On Friday, September 6th, 2019, Oncode Investigator Louis Vermeulen (Amsterdam UMC, location AMC) will give his inaugural lecture to officially accept his position as newly appointed professor of Molecular Oncology. This event will take place at 4pm at the Aula der Universiteit (Singel 411, corner Spui) and is followed by a reception. The Oncode community is invited to be present at this ceremony.

Prior to the inaugural lecture there is a scientific symposium about ‘Colorectal Cancer – Patients, Cells, Molecules’. The symposium will take place between 10am and 2:30pm at Het Trippenhuis (Kloveniersburgwal 29, Amsterdam).

For the symposium, you can register by sending an e-mail to [email protected]
For the inaugural lecture, it is not necessary to register in advance.

We asked Louis a couple of questions about his research.

Can you briefly explain what your inaugural lecture is about?
"The inaugural lecture is about chance and necessity in oncology. The development of cancer concerns both probability and necessity. "Probability" because the occurrence of cancer in a person is mainly based on chance, but "necessary" because it follows from the only real law in biology: the evolution theory. And just as the development of cancer is a process of chance and necessity, so is the solution. Much of what we know about cancer and how to best treat the disease is based on accidental findings. And how better to provoke chance than with a multidisciplinary vision? Therefore, in my lecture, I argue that it is essential in molecular cancer research to work together in multidisciplinary teams. This way we have the best chance to further unravel the code of cancer and find the necessary treatment."

If you look back at your career so far, what are you most proud of?
"I’m very proud that I had the opportunity to build a research group with a wide range of expertise. The team currently consists of clinicians, molecular biologists, bioinformaticians, a physicist, a mathematician and an immunologist. They are all extremely talented and work together very well despite their different expertise, which is not always easy as you have to take this extra mile to understand each other’s ‘scientific language’. This strategy of working in a multidisciplinary team has proven successful in the recent years, showed by our contributions in the field on consensus molecular subtypes and recent findings from the lab that cancer stem cells are environmentally defined."

What do you hope to achieve with your research in the future?
"I like to continue doing top-notch fundamental cancer research and combine this with clinical and translational research. As I’m both a fundamental researcher and a clinician, I’m dedicated to act as a bridge between these fields of research. The ultimate goal is to work together and achieve improved treatment for colorectal cancer patients."