Hopp Children’s Cancer Center (KiTZ), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, Utrecht, Netherlands
Marcel Kool started his career at Wageningen Agricultural University, where he obtained his PhD in the field of viruses in insects. He then moved to the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI). At the Academic Medical Center (AMC), Kool specialized in childhood cancer research, where he became a research group leader focusing on genetic alterations in brain tumors. In 2011, he moved to Heidelberg to do research on brain tumors in children at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and later at the Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ). Since 2019, Kool is leading, next to his research group at the KiTZ in Heidelberg, another research group at the Princess Máxima Center in Utrecht, where they focus on establishing brain tumor organoid models. He also plays an important role in the KiTZ-Máxima Twinning Program, not only as a member of the executive board, which coordinates the overall program between the two institutes, but he has also initiated and is leading several joint projects between KiTZ and Máxima. Moreover, working in both institutes has the advantage that Kool can easily bring other researchers and clinicians from both institutes in contact with each other for other potential collaborations and joint projects.