Three TU Delft/Erasmus MC master student projects supported with 2,5k
In January, the Academic Centre of Excellence ‘Tumor Immunology and Immune Therapy’ of Erasmus MC (ACE TI-IT) organized its second annual symposium. Members of Delft Bioengineering Institute (BEI) were invited to present topics regarding TU Delft technology. During a networking event, PIs from both institutes looked for collaborators and were stimulated to propose a joint MSc graduation project. Following submission and evaluation, three proposals were awarded with €2500 by Erasmus MC’s ACE TI-IT and TU Delft’s BEI.
We are looking forward to see the students graduate on the exciting projects listed below!
MSc Graduation Project | Supervisor #1 | Supervisor #2 |
3D tumor microenvironment chip on a portable microfluidic platform (Takeaway-TME) | Laura Mezzanotte (Erasmus MC, Radiology and Nuclear Medicine) | Murali Ghatkesar (TU Delft, Precision and Microsystems Engineering) |
Visioning tumor immune cell composition through neural networks | Hayri Emrah Balcioglu (Erasmus MC, Laboratory of Tumor Immunology) | Carlas Smith (TU Delft, Delft Center for Systems and Control) |
3D-engineered scaffolds to recapitulate primary glioblastoma microtube formation | Angelo Accardo (TU Delft, Precision and Microsystems Engineering) | Pim French (Erasmus MC, Neurology) |
Towards a ‘takeaway’ tumor microenvironment
Cancer treatments such as T cell adoptive therapies would benefit greatly if we were to gain a better understanding of how T cells function in a solid tumor microenvironment. In this project, a master student will work on a microdevice where tumors are grown and surrounded by integrated fluidic channels through which T cells can be delivered. The student will be supervised by Laura Mezzanotte of Erasmus MC and Murali K. Ghatkesar of TU Delft. Ultimately, the generation of tumor-on-a-chip models will reduce the number of animal experiments needed to improve cancer treatment.
Project: 3D tumor microenvironment chip on a portable microfluidic platform (Takeaway-TME)
Supervisors: Laura Mezzanotte (Erasmus MC, Radiology and Nuclear Medicine) and Murali K. Ghatkesar (TU Delft, Precision and Microsystems Engineering)
Student: to be recruited
Using AI to vision tumor immune cells
For the treatment of cancer, it’s very helpful to get clear images of the tissues that are affected by it. With current advances in multichannel image acquisition, it’s possible to make very detailed images, but analysing them manually takes a lot of time. Therefore, in this project, supervised by Hayri Emrah Balcioglu of Erasmus MC and Carlas Smith of TU Delft, a master student will set up and train a neural network for analysis of immune contextures of tumor microenvironments in patient samples. Eventually, implementation of such methodology will reduce the amount of labor spent for image analysis, as well as greatly improve analysis outcome and clinical relevance.
Project: Visioning tumor immune cell composition through neural networks
Supervisors: Hayri Emrah Balcioglu (Erasmus MC, Laboratory of Tumor Immunology) and Carlas Smith (TU Delft, Delft Center for Systems and Control)
Student: to be recruited
3D-engineered scaffolds to study brain tumors
Glioblastoma are the most common and aggressive subtype of brain tumours in adults. Their infiltrating nature makes them very hard to treat, and prognosis of glioma patients are very poor. Therefore, new treatment options are required. In this project, under supervision of Angelo Accardo of TU Delft and Pim French of Erasmus MC, master student Nastaran Barin (Mechanical Engineering) will explore whether 3D-engineered scaffolds can perform better at recapitulating the genotypes and phenotypes of glioblastoma cells – a feature that current model systems lack. If successful, these structures may provide a suitable platform for determining the effectiveness of future glioblastoma treatment methods.
Project: 3D-engineered scaffolds to recapitulate primary glioblastoma microtube formation
Supervisors: Angelo Accardo (TU Delft, Precision and Microsystems Engineering) and Pim French (Erasmus MC, Neurology)
Student: Nastaran Barin (MSc Mechanical Engineering)