Cyclomics and Oncode Investigator Jeroen de Ridder receive Health~Holland PPP subsidy
Oncode Investigator Jeroen de Ridder (UMC Utrecht) and Cyclomics, an Oncode Institute portfolio company, have received a PPP subsidy from Top Sector Life Sciences & Health (Health~Holland) to further develop Sturgeon—an AI-powered software that classifies brain tumors during surgery. With this support, the team aims to accelerate clinical adoption of their technology, which has already been used successfully in live surgeries.
Each year, around 1,400 adults and 150 children in the Netherlands are diagnosed with a tumor in the brain or spinal cord. These central nervous system (CNS) tumors are among the most lethal, particularly in children. Surgical resection is a key component of treatment, but identifying the tumor type in real time has remained a major challenge—until now.
Sturgeon, based on a deep-learning algorithm developed at UMC Utrecht, enables rapid identification of brain tumor types by analyzing methylation patterns during surgery. The algorithm was trained and tested using samples from the biobank at the Prinses Máxima Center and marks a significant step toward real-time diagnostics in the operating room.
The project—titled DISCUS (Development and Implementation of Software for Classification of brain tumors Using real-time methylation Sequencing)—will focus on refining the AI models for brain cancer and developing Epinn, a clinical software package that includes a user interface and data reporting module to support routine hospital use.
"Beyond brain cancer, our AI models can be applied to other tumor types where accurate classification is critical to choosing the right treatment path," says Jeroen de Ridder. "We’re entering a new era where AI and methylation profiling together can transform cancer diagnostics."
Cyclomics CEO Wigard Kloosterman adds;
“The clinical value of ultra-rapid brain cancer classification has already been demonstrated. Thanks to this PPP subsidy from Health~Holland, we can now accelerate development and bring this technology to clinical centres worldwide.”
The Health~Holland PPP Allowance supports public-private partnerships in life sciences and health, helping translate scientific discoveries into real-world health solutions—an ambition shared by LifeSciences@Work.
Source: Oncode Institute
