Training Experience Required
Please contact us to discuss the experience required for the fellowship you are interested in. Fluency in English and understanding of Dutch is necessary.
General Description
The Maastricht UMC+ is a collaboration between the academic hospital Maastricht (azM) and the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML) of the Maastricht University. It is situated in the south of the Netherlands. The more than 7,000 employees work on providing patient care and on cutting-edge scientific research. Research at Maastricht UMC+ is characterised by a combination of fundamental, translational and patient-orientated (clinical) research. The interaction between these stimulates the development of new clinical and research opportunities The AzM oncology researchers closely collaborate with the Maastricht University, especially with scientists at the School for Oncology & Developmental Biology (GROW). GROW focuses on research and teaching of genetic and cellular mechanisms, as well as environmental and life-style factors that underlie normal (embryonic and fetal) and abnormal (cancer) development. The emphasis is on basic and translational research, aiming at innovative approaches for individualizing prevention, patient diagnosis, and treatment for genetically determined diseases and cancer. At GROW, 466 scientists are employed of whom 260 PhD students. Every year there are over 45 PhD defenses and around 520 publications.
MAASTRO: Maastro is an independent academic radiation oncology institute, closely linked to the university Maastricht and the Maastricht University Medical Center. All academic personnel have also an appointment at the university and the university hospital. Maastro is the only radiotherapy institute in the province of Limburg (about 1 million people) and serves the province for radiotherapy. The proton therapy facility is integrated in Maastro and serves the south-eastern part of The Netherlands (region of about 5.5 million people). Yearly, 5800 patients are treated at Maastro. Besides state of the art photon therapy, brachytherapy and proton therapy, Maastro has a large, approved data management (12 FTE) for clinical studies and cancer registration and a dedicated trial policlinic. A Maastro certified biobank is in place at Maastricht University, in which samples of over 9000 patients are stored. Maastro is using artificial intelligence for delineating organs at risk, automated dose calculation has been introduced in daily practice and daily cone beam CTs are made with on line dose recalculation used for adaptive radiotherapy. Patients are followed-up with PRO's and QoL questionnaires since 2009. A central electronic database for these items is in place. Maastro lab (> 20 persons) ensures a translational link with the clinic by investigating besides fundamental biological processes, also biomarkers and normal tissue injury. Maastro physics also investigates optimal dose distributions by incorporating monte-carlo calculations and DE-CT scans. In the Division of Clinical Research, over 60 trials are open, with about 800 patients per year included. In the field of lung cancer, combining radiation with immune therapy is the focus.
Expertise
The lung cancer research of the department of Pulmonary Diseases (coordinated by dr.Hendriks) mainly focuses on locally advanced and metastatic SCLC and NSCLC. In general, around 10 clinical trials are open for enrolment, these are a mixture of investigator and industry initiated phase II and III trials. Furthermore, several observational trials are enrolling. Focus is on systemic treatment (often in combination with radiotherapy) including biomarker research, quality of life, brain metastases treatment, (cardio and neuro)toxicity and nutrition/body composition. Furthermore, we are a referral center with also mainly translational research performed for carcinoid and large cell neuro-endocrine tumors, as well as for thymic malignancies. The education and training of students and young scientists forms another pillar of our activities. The department works in close collaboration with the radiation oncologists and researchers of the MAASTRO Clinic. The lung cancer research is coordinated by prof. De Ruysscher. The MAASTRO clinic was the first clinic in the Netherlands offering proton therapy to lung cancer patients, and is actively involved in research, as described above.
Facilities
The laboratories are equipped for translational and biomarker studies to select the best treatment to offer patients, we offer the facilities to perform in vitro study of genomics, proteomics, primary and acquired resistance to targeted agents. Furthermore, radiomics analysis is one of the expertises.
Last update: May 2020
