Cell Systems and Drug Safety
The research within the Division of Cell Systems and Drug Safety, headed by Prof. Bob van de Water, is focused on novel therapeutic modalities and novel concepts in early drug discovery, in order to develop more effective and safer therapeutic strategies. We generate advanced cell and computational models and combine these with quantitative imaging-based phenotypic screening for drug target and drug lead discovery. As an example, we study cancer metastasis and therapy resistance, for which we use genetic (RNAi, CRISPR/Cas9) and pharmacological screening coupled to quantitative microscopy and quantitative systems biology modelling.
Our research groups are:
- Cancer Drug Target Discovery, headed by Prof.dr. Erik Danen
- Cancer Therapeutics and Drug Safety, headed by Prof.dr. Bob van de Water
- Image-based Computational Biology, headed by Dr. Joost Beltman
- Stem Cell Technology for Microphysiological Modeling, headed by Prof.dr. Micha Drukker
In the end our research is geared towards optimizing the desired therapeutic effect and minimizing adverse reactions of the drugs of tomorrow.
