Jarno Drost obtained his Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences cum laude in 2005 from the Free University in Amsterdam. He received his PhD from the Erasmus University Rotterdam for his work on the identification of new tumor suppressor genes in the P53 pathway in the research group of Reuven Agami at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam.

Subsequently, Jarno joined the group of Hans Clevers at the Hubrecht Institute for his postdoctoral training where he exploited the organoid technology for cancer research. He developed colorectal cancer (CRC) progression models by introducing combinations of the most commonly mutated CRC genes in human small intestinal and colonic organoids using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing. He used these models to study multistep tumorigenesis. For his work he received an NWO/Veni fellowship and the Dr. Patrick Hanlo Award for best postdoctoral researcher of the Hubrecht Institute.

In November 2016, he became a group leader at the Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology. His group studies the molecular alterations underlying pediatric solid tumors and uses novel pre-clinical model systems to identify therapeutic targets. He was granted a Bas Mulder young investigator award from the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF), the ERC Starting and NWO-Vidi grants, and the AACR St. Baldrick’s career development award for emerging leaders in the field of pediatric oncology.

• 2021: NWO-Vidi grant

• 2021: Achieved tenure at Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology

• 2020: AACR St. Baldrick’s career development award

• 2019: European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant

• 2017: Dr. Patrick Hanlo Award for best postdoctoral researcher of the Hubrecht Institute

• 2016: Bas Mulder young investigator award from the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF)

• 2014: NWO (Netherlands organization for scientific research) VENI award

1. Meister, M.T., Groot Koerkamp, M.J.A., de Souza, T., Breunis, W.B., Frazer-Mendelewska, E., Brok, M., DeMartino, J., Manders, F., Calandrini, C., Kerstens, H.H.D., Janse, A., Dolman, M.E.M., Eising, S., Langenberg, K.P.S., van Tuil, M., Knops, R.R.G., van Scheltinga, S.T., Hiemcke-Jiwa, L.S., Flucke, U., Merks, J.H.M., van Noesel, M.M., Tops, B.B.J., Hehir-Kwa, J.Y., Kemmeren, P., Molenaar, J.J., van de Wetering, M., van Boxtel, R., Drost, J.#, Holstege, F.C.P#. Mesenchymal tumor organoid models recapitulate rhabdomyosarcoma subtypes. EMBO Molecular Medicine 2022 Aug 2; e16001. doi: 10.15252/emmm.202216001.

2. Calandrini, C., van Hooff, S.R., Paassen, I., Ayyildiz, D., Derakhshan, S., Dolman, M.E.M., Langenberg, K.P.S., van de Ven, M., de Heus, C., Liv, N., Kool, M., de Krijger, R.R., Tytgat, G.A.M., van den Heuvel-Eibrink, M.M., Molenaar, J.J., Drost, J. Organoid-based drug screening reveals neddylation as therapeutic target for malignant rhabdoid tumors. Cell Reports 2021 Aug 24; 36(8):109568. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109568.

3. Young, M.D.*, Mitchell, T.J.*, Custers, L.*, Margaritis, T., Morales-Rodriguez, F., Kwakwa, K., Khabirova, E., Kildisiute, G., Oliver, T.R.W., de Krijger, R.R., van den Heuvel-Eibrink, M.M., Comitani, F., Piapi, A., Bugallo-Blanco, E., Thevanesan, C., Burke, C., Prigmore, E., Ambridge, K., Roberts, K., Vieira Braga, F.A., Coorens, T.H.H., Del Valle, I., Wilbrey-Clark, A., Mamanova, L., Stewart, G.D., Gnanapragasam, V.J., Rampling, D., Sebire, N., Coleman, N., Hook, L., Warren, A., Haniffa, M., Kool, M., Pfister, S.M., Achermann, J.C., He, X., Barker, R.A., Shlien, A., Bayraktar, O.A, Teichmann, S., Holstege, F.C., Meyer, K.B., Drost, J.#, Straathof, K.#, Behjati, S.#. Single cell derived mRNA signals across human kidney tumors. Nature Communications 2021 Jun 23; 12(1):3896. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23949-5.

4. Custers, L.*, Khabirova, E.*, Coorens, T.H.H.*, Oliver, T.R.W., Calandrini, C., Young, M.D., Vieira Braga, F.A., Ellis, P., Mamanova, L., Segers, H., Maat, A., Kool, M., Hoving, E.W., van den Heuvel-Eibrink, M.M., Nicholson, J., Straathof, K., Hook, L., de Krijger, R.R., Trayers, C., Allinson, K., Behjati, S.#, Drost, J.#. Somatic mutations and single-cell transcriptomes reveal the root of malignant rhabdoid tumours. Nature Communications 2021 Mar 3; 12(1):1407. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21675-6.

5. Calandrini, C.*, Schutgens, F.*, Oka, R., Margaritis, T., Candelli, T., Mathijsen, L., Ammerlaan, C., van Ineveld, R.L., Derakhshan, S., de Haan, S., Dolman, E., Lijnzaad, P., Custers, L., Begthel, H., Kerstens, H.H.D., Rookmaker, M., Verhaar, M., Tytgat, G.A.M., Kemmeren, P., de Krijger, R.R., Al-Saadi, R., Pritchard-Jones, K., Kool, M., Rios, A., van den Heuvel-Eibrink, M.M., Molenaar, J., van Boxtel, R., Holstege, F.C.P., Clevers, H., Drost, J. An organoid biobank for childhood kidney cancers that captures disease and tissue heterogeneity. Nature Communications 2020;11(1):1310. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15155-6.