The prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant supports scientists in building their own independent research teams and to pursue their most promising scientific ideas. With the grant, Drost can expand his research group in the next five years.
Shapeshifters
Cancer cells can change their identity. This helps tumors survive in tough conditions, spread to other parts of the body, and resist treatment. This shapeshifting ability, called plasticity, is a big challenge that makes some cancers harder to treat.
Drost: ‘Several forms of childhood cancer are particularly ‘plastic’, making them very resistant to treatment. Their plasticity is not due to permanent changes in their DNA. That means it might be possible to reverse it. Making them less plastic could potentially make them more sensitive to drugs. With this grant, we aim to figure out how this flexibility works so we can create more effective therapies for children with cancer.’
Responsive to treatment
The Drost group will use several technologies to try to stop cancer cells from changing their identity. ‘By mapping the RNA of individual tumor cells, we aim to study their identity changes at different disease stages,’ Drost explains. ‘We will then use unique mini-tumor models, so-called organoids, that our lab has established, in combination with CRISPR gene editing and drug screening technology. This will allow us to study the cancer cells’ plasticity. And, importantly, we will also look at the possibility to change them back, making them more responsive to existing as well as potential new treatments.’
Although childhood cancer survival has increased in the past decades, there are several tumor types that are still difficult to treat. Drost will study a number of these as part of the ERC Consolidator Grant program. He explains: ‘By building on our understanding of the processes that underpin childhood cancer plasticity, my group aims to improve cure rates and a better quality of life for children with cancer.’
Great recognition
Drost feels very proud of being awarded the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant. ‘Being an ERC Consolidator Grant recipient will allow me to be internationally competitive in other grants too, which will further accelerate our research and contribute to the mission of the Máxima. It is also a great recognition for our entire research group. I want to extend a big thank you to all group members as well as our collaborators inside and outside the Máxima Center and Oncode Institute!’
The ERC Consolidator Grant is part of the Horizon Europe program. It supports the research in the Drost group with €2 million over five years.