CCA researcher dr. Lotte de Winde has been awarded a prestigious €850,000 Vidi grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The funding will enable her to establish her own research team and investigate how changes in lymph node tissue influence the spread of cancer and the anti-tumor immune response.

Her research focuses on diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), an aggressive form of cancer that typically develops in lymph nodes. Using advanced laboratory techniques and a 3D lymphoma-on-chip model, developed in collaboration with researchers at TU Eindhoven, she will study how changes in the tissue surrounding cancer cells affect the movement of both tumour cells and immune cells in lymph nodes.

The goal is to identify new opportunities for cancer treatment.

I hope to better understand how the environment within lymph nodes changes when cancer develops, and to identify potential new therapies that disrupt the conditions allowing tumours to establish themselves and grow. 
Dr. Lotte de Winde

Five years to advance research

The Vidi grant provides Lotte with the opportunity to further develop her research over the next five years.

“I was mainly just incredibly happy!” she says. “I've applied for several grants over the past year and a half, and the competition is fierce. Receiving this Vidi grant gives me the security to continue my research for the next five years. That means a lot, because doing research is what I love most.”

Dr. Lotte de Winde is one of four Amsterdam UMC researchers to receive a Vidi grant in this funding round.