Michael Noë

My name is Michaël Noë and as a pathologist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute I focus on gastrointestinal pathology and breast pathology. In addition to diagnosing abnormalities and tumors under the (digital) microscope, I focus on molecular diagnostics. We look in the genetic material (DNA) of tumors for abnormalities that make the tumor sensitive to certain drugs, so that every patient receives the best therapy.

I was trained as a clinical pathologist at Utrecht University, where I also obtained my PhD. During my PhD research, I studied the clonal evolution of pancreatic cancers: how precursor lesions evolve into pancreatic cancer by accumulating mutations. In this way, we were also able to discover which mutations are responsible for the derailment of precursor lesions, so that they become malignant. In my postdoctoral research, I researched the detection of DNA from tumor cells in the blood, based on tumor-specific genetic, as well as epigenetic signals. The aim is to diagnose tumors faster and predict which drugs the tumor will respond to, as well as better monitoring (e.g. how well the tumor responds to therapy) with a simple blood draw. This often requires an invasive tissue biopsy (often under anesthesia), in which a piece of the tumor is removed. I did both my PhD research and my post-doctoral research at Johns Hopkins University in the United States.