People

PhD-student guidance:

2022 – present : Fleur van Doorn, PhD-student, project: Imaging in HNSCC.

2022 – present : Lissane van Heijst, MD/PhD-student, project: Imaging strategies in esophageal cancer.

2021 – present : Manasa Lanka, PhD-student, project: Using machine learning to unravel the ‘cancer-immune setpoint’ in cancer.

2020 – present : Stefan Loipfinger, PhD-student, project: Using machine learning to unravel the ‘cancer-immune setpoint’ in cancer.

2020 – 2021 : Kaustav Datta, PhD-student, project: Using machine learning to unravel the ‘cancer-immune setpoint’ in cancer.

2019 – present : Setareh Rezaeeoshternian, PhD-student, project: Unraveling cancer biology using machine learning on big data.

2017 – present : Laura Kist de Ruijter, PhD-student, project: Molecular imaging in cancer immunotherapy.

2017 – present : Vincent Leeuwenburgh, PhD-student, project: Developing Activity-Based Probes to Dissect and Monitor Altered Metabolism in Cancer Cells.

2016 – present : Pascal K.C. Jonker, PhD-student, project: The identification and validation of new biomarkers in thyroid carcinoma.

2015 – present : Thijs T. Wind, PhD-student, project: Imaging and therapeutic targets in melanoma.

2015 – present : Saskia Hanemaaijer, PhD-student, project: New treatment options in head and neck cancer.

2017 – 2022 : Carlos G. Urzua, PhD-research; Supervisors: E.G.E. de Vries, R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title of thesis: In silico dissection of transcriptomes with a tumor immunology focus.

2016 – 2022 : Xiaojuan Zhao, PhD-research; Supervisors: W.B. Nagengast, M.A.T.M. van Vugt, R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title of thesis: Developments in molecular and advanced endoscopic imaging in esophageal cancer.

2016 – 2022 : Arkajyoti Bhattacharya, PhD-research; Supervisors: M.A.T.M. van Vugt, R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title of thesis: Mining high dimensional transcriptomic data to unravel the causes and consequences of genomic instability in cancers.

2016 – 2020 : Cyrillo Brahm, PhD-research; Supervisors: H.M.W. Verheul, A.M.E. Walenkamp, R.S.N. Fehrmann, A. Westerman; Title of thesis: Improving the standard of care in glioblastoma: a challenging search for novel treatments.

2016 – 2019 : Rico D. Bense, PhD-research; Supervisors: E.G.E. de Vries, C.P. Schröder, R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title of thesis: In silico strategies to improve insight in breast cancer.

2015 – 2020 : Thijs Stutvoet, PhD-research; supervisors: S. de Jong, E.G.E. de Vries, R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title of thesis: Identification and modulation of drug targets for precision medicine in breast, lung and ovarian cancer subtypes.

2015 – 2019 : Sergi Guerrero, PhD-research; Supervisors: M.A.T.M. van Vugt, R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title of thesis: Exploiting genomic instability as an Achilles’ heel in cancer.

2015 – 2019 : Kirsten L. Moek, PhD-research; Supervisors: E.G.E. de Vries, D.J.A. de Groot, R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title of thesis: PET imaging and in silico analyses to support personalized treatment in oncology.

2014 – 2018 : Stephanie van Gijn, PhD-research; Supervisors: M.A.T.M. van Vugt, R.S.N.Fehrmann; Title of thesis: Towards new personalized treatment options for patients with genomically unstable tumors.

2014 – 2017 : Elmira Hartmans, PhD-research; Supervisors: J.H. Kleibeuker, G.M. van Dam, R.S.N. Fehrmann, W.B. Nagengast; Title of thesis: A new frontier in the field of gastroenterology: Fluorescence Molecular Endoscopy.

Technicians:

2015 – 2019 : Elles Wierenga, lab technician. Continued in the van Vugt lab at the UMCG.

Research Clerkships guidance:

2023 : Luca Lichner; University of Groningen, Medicine, Pilot project Junior Scientific Masterclass; Supervisors: M. Jalving, J.J. de Haan, R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title: Whole-blood RNA sequencing to predict response to immune checkpoint inhibition.

2022 : Floris van Eisden; University of Groningen, Biomedical Sciences, colloquium Biomedical Sciences; Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title: Machine learning in Oncology.

