Tom Voûte Young Investigator Awards

Miguel's research focuses on babies with a rare and hard-to-treat form of leukaemia. Earlier research showed that immunotherapy greatly improves their treatment in the short term. Miguel investigated whether this effect lasts. And it does: after four years, 93% of the babies who received immunotherapy in addition to standard treatment were still alive, compared with 60% of those who did not receive immunotherapy.  

Chris studies medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumour in children. In 1 in 4 children, current treatments do not work well enough. These treatments can also cause long-term damage. Better treatments are therefore urgently needed. That is why Chris grows organoids in the lab from patients’ tumour tissue and uses them to test new drugs. The first results are promising. 

The other finalists were Francis Wens, Jessica Beamish, Jikke Wams, Koen Krommenhoek, Leron Kok and Noa Wijnen. Their research shows how broad the field of childhood cancer research is: from better treatments to the effects that children may experience later in life.