COORDINATORS
Dr. Febe van Maldegem
Coordinator – WP1/3
She investigates mechanisms of resistance to immunotherapy in lung cancer through deep spatial characterisation of the tumour microenvironment. Her work combines patient samples and mouse models to unravel cellular patterns driving therapy response and resistance.
Dr. Marieke Fransen
Coordinator– WP1/4
She is a biomedical scientist specialized in immuno-oncology and principal investigator of several lung cancer immunotherapy projects at Amsterdam UMC. Her research focuses on local immunotherapy approaches, tumour-draining lymph nodes, and immunomonitoring through peripheral biomarkers.
WP Leaders
Dr. Malte Lücken
WP Leader – WP2
He develops computational methods to integrate multimodal single-cell and spatial data. His expertise lies in building reference atlases and applying machine learning to uncover cellular mechanisms that drive lung cancer progression.
Dr. Barbara Breznik
WP Leader – WP3
She investigates therapeutic resistance in lung and brain cancers at the molecular and cellular levels. Her team develops advanced tumor models to study therapy-resistant cells and identify novel therapeutic targets.
Dr. Martijn Kolijn
WP Leader – WP4
At Utrecht University’s Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, he researches the impact of the exposome on human health and disease. Within SPACETIME, his team investigates both the internal and external exposome of lung cancer.
Chiara Antoniani
WP Leader – WP5
With a background in molecular biology, she leads efforts at LuCE to involve patients and patient organizations in lung cancer research and policy. Her expertise spans academia, medical communication, and patient engagement in EU regulatory and research initiatives.
Project Leaders
Dr. Teodora Radonic
Project Leader – WP1
She is a thoracic pathologist with expertise in the molecular biology of lung carcinoma. Her research focuses on lung cancer biomarkers and their translation into daily pathology practice.
Prof. Luis Montuenga
Project Leader – WP1/3
He leads the Lungsearch group, focusing on molecular tools for early diagnosis, biomarkers, and new therapeutic targets in lung cancer. His expertise lies in discovering and validating prognostic and predictive markers to translate into clinical practice.
Dr. Miguel Angel Molina Vila
Project Leader – WP1
He works on liquid biopsy and circulating tumor DNA technologies to noninvasively monitor cancer mutations and disease progression. His expertise includes integrating extracellular vesicle DNA (EV-DNA) and ctDNA profiling for diagnostic and prognostic use in lung cancer.
Dr. Noortje de Haan
Project Leader – WP1
She develops mass spectrometry–based analytical techniques to study glycans and proteins in human tissues. Her expertise includes nanoLC-MS and mass spectrometry imaging to reveal the role of glycans in health and disease.
Dr. Ewa Szczurek
Project Leader – WP2
She is a computational biologist specializing in machine learning approaches for systems medicine. Her research focuses on developing predictive models from multi-omics and spatial data to understand cancer progression and therapy response.
Prof. Mats Nilsson
Project Leader – WP2
He develops and applies novel molecular analysis tools for research and diagnostics. His team focuses on creating protocols and reagents for in situ transcriptomics, as well as computational tools to analyse complex biological data.
Dr. Jan Van den Bossche
Project Leader – WP3
He investigates macrophage immunometabolism to understand how metabolic reprogramming shapes macrophage function in cancer and cardiovascular disease. His research explores immunometabolites, metabolic enzymes, and immune–cancer interactions as potential therapeutic targets.
Prof. Yvette van Kooyk
Project Leader – WP3
She investigates how posttranslational changes in the tumour microenvironment, such as glycosylation, affect immune modulation. Her research centres on glyco-immune checkpoints and their potential as biomarkers to predict therapy response and patient survival in lung cancer.
Dr. Adil Mardinoglu
Project Leader – WP5
He is a systems biologist at KTH Royal Institute of Technology with expertise in metabolic modeling and multi-omics integration. His research applies computational approaches to uncover metabolic reprogramming in cancer and identify novel therapeutic targets.
Impact Board
Chiara Antoniani
Impact Board Member – WP5
With a background in molecular biology, she leads efforts at LuCE to involve patients and patient organizations in lung cancer research and policy. Her expertise spans academia, medical communication, and patient engagement in EU regulatory and research initiatives.
Prof. Tanja de Gruijl
Impact Board Member – WP5
She applies translational tumor immunology to optimize dendritic cell targeting, tumour-draining lymph node activation, and immune monitoring in clinical trials. Her expertise includes immune potentiation strategies, oncolytic virus engineering, and biomarker development for immunotherapy response.
Dr. Idris Bahce
Impact Board Member – WP5
He works on multimodality therapies in lung cancer and PET imaging using radiolabeled anti-cancer drugs. His research expertise includes PET-based targeting of EGFR-TKIs and immune-PET tracers to characterize tumor behavior and therapy response.
Prof. Rolf Stahel
Impact Board – WP5
He is a medical oncologist with expertise in thoracic oncology and precision medicine. His research focuses on developing targeted therapies and clinical strategies to improve outcomes for patients with lung cancer.
Luis Seijo MD PhD
Impact Board Member – WP5
He focuses on lung cancer screening and biomarkers of early-stage disease, with additional expertise in COPD, sleep apnea, AI, and metabolomics. He is principal investigator in Spain for the EU-funded SOLACE and SPACETIME consortia and coordinates the lung cancer screening pilots CASSANDRA and iELCAP.
Dr. Anouk Eijkelboom
Impact Board Member – WP5
She researches public health and descriptive epidemiology, with a focus on quality of care for patients with lung cancer. Her work aims to improve patient outcomes by linking population data with clinical practice.
Dr. Marieke Fransen
Impact Board Member – WP5
She is a biomedical scientist specialized in immuno-oncology and principal investigator of several lung cancer immunotherapy projects at Amsterdam UMC. Her research focuses on local immunotherapy approaches, tumour-draining lymph nodes, and immunomonitoring through peripheral biomarkers.
Juan Carlos Trujillo MD PhD
Impact Board Member – WP5
He is a thoracic surgeon specializing in lung cancer diagnosis and treatment. His expertise includes minimally invasive surgical approaches and the integration of surgery within multimodality care.
Dr. Antonella De Luca
Impact Board Member – WP5
She is a researcher at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori (Italy), with deep expertise in molecular oncology and translational biomarkers in lung cancer. Her work focuses on liquid biopsy, circulating tumour DNA and circulating tumour cells, and the genomic profiling of non-small cell lung cancer to guide precision therapeutics.
SPACETIME_EU Project 