CV – Research – Lab members – Publications
Prof. Dr. A.C. Rios
Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University
Email: a.c.rios@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl
Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology
Heidelberglaan 25, 3584 CS Utrecht
https://www.dream3dlab.com/
Curriculum Vitae
Anne Rios started her training in developmental and stem cell biology at the Université de la Méditerranée in France and received her PhD in 2011 from the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute (ARMI) in Melbourne, Australia. Supported by a postdoctoral fellowship co-funded by the National Breast Cancer Foundation and Cure Cancer Australia Foundation, she worked as a postdoc in The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne developing advanced imaging technologies to reveal spatio-phenotypic features of organ development and cancer progression.
In 2017, she joined the Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology as a group leader and founded the Princess Máxima Imaging Center. Her team develops and combines advanced human modelling, human tissue imaging and integrative multi-omics to understand cell and tissue dynamics, spatial niches and cell-to-cell communication in organ homeostasis, cancer progression and treatment response. Combining patient-derived organoid biobanks with multispectral live-cell 3D imaging and integrated transcriptomics, led to the development of BEHAV3D; a multi-omics technology platform for understanding the mode-of-action of immune cells. Applied to engineered T cell therapy, it offered new understanding of their dynamic tumor-targeting activity and uncovered leads to further improve it.
This work has received interest from the R&D sector, including a Health~Holland (2024) and Roche ROADS (2022) public-private partnership. Other recognitions include an ERC starting (2018), an NWO Vici (2025) grant, a St. Baldrick’s Foundation Robert J. Arceci International Innovation Award (2020) and a Charlie Teo Research Rebel Grant (2024).
Prof. Rios is a member of several Horizon Europe-, KWF- and Gravitation funded consortia dedicated to multi-omics technology advance and understanding and exploiting tumor-immune interactions for cancer treatment. She is an Oncode investigator and since 2025 Professor of Microscopy-Driven Human Cancer and Immunotherapy Innovation at Utrecht University.
Anne and her team are passionate about creating a better (scientific) environment and have initiated a women in science movement to help female scientists reach their goals (ACE women in science program; L’Oréal-UNESCO for Woman in Science Award, 2021), as well as the Green Lab NL community to help reduce the carbon footprint of life sciences in the Netherlands.
Finally, they like to give back to the public through dedicated outreach and science communication programs (NWA Science Communication Grant, 2022) in which the art found in their science is used to discuss both the progress made and challenges faced in cancer research. To support this goal, Anne founded the Supernatural foundation creating art from microscopy data.
A pdf of a short CV can be found here.
Research summary
“Visualize a cure for cancer”
Our research group applies advanced microscopy technologies to discover how cancer and immune cells interact across space and time in human-relevant models. We establish both healthy tissue organoid models, as well as genetically engineered or patient-derived organoids to model tumor progression and response to treatment. We, furthermore, increase their complexity by introducing additional environmental and immune cells.
The Rios group has developed an advanced human organoid model for diffuse midline glioma (DMG) by capturing the specific location and developmental window of this pediatric brain tumor and by introducing key driver mutations observed in patients. We further increased the complexity of these organoids by incorporating the brain-resident immune compartment by integrating microglia. This model can be used for patient-representative modelling of CAR T cell responses. Furthermore, we were able to model the effects of IGSF11 in these organoids, an immune checkpoint that we identified through multi-omics profiling of DMG patient samples and that shows tremendous promise as a therapeutic target by mobilizing microglia for tumor control.
By learning from the behavioral programs that cells are built to use, particularly in T cells and microglia, we aim to design immunotherapies that operate within the complex tumor environment and induce lasting tumor control. Live cell imaging allowed us to uncover the mode-of-action of engineered T cells, revealing a high level of behavioral heterogeneity and identifying highly potent super-engager behavior associated with profound tumor targeting. Moreover, integration of live cell imaging data with single-cell transcriptomics, uncovered a cell selection method to enrich for these potent cells, new gene signatures associated with tumor-targeting behavior, and a combination treatment to overcome therapy resistance. We are exploiting these identified molecular targets towards new (combination) treatment design and next generation T cell engineering through spin-off creation.
