Ruben van Boxtel, PhD

Group Leader Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology / Professor of Stem Cell Genomics, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Utrecht University / Oncode Investigator Oncode Institute

Ruben van Boxtel is Group Leader at the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology and Professor of Stem Cell Genomics at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University. His research focuses on uncovering the origins of childhood cancers and the long-term effects of cancer therapy by studying the genomes of human stem cells at nucleotide resolution. His group develops and applies single-cell genomic approaches, retrospective lineage tracing, and mutational signature analyses to understand why children develop leukemia and lymphoma, and how cancer treatments impact the hematopoietic system.

Among his key discoveries are the identification of carcinogenic mutational signatures caused by genotoxic gut bacteria and antiviral drugs, as well as insights into how chemotherapy induces clonal evolution and accelerates stem cell aging in childhood cancer survivors. These findings provide fundamental understanding of cancer origins and therapy-related toxicities, with direct relevance for diagnosis, prevention, and the development of safer treatments.

Van Boxtel has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including an ERC Consolidator Grant (2019) and the NYSCF Robertson Stem Cell Investigator Award (2022).