PhD evaluating benefit of hyperthermia, chemotherapy and immunotherapy treatment

Effective treatment of tumors metastasizing to the peritoneal cavity is a major challenge. Surgery is applied to remove macroscopic lesions, this is followed by Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) to remove remaining microscopic cancer. During HIPEC a chemotherapy solution heated to 40-43°C is circulated through the peritoneum for 30 to 90 minutes. The elevated temperatures during HIPEC sensitize chemotherapy and thus improve the likelihood of tumour control.

The four year multidisciplinary research project “Hyperthermia transfers immunologically cold into hot tumors: Exploring potential benefit of adding immunotherapy to HIPEC treatment of metastasized ovarian cancer” is supported by a grant of the Dutch Cancer Society KWF and aims to optimize the clinical effectiveness of the HIPEC procedure by evaluating the benefit of combining HIPEC protocols with immunotherapy. In the project immune markers are monitored in in vitro and in vivo ovarian cancer tumor models at various HIPEC temperatures, and combined with immunotherapy. Goal is to establish an optimal combined HIPEC + immunotherapy protocol resulting in more effective tumor eradication. We are looking for a PhD student with a relevant clinical, biological or veterinary medicine background. A team of biologists, physicists and clinicians of Amsterdam UMC, NKI-AVL and Cleveland Clinic will advise on the work performed by the PhD student.

This project is part of a larger research line involving the application and evaluation of the benefit of hyperthermia and HIPEC for different tumor sites, including peritoneal metastases of colorectal origin. We previously developed a dedicated small animal setup for evaluating HIPEC protocols. Examples of papers of our research line can be found in dois: 10.3390/cancers12123516, 10.3390/cells9081775, and 10.3389/fonc.2023.1122755.

Would you like to know more about the different phases within the PhD trajectory? You can read more about this on this page.

• You will analyze cancer cell survival and cytokine expression after mimicking HIPEC treatment with and without immunotherapy in vitro on co-culture cell lines (tumor cells and T lymphocytes), on patient derived organoid structures and in an ovarian cancer mouse model treated with a dedicated well-controlled rodent HIPEC set up.
• In parallel patient samples (tumor material and blood samples) will be collected pre- and post-HIPEC treatment to determine (intra) tumor immune responses to HIPEC and validate the clinical translation of the preclinical results.
• Work will involve analysis, evaluation and application of immunotherapy combined with the HIPEC procedure in different tumor models, which is novel in the field of HIPEC.
• The research project should result in a PhD thesis.

• You have a MSc degree in clinical, biological or veterinary medicine, or a related background.
• You preferably have practical experience with animal research (Netherlands: artikel 9).
• You have excellent analytical and communicative skills and the ability to work within a multidisciplinary research group are essential.
• You have good command of English.