11 July 2024 ERC Proof of Concept grant for Jop Kind Back to news Jop Kind, group leader at the Hubrecht Institute and Oncode Investigator, receives an ERC proof-of-concept (POC) grant. He will use the funding to further develop and commercialize a technology to improve early cancer detection of cancer based on muliplexed epigentic profiling in blood plasma. In collaboration with the Medema group (Amsterdam UMC), the researchers will evaluate how well the newly developed method can discriminate between various subtypes of colon cancer based on a blood sample. The ultimate aim of the project is to develop a strategy for early detection of a range of cancer types using merely a few drops of blood. Current cancer diagnostics Blood can contain cell-free DNA (cfDNA), which originates from dying cells, for example of tumors. cfDNA therefore holds rich information on a person’s physiological state. Cancer diagnostics based on cfDNA in liquid biopsies hold great promise in guiding treatment and screening for recurrent disease. However, current diagnostic strategies are costly and labor intensive, and generally fall short in detecting cancer in its early stages. Cell identification In a cell, DNA is packaged into a structure that is made up from so-called nucleosomes. These nucleosomes contain a diverse range of post-translational modifications (PTMs) depending on the function of the cell; different types of cells contain different PTMs. Therefore, readouts of PTMs are very relevant to identify from which cell type the DNA originates. Recently, researchers found that cfDNA in blood is still wrapped around nucleosomes, which retained their PTMs. New technology With this work, the Kind group will build on recent research funded by a KNAW research fund and performed by Christian Valdes, to further develop a new technology for the early detection of cancer based on a blood sample. This technology is based on a recent MAbID technology developed in the Kind group for multiplexed profiling of PTMs of cell-free nucleosomes in blood plasma to determine the cancer cell-of-origin based cfDNA. In collaboration with the Medema group (Amsterdam UMC), the researchers will study how well the technology discriminates between different subtypes of colon cancer. The ultimate aim of the project is to establish an easy and non-invasive method for the early detection of a range of cancer types, thereby drastically improving early cancer diagnostics. About POC grants The ERC Proof of Concept grants are only available to researchers who already have an ERC award to establish proof of concept of an idea that was generated in the course of their ERC-funded projects. The POC grants aim at maximising the value of the excellent research that the ERC funds, by funding further work (i.e. activities which were not scheduled to be funded by the original ERC frontier research grant) to verify the innovation potential of ideas arising from ERC funded projects. The objective is to enable ERC-funded ideas to progress on the path from ground-breaking research towards innovation. Jop Kind is group leader at the Hubrecht Institute, professor by special appointment of Single Cell Epigenomics at the Radboud University Nijmegen and Oncode Investigator.
