First two TEFAF Fellowships awarded
This year, for the first time, two TEFAF Fellowships are awarded to PhD students from GROW (School for Oncology and Developmental Biology at Maastricht UMC+). Femke Ehlers and Nicky Beelen will have the opportunity to perform part of their research in the renowned lab of the TEFAF Honorary Chair, Professor Dr. Lisa Coussens at Oregon Health and Science Knight Cancer Center.
Femke Ehlers will spend six months at the OHSU Knight Cancer Center characterising the natural killer (NK) cell-breast cancer cell interaction using state-of-the-art imaging techniques in order to develop clinically effective NK cell therapy for breast cancer.
Nicky Beelen will visit the group of Prof. Coussens for 12 months to profile the immune cell repertoire in breast cancer and to study the cytotoxic versus pro-tumor functions of NK cells and the interactions with extracellular vesicles.
Femke will leave for Oregon in September and Nicky will follow in January 2020. They will present their experiences at the annual GROW Science Day 2020.
Since 2006, the European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) is supporting international collaboration in cancer research by funding a special Chair of Oncology for visiting professors at GROW. This year, Fellowships will also be linked to this chair for the first time. TEFAF Honorary Chair Prof. dr. Lisa Coussens and Prof. dr. Manon van Engeland (GROW) announced the TEFAF Fellowships this month.
