Pre-clinical drug development for paediatric cancer is very complex, resource intensive and requiring multi-disciplinary expertise and innovative approaches. “VAGABOND Validation of Actionable Genomic ABerrations in a paediatric Oncology Network for Doctorate students” aims to create a multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral program to validate new therapeutic interventions in paediatric cancer.
The program is funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 programme (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Innovative Training Network) and offers 15 fully funded PhD positions. The successful candidates will be hosted by a member of a European Consortium of universities, research institutions and companies in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and France.
This network is coordinated by the Princess Máxima Center and will be sustainable embedded in the ITCC (Innovative Treatments for Children with Cancer) Consortium. The VAGABOND ITN will focus on 15 cutting-edge research projects studying molecular, epigenetic and immunological targets. All projects will (partly) include target identification, in vitro and in vivo validation, compound testing and preparation for clinical implementation. The Princess Máxima Center will offer 3 PhD positions in the research groups of Dr. Jan Molenaar (Coordinator), Prof. Dr. Monique den Boer and Dr. Jarno Drost.