Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide. Early detection is crucial for improving the quality of life and increasing chances of survival. However, current cancer screening methods can be invasive and costly, deterring high-risk individuals. Our project seeks to address this challenge by harnessing the power of machine learning and non-invasive liquid biopsy techniques. By analyzing tumor-derived molecules in blood samples, we aim to develop a tool using cutting-edge generative models to augment existing datasets. This innovative approach will enhance detection accuracy from the limited amount of already available datasets.

Listening to speech in a noisy environment is an effortful task in particular for hearing impaired people. Attending to a persons face, voice, and his relative location can improve speech reception in adverse listening conditions. How these top-down attentional processes affect listening effort, a major cause of fatigue in the hearing impaired, is unknown. The proposed studies will investigate the effect of auditory attention on speech comprehension, its relation to listening effort, and the effect of hearing loss on these processes. Recent research shows that pupil dilation, an independent measure for listening effort, is sensitive to speech intelligibility level and deployment of speech related (cognitive) processes. The speech reception threshold (SRT) test used in these studies presents speech in background noise while maintaining a fixed intelligibility level. This allows for studying the effects of attention on speech reception and listening effort independently. In separate studies the effect of time, location, and talker-voice uncertainty on listening effort by will be investigated. In case of time uncertainty, the predictability of the onset of speech will be manipulated. Similarly the predictability of location and talker will be investigated. Both normal hearing and hearing-impaired individuals will participate in the experiments. Additionally, possible interactions between these attentional processes will be investigated. I hypothesize that attending to speech will lead to better comprehension and will result in a lower (i.e. better) speech reception threshold. Additionally, attending to speech will increase cognitive load, which results in a larger pupil response, an indication of enhanced listening effort. The proposed studies will investigate the idea that speech comprehension in noise is based on both sensory auditory functioning (SRT) and cognitive functions (pupillometry). Measuring both aspects of speech comprehension gives better understanding into the importance of auditory attention in communication difficulties experienced by individuals.

Surgical resection of colorectal cancer is the only treatment available to provide long-term survival in patients. Still, approximately 30-50% of patients develop liver metastases post-surgically. Paradoxically, surgery even enhances this risk. I aim to identify the mechanisms involved, as this will lead to new therapeutic strategies to improve patient outcome.

RELAPSE AFTER WEIGHT LOSS Weight loss in people with overweight results in mental and physical health benefits. Unfortunately, most people who lose weight also regain weight. In this project we gained insight into what causes weight regain after weight loss and how we can prevent people to regain weight. We investigated this in both adults with overweight who lost weight independently or under the supervision of a professional, and in adults with extreme obesity who lost weight after bariatric surgery.

Youths’ involvement in organized crime is worrisome, as it not only disrupts a healthy development, but also aggravates youths’ criminal behavior, and makes it harder to return to living a crime-free life. Social ties play an import role in the way youths get and stay involved in organized crime, that is why interventions are needed that target the youth, but also the youth’s social environment. We examine hotspots and mechanisms underlying organized crime involvement and use the knowledge gained to improve and implement intervention strategies. This way, the proposed project directly contributes to effectively decreasing youths’ involvement in organized crime.