Welcome

Welcome to our website! Our group is part of the Neuro-oncology Research Group (NRG) in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Cancer Center Amsterdam (Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc). Our interest is focused on understanding how genes transcribed by RNA Polymerase III are (mis)regulated in cancer cells, particularly tRNA genes in glioblastoma. Our goal is to understand how differential regulation of these genes promotes proliferation and/or oppose cell differentiation and how to interfere with these processes to impair cancer cell survival or proliferation. We combine fundamental research in cell and molecular biology coupled with advanced screening technologies to uncover the functions of these small non-coding genes with the aim to translate this knowledge into future clinical applications. More info

News

17.09.2024

Today, Chantal successfully defended her thesis entitled:

'Uncovering Secrets of Small RNAs in cancer: Innovative Methods and their Applications in Expression Profiling'

Congratulations Dr Scheepbouwer!!!

16.09.2024

Welcome to Min who joined us as a PhD student! Min will work on the identification of cis-regulatory regions and transcription factors involved in the regulation of tRNA genes in the context of our shared ZonMW project with the van Leeuwen lab at the NKI.

1.07.2024

Welcome to Omar who joined us for a master internship. Omar will work together with Chantal on the pharmacological targeting of tRNA functions in glioblastoma.

14.05.2024

The vast majority of tRNAs in cells harbor a 3' CCA tail, essential for amino acid loading. Chantal found that in EVs, full-length tRNAs lacking an intact CCA are the most abundant small RNAs => EVs as tiny tRNA trash bags😉? Check out Chantal's preprint on bioRxiv!

26.04.2024

A great review on the interplay between chromatin and the regulation of RNA Pol III-dependent genes written by Marlize (van Leeuwen lab) just appeared online in Biochemical Society Transactions!

03.04.2024

Our project 'Decoding the emerging role of dynamic tRNA gene regulation in cancer and cellular adaptions to changing environments' in collaboration with the group of Prof Fred van Leeuwen at the NKI is among the 29 innovative collaborative research projects funded by ZonMW in the 2023 Open Competition round! More info here or here. Two PhD positions will be open soon (1 at the NKI, 1 at Amsterdam UMC - CCA)!