Klaas Kok

My present activities focus on mutation analyses and expression studies in cancer, using Next-Generation-Sequencing-based techniques. During most of my carrier I have had a strong interest in the role of the short arm of chromosome 3 in the development of cancer, and at present one PhD student still focusses on this aspect. Loss of 3p occurs frequently in many types of solid tumours, most notably SCLC and RCC. Despite decades of research this puzzle has still not been solved completely. Recently, we identified SETD2, PBRM1 and BAP1 as genes from 3p with tumour-suppressor-like characteristics in RCC. As SETD2 is known to be responsible for the trimethylation of histon3 at the K36 position, we are now investigating how changes in the chromatin structure can lead to, or contribute to, the development of RCC. In parallel we investigate the role of PBRM1, an important subunit of the ZWI/SNF complex in ccRCC. I'm also interested in the discovery of new biomarkers for ccRCC, namely microRNAs, and I have one PhD student working on it. Since I also have a strong interest in advances in technology, I am involved in the Development and Innovation section (O&I), investigating the technical aspects of applying array-based CGH in cancer research and in post-natal diagnostics. As such I have designed arrays that now are in use by several groups in dagnostics. More recently I have been involved in teh design of asrrays to studye the expression of Non-coding arrays