ERC grant for UMCG oncologist Liesbeth de Vries

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded an Advanced Investigator Grant to Professor Liesbeth de Vries. This prestigious grant is intended for top researchers carrying out excellent and innovative research.

Prof. E.G.E. de Vries was appointed Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Groningen in 1997. In 2010 she was appointed Academy Professor of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

She will receive EUR 2.5 million for her research project OnQview, which involves studying the application of non-radioactive molecular imaging of tumour lesions for selecting the most suitable anti-cancer drugs.

Many new drugs are becoming available in the fight against cancer. The challenge for the future is how to use them to the greatest effect. De Vries, who is head of the Medical Oncology department at the UMCG, has been awarded the ERC funding to develop an integrated strategy for this purpose, using tumour imaging. She is working on this with Professor Jennifer Herek of the University of Twente.

The ultimate aim of the strategy is to select the patients who benefit from new drugs. The research involves the study of early effects of medication on tumour cells.
De Vries is the third researcher from the University of Groningen and the UMCG to receive an ERC Advanced Investigator Grant this year. Nine other RUG/UMCG researchers received an ERC Starting Grant.