About our research group/lab
Our research
Research focus
Our research focus includes:
- Urinary extracellular vesicles as biomarkers - the Urinome project (G. Jenster).
- Optical imaging for extracellular vesicle-based biomarker assay development (G. Jenster, M. van Royen).
- Long and small noncoding RNAs as biomarkers and therapy leads (G. Jenster, E. Martens).
- Nanobodies as tools for therapy and diagnostics (G. Jenster).
- Computational biology to understand cancer mechanisms and identify targets for personalised medicine (H. van de Werken).
- Molecular imaging of cancer cells in animal models (W. van Weerden, G. Jenster).
Our projects
- The Urinome Project: research on urinary extracellular vesicles (exosomes) for the development of novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker assays and leads for novel therapies (G. Jenster, M. van Royen). Biomarker assays are generated on DNA (Convergence; SUWO), RNA (Cancer-ID; PROSCANEXO) and protein (IMMPROVE; EffiBody) level.
- The proEVLifeCycle project (started on 1 Oct 2019): a European research training network on extracellular vesicles in prostate cancer, funded by the Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions European Training Network and coordinated by Guido Jenster. This network, composed of ten host institutions and eleven supporting partner organisations, will train ten PhD students to clarify the lifecycle of extracellular vesicles and identify novel biomarkers and therapy targets using state-of-the-art model systems, imaging and profiling tools, and systems biology.
- Computational biology: oncology bioinformatics research on circular RNAs and structural variations embedded in the Erasmus MC Cancer Computational Biology Center
- Liquid biopsies Convergence: plasma and urine DNA and RNA sequencing for diagnostic, prognostic, predictive and monitoring markers (G. Jenster, J. Martens, M. Reinders).
Key Publications
A complete overview of publications can be found here:
Publications
Molecular characterization of colorectal adenomas reveals POFUT1 as a candidate driver of tumor progression.
Komor MA, de Wit M, van den Berg J, Martens de Kemp SR, Delis-van Diemen PM, Bolijn AS, Tijssen M, Schelfhorst T, Piersma SR, Chiasserini D, Sanders J, Rausch C, Hoogstrate Y, Stubbs AP, de Jong M, Jenster G, Carvalho B, Meijer GA, Jimenez CR, Fijneman RJA; NGS-ProToCol Consortium. (2019). Int J Cancer. 2019.
Widespread and Functional RNA Circularization in Localized Prostate Cancer.
Chen S, Huang V, Xu X, Livingstone J, Soares F, Jeon J, Zeng Y, Hua JT, Petricca J, Guo H, Wang M, Yousif F, Zhang Y, Donmez N, Ahmed M, Volik S, Lapuk A, Chua MLK, Heisler LE, Foucal A, Fox NS, Fraser M, Bhandari V, Shiah YJ, Guan J, Li J, Orain M, Picard V, Hovington H, Bergeron A, Lacombe L, Fradet Y, Têtu B, Liu S, Feng F, Wu X, Shao YW, Komor MA, Sahinalp C, Collins C, Hoogstrate Y, de Jong M, Fijneman RJA, Fei T, Jenster G, van der Kwast T, Bristow RG, Boutros PC, He HH. (2019). Cell 2019;176:831-43.e22.
Fractionated Radiation of Primary Prostate Basal Cells Results in Downplay of Interferon Stem Cell and Cell Cycle Checkpoint Signatures.
Guggenberger F, van de Werken HJG, Erb HHH, Cappellano G, Trattnig K, Handle F, Peer S, Schäfer G, Jenster G, Culig Z, Skvortsova I, Santer FR. (2018). Eur Urol 2018;74:847-49.
Next-generation sequencing reveals novel rare fusion events with functional implication in prostate cancer.
Teles Alves I, Hartjes T, McClellan E, Hiltemann S, Böttcher R, Dits N, Temanni MR, Janssen B, van Workum W, van der Spek P, Stubbs A, de Klein A, Eussen B, Trapman J, Jenster G. (2015). Oncogene. 2015 Jan 29;34(5):568-77.
Exosomal secretion of cytoplasmic prostate cancer xenograft-derived proteins.
Jansen FH, Krijgsveld J, van Rijswijk A, van den Bemd GJ, van den Berg MS, van Weerden WM, Willemsen R, Dekker LJ, Luider TM, Jenster G. (2009). Mol Cell Proteomics. 2009 Jun;8(6):1192-205.
Collaborations
Collaboration within Erasmus MC
- Erasmus MC Cancer Computational Biology Center (CCBC) (Dr. Harmen van de Werken; Prof. John Martens)
- Department of Neurology on antibody proteomics (Dr. Theo Luider; Dr. Martijn van Duijn)
- Department of Medical Oncology on plasma and urine ctDNA and EVs (Prof. John Martens; Prof. Marcel Reinders TU Delft)
- Department of Pathology on EV quantification (Dr. Martin van Royen)
- Department of Internal Medicine on urinary EVs (Prof. Carla Baan; Prof. Ewout Hoorn; Dr. Dennis Hesselink; Dr. Karin Boer)
Collaboration outside of Erasmus MC
- TU Delft on bioinformatics of nanobody selection and machine learning of cell free DNA and RNA sequencing (Prof. Marcel Reinders)
- GenomeScan on NGS of prostate cancer tissue and urinary RNA (Dr. Ines Beumer)
- Radboudumc on urine EV biomarkers for prostate cancer (Prof. Jack Schalken; Dr. Gerald Verhaegh)
- AmsterdamUMC on proteomics of urinary EVs (Prof. Connie Jimenez; Dr. Irene Bijnsdorp)
- TU Delft on microfluidics to quantify EVs (Dr. Volkert Steijn)
- CIBER-BBN, Spain on lateral flow and ELISA assay development (Prof. Jesus Martinez de la Fuente; Alba Martín Barreiro)
Funding & Grants
- Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions European Training Network proEVLifeCycle - prostate cancer Extracellular Vesicle LifeCycle (coordinator G. Jenster)
- Dutch Cancer Society/Alpe d’Huzes Unieke Kansen consortium grant IMMPROVE - Urinary extracellular vesicles and their content as novel markers for minimally invasive diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer (PI G. Jenster)
- Daniel den Hoed Foundation grant for Cancer Computational Biology Center (CCBC) (PI G. Jenster)
- Center for Translational Molecular Medicine NGS-ProToCol - Full genome sequencing of colon and prostate cancer samples (coordinator G. Jenster)
- ERA-NET TRANSCAN-2 PROSCANEXO - Minimally and non-invasive methods for early detection and/or progression of cancer (co-applicant G. Jenster)
- Eurostars EffiBody consortium - Antibody selection technologies (co-applicant G. Jenster)
- STW Perspectief Cancer-ID - New Technology for monitoring Cancer therapy through extracellular vesicle Identity (WP leader G. Jenster)
