In the Life&Health Science round of the NWO, dr. Yvonne Derks' research on prostate cancer therapy was granted.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer and fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths amongst men worldwide. They developed an innovative prostate cancer targeting agent that is particularly promising for prostate cancer therapy: it can be coupled to a therapeutic radionuclide to specifically irradiate tumor lesions while spearing normal tissues, so-called radioligand therapy. Her team of enthusiastic researchers are currently building a Radboudumc spin-off called Aurelius Therapeutics, that aims to further develop this targeting agent (i.e. PSMA ligand) into the clinic. As a faculty of impact fellow, Yvonne aims to demonstrate the anti-tumor efficacy of our patented PSMA ligand using the currently emerging and promising tandem radioligand therapy for prostate cancer. Moreover, Yvonne intends to strengthen my entrepreneurship skills and direct her company towards success.
About Faculty of Impact
Faculty of Impact is a new national program for scientists that who want to turn their research into a business with impact. It is created by the Dutch universities (Universities of the Netherlands), together with our Dutch Research Council (NWO) and Techleap.
For more information: Faculty of Impact