Department of Radiotherapy

Marie-Curie ITN grant RADIATE

PhD Research opportunities exist in the groups of Prof Lambin and Prof Vooijs in the Radiation Oncology department at Maastricht University as part of a large multicentric Marie Curie “International Training Network (ITN) named “Radiate” for period of 4 years. You will participate in international courses and work visit in labs and companies within the network (UK, France Germany Switzerland).

 

Project I. Preclinical research focussed on the therapeutic efficacy of new CAIX inhibitors alone or in combination with modifiers of intracellular pH

In this position you will be responsible for carrying out basic and translational research focussed on the impact of CAIX inhibition on tumour control, metastasis & treatment sensitivity. You will pursue the research program together with Prof. Lambin, Dr. Dubois and Dr. Yaromina, the leaders of the project group. The overall hypothesis of this project is that hypoxic CAIX is tumour specific and is therefore a good target for treatment in particular in combination with modifiers of intracellular pH (synthetic lethal approaches). Your work will involve therapy experiments with genetic models and unique drugs to test above hypothesis in vitro and in vivo. In the context of this ITN several international courses and work visit in labs and companies will be organized.

 

Project II. Improving lung cancer treatment through modulation of normal tissue toxicity

Normal tissue complications limit the maximum effective dose which can be used to treat cancers. In this project you will be responsible for conducting basic and translational research studying the effects of combined cancer treatments (radiation chemotherapy and targeted drugs) on normal lung tissue. In vitro (patient derived) lung organoid systems, lung stem cell models and in vivo lung therapy models  will be used to investigate short and long term effects of anti-cancer therapies and to screen novel radiosensitizers.