Lab members
| Technician: | |
| Agnieszka Andres | a.e.andres@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
| Irene Catalina Cornejo Pareja | i.c.icirenecatalinacornejopareja@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
| Isabel Corado Ramis | i.coradoramis@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
| Marit van der Kruit | m.vanderkruit-4@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
| Postdocs: | |
| Amal Elfidha | a.elfidha@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
| Daan Kloosterman | d.j.kloosterman@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
| Jessica Mazalo | j.k.mazalo@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
| Elenia Toccafondi | e.toccafondi@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
| Britt Vervoort | b.m.t.vervoort@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
| Ellen Wehrens | e.j.m.wehrens-4@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
| Amber Wezenaar | a.k.l.wezenaar@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
| PhD students: | |
| Rijndert Ariese | h.c.r.ariese@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
| Sam de Blank | s.deblank-3@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
| Emma Bokobza | e.e.bokobza@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
| Raphaël Collot | r.v.u.collot@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
| Celina Honhoff | c.honhoff@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
| Uddeshya Pandey | u.pandey@prinsesmaximacentrum.nl |
Publications
For the most up-to-date list of publication click here
2026
- Collot R., Ruiz-Moreno C., Honhoff C., …, Stunnenberg H.G., Rios A.C. IGSF11-VISTA is a critical and targetable immune checkpoint axis in Diffuse Midline Glioma. (Cancer Cell, 2026)
- Bessler N, Wezenaar A.K.L., Ariese H.C.R., Honhoff C., …, Rios A.C. De novo H3.3K27M-altered Diffuse Midline Glioma in human brainstem organoids to dissect GD2 CAR T cell function. (Nature Cancer, 2026)
2025
- Wezenaar A.K.L., Pandey U., Keramati F., …, Alieva M & Rios A.C. Mapping T cell dynamics to molecular profiles through Behavior-Guided Transcriptomics. (Nature Protocols, 2025)
- Rios-Jimenez E., …, Rios A.C. & Alieva M. BEHAV3D Tumor Profiler to map heterogeneous cancer cell behavior in the tumor microenvironment. (Elife, 2025)
2024
- Alieva M., …, Rios A.C. BEHAV3D: a 3D live imaging platform for comprehensive analysis of engineered T cell behavior and tumor response. Nature Protocols, 2024)
- Jeremiasse J.,…, Rios A.C. A multispectral 3D live organoid imaging platform to screen probes for fluorescence guided surgery. (Embo Mol Med, 2024)
2023
- Alieva M, Wezenaar A.K.L., Wehrens E.J., Rios A.C. Bridging live-cell imaging and next-generation cancer treatment (Nature Reviews Cancer, 2023)
- Dekkers J.F., Alieva M., …, Rios A.C. Uncovering the mode of action of engineered T cells in patient cancer organoids. (Nature Biotechnology, 2023)
2022
- Van Ineveld R.L., Collot R., …, Rios A.C. Multispectral confocal 3D imaging of intact healthy and tumor tissue using mLSR-3D (Nature Protocols, 2022)
- Rios A.C. Resolving the spatial heterogeneity of cancer in 3D. (Nature Reviews Cancer, Tools of the Trade, 2022)
2021
- van Ineveld R.L., Kleinnijenhuis M., …, Rios A.C. Revealing the spatio-phenotypic patterning of cells in healthy and tumor tissues with mLSR-3D and STAPL-3D (Nature Biotechnology, 2021).
- Dekkers J.F., …, Rios A.C. Long-term culture, genetic manipulation and xenotransplantation of human normal and breast cancer organoids. (Nature Protocols, 2021)
- Dawson C.A., …, Rios A.C. & Visvader J.E. Intravital microscopy of dynamic single-cell behaviour in mouse mammary tissue. (Nature Protocols, 2021)
2020
- Dawson C.A., …, Rios A.C. & Visvader J.E. Tissue-resident ductal macrophages survey the mammary epithelium and facilitate tissue remodelling. (Nature Cell Biology, 2020)
- Wellens L.W., Deken M.M., …, Rios A.C.Anti-GD2-IRDye800CW as a targeted probe for fluorescence-guided surgery in neuroblastoma. (Scientific Reports, 2020)
2019
- Dekkers J.F., …, Visvader J.E., Clevers H., Rios A.C. High-resolution 3D imaging of fixed and cleared organoids. (Nature Protocols, 2019)
- Rios A.C., …, Visvader J.E. Intraclonal plasticity in mammary tumors revealed through Large-scale Single-cell Resolution 3D imaging. (Cancer Cell, 2019)
2018
- Rios A.C., Clevers H. Imaging organoids: a bright future ahead. Review. (Nature Methods, 2018)
2017
- Fu N.Y., Rios A.C., …, Visvader J.E. Identification of quiescent and spatially-restricted mammary stem cells that are hormone responsive. (Nature Cell Biology, 2017)
2016
- Rios A.C., Fu N.Y., …, Visvader J.E. Essential role for a novel population of binucleated mammary epithelial cells in lactation. (Nature Communications, 2016)
2014
- Rios A.C., Fu N.Y., Lindeman G.J. & Visvader E. In situ identification of bipotent stem cells in the mammary gland. (Nature, 2014)
2012
- Rios A.C., Marcelle C. & Serralbo O. Gene loss-of-function and live imaging in chick embryos. (Methods Molecular Biology, 2012)
2011
- Rios A.C., …, Marcelle C. Neural crest regulates myogenesis through the transient activation of NOTCH. (Nature, May 2011)