I joined the Princess Máxima Center as a basic researcher and pediatrician in training in June 2018. My primary research interest lies in understanding the molecular biology of pediatric soft tissue sarcomas (STS) and to use that knowledge to develop new treatment options for patients suffering from these tumors. To this end, I study establishment procedures for novel preclinical models of pediatrist STS (i.e., tumor organoid models) as well as bulk and single-cell genomics of these tumors. I am furthermore member of the molecular tumor board of the Dutch iTHER as well as the German INFORM pediatric precision medicine trial.
My hobbies include sports (running, bootcamp) and gaming (board games, tabletop role-playing games, video games). I am the proud father of a boy and a girl.
Yvonne Tiersma
Research technician/Organoid facility manager
I am the manager of the Organoid Facility. The organoid facility supports organoid-based projects by facilitating quality-tested conditioned media and matrices. Every research group can contact this facility with their needs regarding their organoid projects. Next to working at the organoid facility I am also working on several research projects. One of the projects is about finding a blastema marker in Wilms tumors. With this blastema marker we could, for instance, grow different cell types of the Wilms tumor separately and investigate the Wilms tumors better. In my free time I like to play water polo and meet with friends.