Noel de Miranda appointed professor

Over the past two decades, De Miranda has been fascinated by how evolutionary processes are reflected in cancer biology: “Like all living systems, cancers evolve,  but they do so within our own bodies. A central aspect of this evolution is the way cancer cells interact with the immune system. This interaction is extraordinarily complex. On one hand, cancer is highly heterogeneous, meaning no two tumors are exactly alike, even within the same patient. On the other hand, the immune system is a complex and dynamic network, made up of many different cell types and mechanisms that can act in parallel, sometimes cooperating, sometimes counteracting each other. In some cancer patients, immune cells are able to recognize and destroy cancer cells. In others, cancer cells manage to evade immune detection  or even exploit elements of the immune system to support their own growth and survival.”

“In our lab, we study these complex interactions using advanced technologies that allow us to analyze cancer tissues and the biological processes within them at high resolution.”, continues De Miranda, “A key focus of our work is on immune cell populations that have been less well studied in cancer, but which may offer promising avenues for developing new cancer immunotherapies. To make sure our research stays closely connected to clinical practice, we carry out most of our work on clinical samples, in close collaboration with oncologists, surgeons, pathologists, and other medical specialists. This approach helps ensure that our findings are both relevant and translatable to patient care.”

Education

In addition to research, De Miranda has been actively involved in teaching: “For the past seven years, I have co-coordinated the Mechanisms of Disease 2 module in the Bachelor of Medicine program, where I aimed at inspiring students about the biology of cancer. I focused on how fundamental biological knowledge has shaped our understanding of cancer and led to the development of diagnostics and treatments that are used in medicine every day. More recently, I took on the role of co-coordinator for the half-minor in Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy. In this course, we explore with students how immunotherapies are currently used to treat cancer, and how ongoing research is working to develop new and more effective strategies to expand the tools available for patient care.”

Resume

Noel de Miranda has been Principal Investigator of the Cancer Immunogenomics group since 2016. He obtained his PhD in cancer genetics and immunology at Leiden University and conducted postdoctoral research on B-cell lymphoma genetics at Karolinska Institute in Sweden. He has been the recipient of a KWF Young Investigator Award (2015), a Veni grant (2016), Vidi grant (2022), and an ERC Starting Grant (2019). In addition, he is a member of De Jonge Akademie and currently serves as President of the Young Academies Science Advice Structure.

His inaugural lecture will take place on the 11^th of September of 2026.