Daniel Peeper

Background

About Daniel Peeper

I am a professor in Functional Oncogenomics (VU University Amsterdam), member of Oncode institute. I am heading the Dept. of Molecular Oncology & Immunology. I have chaired the Research Faculty Council at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI, 2013-2024) and set up and chaired the Translational Research Board at NKI (2014-2019). I studied Medical Biology at the VU University Amsterdam and received my PhD in the laboratory of Alex van der Eb (Leiden, 1994) for his work on adenovirus oncoproteins and cell cycle proteins. I received my postdoctoral training in the lab of Mark Ewen (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston) and subsequently the lab of René Bernards (NKI). Tumor heterogeneity, immune dysfunction and therapy resistance are among the most substantial challenges that limit durable benefit of cancer therapies. Using powerful function-based genomics, my laboratory screens for novel therapeutic targets to tackle those clinical problems. We develop rational combinatorial cancer treatments, which target both cancer and immune cells, thereby simultaneously eliminating the patient’s tumor and harnessing the immune system. This has already culminated in new concepts that we are translating to the benefit of the patient. The successful identification of new therapeutic IO targets led him to cofound an NKI/Oncode spin-off company in immuno-oncology (Immagene, 2020). Under a new name,"FlindrTx", it recently received 20M€ Series A investment. Peeper has received several awards, including a KWF Queen Wilhelmina Award and a Society for Melanoma Research (SMR) Outstanding Researcher Award. He is an elected Member of Oncode, EMBO and Academia Europaea, and has been serving on the Board of the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR) since 2012. He was recently awarded a 2.5M€ ERC Advanced grant to improve cancer immunotherapy.