Nadine van Montfoort , Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Group Leader at Leiden University Medical Centre

My primary research interest is immunity to tumors and viruses. My current research line on viro-immunotherapy of cancer integrates these two favourite topics. Oncolytic viruses (OV) are attractive anti-cancer therapeutics that selectively replicate and kill malignant cells while leaving normal cells unharmed. Beyond their tumor-killing properties, oncolytic viruses are emerging as immunotherapeutic tools to make resistant tumors more permissive for immunotherapy. Together with my group, I use pre-clinical models to study the immune-stimulatory mechanisms of oncolytic viruses. We focus on rational design of effective combination strategies of OV with other (immune)therapies, including bi-specific antibodies.