2022 : Alexandra Kolle; University of Groningen, Biomedical Sciences, Research Project Biomedical Sciences; Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann, A. Bhattacharya; Title: Classifying cancer patients based on survival information and expression levels of oncogene-induced replication stress signature genes.

2022 : Kieron Mayle; University of Groningen, Biomedical Sciences, Research Project Biomedical Sciences; Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann, A. Bhattacharya; Title: Classifying cancer patients based on survival information and expression levels of oncogene-induced replication stress signature genes.

2021 : Zoë Verstappen; Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Bioinformatics, internship project; Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann, A. Bhattacharya; Title: Gene set enrichment drive batch correction.

2021 : Mark Frederiks; Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Data Science for Life Sciences, Master thesis; Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann, A. Bhattacharya; Title: Harmonize and infer missing values in large-scale gene-expression datasets.

2021 : Thanh Pham; University of Groningen, Biomedical Sciences, Research Project Biomedical Sciences; Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann, A. Bhattacharya; Title: Exploring association between tumor-microenvironment and clinic pathological information of patients with breast cancer.

2021 : Malou Oude Vrielink; University of Groningen, Biomedical Sciences, Research Project Biomedical Sciences; Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann, A. Bhattacharya; Title: Exploring association between tumor-microenvironment and clinic pathological information of patients with breast cancer.

2021 : Bas Kasemir; Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Bioinformatics, Bachelor thesis; Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title: Feature extracting from images.

2021 : Rik van de Pol; Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Bioinformatics, Bachelor thesis; Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title: Inferring and harmonizing expression profiles with deep learning.

2021 : Liesje Bloembergen; Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Bioinformatics, Bachelor thesis; Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title: Inferring and harmonizing expression profiles with consensus independent components.

2020 : Shanlin Tong, Medicine, Touch-Try-Teach (TTT) project, Junior Scientific Masterclass, Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann, Arkajyoti Bhattacharya; Title: Removing batch effects in survival data.

2020 : Daan Potijk; University of Groningen, Medicine, scientific assay; Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title: Deep learning in health care and science.

2020 : Liesje Bloembergen; Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Bioinformatics, internship project; Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title: Exploring the immunosuppressive effect of SCNAs.

2020 : Rik van de Pol; Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Bioinformatics, internship project; Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title: The association between different types of SCNA and immune phenotypes.

2020 : Dylan Mezach, University of Groningen, Faculty of Science and Engineering, internship; Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title: Extracting a biological relevant latent space from a large number of transcriptomes using a generative adversarial network (GAN).

2019 : Jeffry Shu, University of Groningen, The International Master in Innovative Medicine (IMIM), MSc-thesis; Supervisor: R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title: A machine learning approach to predict anticancer drug sensitivity.

2019 : Willemijn F Oudijk; Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Bioinformatics, internship project; Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title: Using gene expression data to gain insight into genes involved in Microsatellite Instability.

2019 : Dylan Mezach, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Life Science and Technology, Bachelor thesis; Supervisors: R.S.N. Fehrmann, S. de Jong; Title: Improving immunotherapy by altering glucose metabolism and target discovery using gene expression profiles of cutaneous melanoma samples.

2017 : Jorrit Bakker, University of Groningen, Medicine and Information Science, MSc-thesis; Supervisors: B. Plank, R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title: Predicting the primary origin of Cancer of Unknown Primary using mRNA expression profiles and machine learning.

2016 : Carlos G. Urzua Traslavina, University of Groningen, The International Master in Innovative Medicine (IMIM), MSc-thesis; Supervisor: R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title: Transcriptional profiles of cancers with unknown primary tumor. (continued as PhD-student)

2015 : Rico D. Bense, University of Groningen, Medicine, MSc-thesis; Supervisors: C.P. Schröder, R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title: Target-finding in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer based on Genomic Instability: a Meta-Analysis. (continued as PhD-student)

2014 : Christiaan Serbanescu-Kele, University of Groningen, Medicine, MSc-thesis; Supervisors: B.E.C. Plaat, S.F. Oosting, R.S.N. Fehrmann; Title: Genomic instability is a prognostic marker in head and neck cancer.

Visiting scientist:

2015 : Anurag Kumar Srivastava, PhD-student. Joined the lab for 6 months to learn the basics of bioinformatics.

Research guidance:

2015 – 2016 : Pascal K.C. Jonker, MD, project: The identification and validation of new biomarkers in thyroid carcinoma. (continued as PhD-student).