Leiden University Medical Center
Leiden, Netherlands
I am an immunologist fascinated by autoimmunity and self vs. foreign recognition. After my PhD on innate immunity, I shifted to B cell tolerance research, completing a postdoc with Prof. Betty Diamond (Feinstein Institutes, USA), because I realized that we need to understand the mechanisms underlying B cell activation in autoimmune diseases to achieve a permanent cure.
In 2020, I launched a new research program in the Netherlands to uncover the molecular mechanisms of B cell autoimmunity in SLE, aiming to identify more specific therapeutic targets. I committed myself to develop techniques to study antigen-specific responses (B cells, autoantibodies) to all major self-antigens involved in SLE, setting the stage to gain mechanistic understanding of human SLE. The final goal of our research program is to identify different therapeutic targets to achieve quiescent disease without global immunosuppression. I believe this can be achieved by specific targeting of the causative pathways for autoantibody production.
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
10:30 AM - 12:30 PM Central Time
Disclosure(s): No financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose
