Martine Lamfers

Dept of Neurosurgery, Brain Tumor Center, Erasmus MC
Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Martine Lamfers received a MSc degree from the University of Amsterdam and a PhD from Leiden University. Post-doctoral research training in the neuro-oncology field was obtained at the VU Medical Center in Amsterdam and the Neuro-Oncology Laboratories at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In 2007 she joined the Dept of Neurosurgery at Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam to set up and head the Neurosurgery lab. The work of her group is focused on the development of novel treatments for malignant brain tumors using innovative patient-derived model systems. These model systems are derived from a mounting brain tumor cell culture biobank containing over 500 cell cultures and representing the greater part of the glioma patient population. She has set up a drug development pipeline encompassing systematic biobanking of patient tissue and derived cells, in vitro drug screening using 2D and 3D models, molecular analysis, clinical data acquisition, bioinformatical analysis, and in vivo validation. Established agents (drug repurposing) as well as novel agents (eg oncolytic viruses) are investigated. Treatment efficacy of compounds and/or viruses is correlated to molecular features of the individual tumor as well as to the response in personalized in vitro tests, with the ultimate goal of developing personalized treatment strategies for glioma patients.