About this module

For choosing the best, personalised, treatment options for cancer the molecular pathologist is key to integrate the histopathological diagnosis, the outcome of molecular analysis and the diagnostic information needed for eligibility for immunotherapy.

This module will, after refreshing the basics of immunology, start with building knowledge on the role of tumour immunity and tumour based immune inhibition in the natural course of cancer. This module will then lead the molecular pathologist to understand possibilities and effects of therapeutic intervention in tumour immunity and give the opportunity, by building blocks and hands-on experience, to master and improve skills in diagnostics related to eligibility for those interventions and to their systemic side effects.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this module, the learners should be able to:
  • Apply knowledge on immunity in a real life case about  aetiology and pathogenesis of diseases with an immune basis as well as in  natural course of cancer
  • Explain variations in tumour immunity based on a diagnostic microscopic slide of different types of tumours
  • Identify immune cell interaction with tumour cells 
  • Choose and use diagnostics aimed at adequate intervention in immune tumour cell interaction
  • Diagnose side effects of the above intervention and their differential diagnoses and understand and indicate how this may contribute to find a good therapeutic solution

Module coordinator

 
Professor Wim TIMENS

Wim Timens studied Medicine at the University of Groningen en received his MD in 1983 and was board registered as a pathologist in 1990.
In 1988 he received a PhD-degree with a thesis on structure and function of the human spleen. In 1990 he worked as a postdoc at the Cross-Cancer Institute, Edmonton Canada, and later that year he joined the faculty of the Department of Pathology, University Hospital Groningen.
In 1992 he was appointed as Associate professor, and in 1994 as full professor in pathology.
In 2007 he spent a mini-sabbatical with Prof. Thomas Colby, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale AZ, USA and with Prof. James C. Hogg, iCAPTURE Center, St. Paul's Hospital, UBC, Vancouver, BC, Canada. From January 2010 till 2020 he was Chairman of the Department of Pathology and Medical Biology of the University Medical Center Groningen.

Although he started his career in haematopathology and immunopathology, in which areas he also started his research interests, soon he became very interested in and challenged by pulmonary pathology. In the last 30 years he has dedicated his diagnostic pathology work to the whole area of pulmonary diseases and worked on different research themes involving lung pathology; he has been involved in and led many research projects, almost invariably in close collaboration with the department of pulmonology and several other disciplines. He has published over 400 peer-reviewed scientific papers and in addition several book-chapters and reviews. Within his research themes there is a strong focus on the pathogenesis of obstructive lung diseases and on lung cancer.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=timens; https://research.rug.nl/en/persons/wim-timens

Disclaimer: Hours and module information are provisional and are subject to change