My research group at the Netherlands Cancer Institute – Antoni van Leeuwenhoek hospital investigates the mechanisms that preserve cell viability and protect against cancer development. Cells with unstable genomes are at high risk of becoming cancerous, and my group is particularly interested in the detection and repair of DNA lesions, which maintain genome integrity. These mechanisms are prevented from operating at natural chromosome ends by unique nucleoprotein structures, called telomeres. However, telomeres shorten with every cell division, eventually compromising telomere protection and leading to cell death, senescence or genomic instability, which have important consequences for aging and the development of cancer.

Dutch Cancer Society (KWF) post-doctoral fellow

Dutch Cancer Society (KWF) post-doctoral fellow in basic cancer research at the Laboratory of Prof. T. de Lange at the Rockefeller University in New York, USA

PhD student in the laboratory of Dr. M. van Lohuizen at the department of Molecular Carcinogenesis of the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam.