Alexander Vahrmeijer appointed professor

Surgery in a different light

It is often difficult for surgeons to distinguish between malignant and healthy tissue during surgery, especially after treatment with chemotherapy and/or radiation prior to surgery. This increases the chances of malignant tissue being left behind. Vahrmeijer: “Our Green Light research group is therefore working on image-guided techniques to support surgeons during operations to properly distinguish between malignant and healthy tissue. We do this by using a fluorescent substance and an advanced camera system to illuminate tumor cells during surgery. The surgeon can then use the fluorescence image to see exactly where the cancerous tissue is located. By doing this, we hope to greatly improve patient prognosis.”

Unique infrastructure and collaboration

The development of these tumor-specific fluorescent tracers, takes place in collaboration with the Department of Medicinal Chemistry (computational drug discovery), Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Toxicology, Department of Cell and Chemical Biology and the Center for Human Drug Research (CHDR). Vahrmeijer: “This collaboration enables clinical translation from the laboratory to the clinic. The goal in the coming years is to develop a surgical toolbox to visualize both malignant and normal structures ( for example, nerve/urine conductor). We also hope to further develop the newly developed tumor-specific tracers for therapy and diagnostics.”

Education, research and care

Vahrmeijer combines patient care with research and education. “To enable the improvement of surgical treatments, we work together as a very close and enthusiastic team of clinicians, chemists, scientists, students, PhD students, companies, and national and international research institutes. Together we organize national, international and online trainings to train surgeons, surgeons in training, nurses, operating assistants and students alike in new intra-operative imaging techniques.”

“Patient impact is our main driver, which is why we also set up research to demonstrate this and enable wide availability (valorization). In the beginning we mainly worked on tumor-specific tracers, now we also collaborate with other specialties and the tracers are also used to assess blood flow in tissues, or to visualize the location of critical structures such as ureters. For the analysis of blood flow, we are investigating the added value of artificial intelligence. For all these studies, we already collaborate in the clinic with anesthesiologists; urologists; gynecologists; plastic surgeons; radiologists; nuclear medicine physicians; ear, nose and throat physicians; pediatric oncology surgeons (in Princess Máxima Center); neurosurgeons; thoracic surgeons and pathologists.”

Resume

Alexander Vahrmeijer was born in Leiden and also studied Medicine here. After obtaining his PhD, he conducted doctoral research at the Department of Surgery and the Department of Toxicology of the LACDR on isolated liver perfusion as a treatment for patients with metastases of colon cancer. After receiving his doctorate, he passed his medical doctors examination after which he started his training in surgery at the Bronovo Hospital in The Hague. After completing his training at LUMC, Vahrmeijer did two years of advanced training in Surgical Oncology at LUMC after which he continued working as a surgeon at LUMC.

During his training in surgery, he received a research travel grant from the Dutch Society of Gastrointestinal Surgery to visit the pioneer in image-guided surgery John Frangioni (the Harvard University in Boston). This visit was the beginning of his current line of research and eventually his chair. The oration will take place on June 12, 2026.