nature with the potential to contribute to improved cancer diagnostics and treatments. Through this targeted approach, new insights can be translated more rapidly into concrete steps toward the clinic.
Jan Paul Medema, Scientific Director Oncode Institute
“Alpe d’HuZes plays a very special role in connecting people who, in one way or another, are affected by cancer—a role that goes far beyond the organisation’s fundraising capacity. I am very proud that Oncode Institute can serve as an extension of that mission and that we are entrusted by the Alpe d’HuZes/KWF Fund to enable innovative research within Oncode Institute.”
Erik Jutstra, Chair of Alpe d'HuZes
“Alpe d’HuZes is about connection and coming together in motion for people with cancer. With this boost, we can make targeted investments in research that helps accelerate studies offering new perspectives.”
Carla van Gils, Director KWF
“With investments from the Alpe d’HuZes/KWF Fund, we aim to contribute to sustainable breakthroughs in cancer research. Thanks to this additional boost for Oncode Institute, innovative research projects become possible that stimulate collaboration and generate new insights, with the goal of making better treatments available more quickly for people with cancer.”