Cases

For clinicians and clinical researchers who are involved in translational research, a good understanding of fundamental research is very important. This initiative is akin to the ‘Clinical Internships for fundamental researchers’ program.

Academic Pharma is one of the ten research themes of the LUMC, that aim to form a cross-departmental environment in which connection and quality of research are optimally stimulated. Within Academic Pharma innovative new drugs (or new drug targets) will be discovered and developed. Outstanding academic biomedical research has proven to form the basis for new drug targets and innovative treatments.

What is really going on at the LUMC labs and research departments?

CCB department initiated Clinical Internships to bridge the fundamental research with the clinical practice. 

Viruses have shown renewed promise in the treatment of cancer, after new research has shown they retain their cancer-killing ability even when injected into the bloodstream. It is believed that the human body’s normal immune response neutralizes viruses that are injected into the bloodstream to try to destroy tumors during oncolytic virus therapy. In a new study investigating reovirus, scientists found that cells in the blood can reactivate the virus as it travels to the tumor site, allowing it to retain its ability to destroy the cancer cells.

Fluorescence microscopy is an essential tool to study cellular processes in living cells. But studying proteins at endogenous expression levels creates a technical challenge due to the lower expression levels compared to those of ectopically (over)-expressed fluorescent proteins. Here we will have a look at how spinning disk microscopy alleviates these challenges.

The department of Cell and Chemical Biology was awarded 1 million euros to set up a new facility for protein expression, purification, and characterization of proteins. Studying these proteins will help scientist understand how mutations cause genetic diseases and find novel ways to fight infections caused by pathogens.