The result of their collaboration is the CRC platform (part of the larger BBMRI platform) which connects researchers and clinicians by allowing the sharing of clinical samples to exploit available data to its full potential.

The translation and validation of pre-clinical findings is often hampered and delayed due to unfamiliarity of basic researchers with trial cohorts providing valuable patient materials. But the new and updated CRC platform will contribute to changing that. The platform contains a comprehensive overview of available biomaterials and omics data within clinical studies for CRC. Its aim is to connect fundamental and clinical research and accelerate access to clinical samples (tissue, blood, rest materials) for proof-of-concept and validation studies.

“The colorectal cancer research platform will allow us to efficiently share knowledge and data” says Louis Vermeulen. “This way we can learn from each existing patient how to better treat future patients” he adds.

The core of the new CRC platform is the Dutch Prospective Colorectal Cancer Cohort (PLCRC), a previously existing infrastructure which has now been extended with 17 clinical studies and cohorts encompassing >20,000 biological samples of CRC patients. The newly created platform is available to all researchers within the Oncode community.

“The colorectal cancer research platform is a tool to facilitate collaborations between clinicians and fundamental researchers” says Clara Elbers, Research Manager in the Louis Vermeulen Group. “It is good to see that already in this first phase of building the platform, there is a high commitment from studies and researchers to be involved and contribute to this effort” she adds.

For more information on accessing and using the platform, please contact: