Bob Belderbos received NRS Travel Grant

My name is Bob Belderbos and I am a PhD candidate at the Pulmonary department of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam. My research is focused on improving clinical outcome in malignant pleural mesothelioma, mainly focusing on dendritic cell therapy. 

The NRS travel grant allowed me to attend the CICON 2019 (FifTh CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR INTERNATIONAL CANCER IMMUNOTHERAPY CONFERENCE). This is a relatively small conference with 1500 attendees, specifically focused on tumor immunology. All scientific and state-of-the-art talks given by leaders in the field enabled me to expand my knowledge about tumor immunology, mainly focusing on basic and translational science. During this conference I could discuss one of my projects and analysis plans with one of the specialists in the tumor immunology field. This led to new and valuable insights that are currently being discussed in our own lab. Furthermore, by attending this meeting, I now have a good understanding about the current consensus in tumor immunology (e.g. T-cell exhaustion, vaccination therapies) and a good view of the future directions of clinical trials.

I thank you for the opportunity to attend CICON. Not only did I learn a lot more about tumor immunology, but I also established new contacts around the world which will be very valuable during the rest of my PhD.

Bob Belderbos

 Department of Respiratory Medicin, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam