Funded Programmes

THE LATEST FUNDING NEWS IN Netherlands

To view all of the programmes being funded by the Movember Foundation, please see our Report Cards section. (English only)

Prostate Cancer Breakthrough, November 2014

Research funded by the Movember Foundation has resulted in a scientific breakthrough with significant implications for men with prostate cancer. The research project, led by Professor Robert Bristow in Toronto, Canada, has found that men have a genetic “signature” that will identify prostate cancer patients who are at high risk of their cancer returning after primary treatment, such as surgery or radiotherapy. A new test will allow men to be offered a more personalised treatment plan, avoid unnecessary treatments and side effects, and will increase chances of survival.

The team was funded primarily by the Movember Foundation with a grant of CAD $15 million, which is largest donation we have made to a single research project. The findings have been published this month in the Lancet, one of the world’s leading medical journals, and the research team will now work with institutions across the globe to validate the test over the next 2-3 years.

  • Click here to watch the video of Professor Robert Bristow (English only).
  • Click here to learn more about prostate cancer

Funds in Action: Dr. Gabri van der Pluijm

Here, Movember funded researcher Dr. Gabri van der Pluijm explains how his work is making a difference here in the Netherlands.



Real outcomes: Professor Guido Jenster

Movember is not just about real moustaches. It's all about men's health and having a real impact. Professor Guido Jenster is researching how to better detect and treat men with prostate cancer. Here he tells us how beating this disease is "a collaborative journey" made possible by the hairy efforts of all the Dutch Mo Bros and Mo Sistas.



Meet Guido

OCCUPATION: Director of the Experimental Urology Laboratory
TITLE: Professor of Experimental Urological Oncology
LOCATION: Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
PROSTATE CANCER RESEARCH SPAN: Genes involved in prostate cancer progression, novel diagnostic and prognostic markers and improved models for predicting therapy response.
FAVORITE MO: Any man who has a hard time growing anything that resembles a moustache (like me). Full effort, but barely anything to show for. Mo Bros, for once, the effort counts, not the hairy result!!!

1. You’ve dedicated your time and expertise to the research field… what’s your motivation for this?
I am extremely curious and severely addicted to the excitement of discovering something new about life: ‘to boldly discover what no one has seen before’. During my university training, the first genes that cause cancer were identified and that caught my attention. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to uncover a part of the mystery of uncontrolled growth that causes so much harm? I’m pleased to say that the different teams of scientists of which I’ve been part of in the past 2 decades have contributed majorly. Even today we discover new genes that play a pivotal role in the development and progression of prostate cancer. My job as a cancer researcher is the toughest, most frustrating, but overall absolutely the most rewarding profession there is.

2. How does your work as part of Movember’s GAP initiative push the limits of research in prostate cancer?
As part of the GAP1 biomarker project, we are analyzing small vesicles, called exosomes that are secreted by cancer cells and end up in the urine and blood. These vesicles contain biological material derived from the cancer cells, so, any abnormality in the cancer might be visible in the exosomes: exosomes are ‘biomarker treasure chests’. If successful, the GAP1 consortium will develop new assays to identify novel markers in urine exosomes for an improved diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer.

3. What does your project mean to a man living with prostate cancer?
We are currently not particularly good at determining who has prostate cancer and who should be treated when and with what therapy. To answer these questions, we need more and better markers, whether it is a blood or urine test, or an imaging technique. All these aspects are covered by the different Movember GAP projects. Our combined efforts will generate new methods and tests to find those men that need prostate cancer treatment. It will prevent unnecessary biopsies, detect men with aggressive disease in an early stage for curative intervention, and make sure that men won’t endure pointless treatments.

4. What has Movember’s funding through GAP allowed you to do that would not have otherwise been possible?
What I enjoy most is that Movember facilitates world-wide collaborative research efforts on all important aspects of men’s health. Getting into contact with other research groups and receiving funding for working together speeds up our progress. The initiation of new partnerships will have a lasting impact on the science community and is hard to achieve without Movember’s active support.

5. Do you have a message for all the Mo Bros and Mo Sistas around the world?
We have learned in recent history that people movements change the world. Movember is doing just that. Your involvement and efforts to push for improvement of men’s health will create a new and brighter future. As a scientist it is a privilege to be part of and contribute to this extraordinary movement.

Read all about it: Movember's Global Action Plan News

By bringing together more than 250 of the world's top prostate and testicular cancer researchers, the Global Action Plan (GAP) facilitates a new and unprecedented level of global research collaboration, not previously seen within the cancer community.