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One challenge with protein drugs is that the release is too fast. Professor Remco Tuinier and his team came up with a solution. Therapeutic proteins have been increasingly used in recent years to treat cancer, HIV, and other diseases. A challenge with these types of drugs is that the release is rapid and thus the medicine must be administered frequently.

International collaboration of more than thirty scientists as "textbook example of how nanomedicine should be done." Within an international collaboration of thirty scientists TU/e professors Jan van Hest and Willem Mulder are working on nanotechnological research to accurately stimulate the immune system.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that pharmaceutical residues in wastewater are damaging to the environment, making it imperative that wastewater is tested for such residues. However, wastewater measurements are expensive and time-consuming. A new model developed by Radboud University-affiliated environmental scientist Caterina Zillien can be used to determine the amount of pharmaceutical residues in wastewater - and their exact origin - every bit as precisely as actual measurements.

Research challenges therapeutic approaches and ideas about disease backgrounds Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) all'have a unique and diverse set of antibodies that are involved in the development of the disease. Researchers at Utrecht University unveiled the complexity of these antibodies using powerful lab tools capable of analysing our immune system at molecular levels.

In her research into the response of breast cancer to the hormone estrogen, PhD candidate Stacey Joosten studied not only hormone-sensitive breast cancer in postmenopausal women but also in men and in women before the menopause. The aim was to gain an even better understanding of how this type of breast cancer works.

Marketing researcher Rik Pieters has developed, together with colleagues from other universities, a new, indirect questioning technique to improve the chance that people answer truthfully. The technique can be used, for instance, in conducting surveys or in making policies. Chances are that people tend to give socially desirable answers to direct survey questions on sensitive subjects, like watching porn, smoking during pregnancy, theft in the supermarket or illegal acquisition of prescription drugs.

Many cancer drugs recently approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) lack clear proof of added benefit. This is particularly the case for drugs that are granted via special processes, intended to accelerate the approval of promising treatments. A research team from Utrecht University draws this conclusion today in the scientific journal The BMJ .

KWF honors four projects in which UT researchers are involved. Three projects focus on patients with breast cancer, with two projects focusing on early monitoring of the side effects of chemotherapy and another project focusing on seeing whether tumor tissue remains during surgery. Another project uses advanced tissue culture models to enable the early detection of pancreatic cancer.

A key factor in the rapid spread of the so-called British coronavirus variant appears to be stronger attachments between the virus and human cells. In a study led by Utrecht University professor Jan Lipfert, scientists show that the variant has a significantly stronger attachment to human cells compared to the original strain.

A special gel with chemotherapy against peritoneal cancer, that is what start-up UPyTher is working on. The new technology could save many lives in the future. Each year, more than one million people worldwide contract peritoneal cancer. It is often the result of metastasis from colon, stomach, or ovarian cancer to the peritoneal cavity.

By mapping the proteins present in breast cancer cells, researchers Donna Debets and Kelly Stecker from the AltelaarLab investigated how one can predict the effectiveness of conventional treatment for HER2 positive breast cancer. The study sheds light on the why and how behind breast cancer's diverse responses to treatment, presenting a step towards personalised oncology.

The synthetic PIC gel, discovered in 2013 by Radboud chemists, appears to behave like collagen. This makes the gel very useful for studying interactions between cells and their immediate environment. In practice, this means that the gel seems highly suitable to grow cells in for biological and clinical research.

Survival of patients with metastatic cancer has increased slightly in most tumour types over the past three decades. This is according to a study by UT-researcher Sabine Siesling in collaboration with the Integral Cancer Centre of the Netherlands (IKNL) and others. During the study period, more than eighty new drugs were introduced and survival in solid tumours was examined.

Delft scientists and students researching the biomechanics of the heart and blood vessels have joined forces with cardiologists, neurologists and radiologists of Rotterdam's Erasmus MC in the CardioVascular Biomechanics Lab (CVBL). The researchers devote every day to studying the biomechanics of cardiovascular disease and have already proved invaluable to each other, unlocking synergies that can accelerate the development and implementation of technological innovations.

The hybrid ablation treatment developed at Maastricht UMC+ leads to better results in persistent atrial fibrillation than the standard treatment, catheter ablation. About twice as many patients no longer have symptoms after a year. Moreover, the quality of life after one year is the same for both treatments, despite the fact that hybrid ablation is a heavier procedure and requires more recovery time.

As part of the Dutch National Dementia Strategy, the large-scale research consortium entitled TAP-dementia launches today. TAP-dementia stands for Timely, Accurate and Personalized diagnosis of dementia. Researchers throughout the Netherlands collaborate to improve the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia.

Patients whose drug treatment is matched to their DNA, suffer 30 percent fewer serious side effects. This is the result from a study published by a team of international researchers, including Vera Deneer , associate professor of clinical pharmacology at the Utrecht Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS) and her colleague Heshu Abdullah-Koolmees , in The Lancet.

Dogs with osteoarthritis benefit from a new treatment: an injection that delivers a painkiller with a long-term effect. This is proven to be safe and effective. It is possible that the treatment can also help humans in the future. Marianna Tryfonidou , Professor at the Utrecht University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, collaborated for this research with academic partners and companies.

Scientists from Maastricht University (UM) and the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) have for the first time systematically investigated what psychotropic medications are present in surface water in the Netherlands. In particular, the concentrations of the drugs oxazepam and carbamazepine appear to be so high that they could present a risk to aquatic life.

Studies at patients' homes instead of at the hospital may improve access to clinical research. According to Amos de Jong, PhD candidate at Utrecht University, improved accessibility is necessary to find sufficient and representative study participants for clinical research aimed at developing new medicines and medical devices.