The LUMC has a longstanding tradition researching the role of the immune system in infectious diseases, transplantation and auto-immune diseases.

Our immune system protects us against disease, but every now and then, something goes wrong: an enemy invades our bodies or our immune system attacks our own cells and we become ill. Doctors and researchers at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) want to be able to manipulate the immune system…

The Aging and Immunity group is led by Dr. Amanda Foks. In this group we aim to investigate how aged immune cells contribute to atherosclerosis and identify novel therapeutic targets and strategies to extend health span and inhibit cardiovascular disease.

The Immune Activation and Tolerance group is headed by Dr. Bram Slütter. Vaccination is an experimental, but promising, treatment strategy for atherosclerosis. Previous work has shown that immunization of mice with modified LDL particles can reduce atherosclerotic lesion development, however such vaccines…

Cardiovascular syndromes are the major cause of death in Western societies.

Traditionally, vaccines are administered intramuscularly using conventional hypodermic needles, which cause pain and distress. Microneedles are very short needles (smaller than 1 mm) that are practically invisible to the naked eye.

Promotores: Prof.dr. J. Kuiper, Prof.dr. P.H.A. Quax

Promotor: Prof.dr. H.P. Spaink, Co-promotor: Prof.dr. A.H. Meijer

What are the host immune defence mechanisms that control intracellular infections and how are these subverted by pathogens?

Unraveling the immune-suppressive actions of drugs like prednisone.

One of the main challenges in the development of an effective anti-cancer vaccine is the generation of an adequate and directed cellular immune response.

Tuberculosis bacteria and other intracellular pathogens use cells of our immune system as Trojan horses to spread into tissues. Annemarie Meijer, professor of immunobiology, explains how research into innate defence mechanisms using zebrafish inspires novel strategies for infectious disease treatmen…

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are widely prescribed as anti-inflammatory drugs due to their well-established immunosuppressive effects.

How are carbohydrates processed by the immune system? Can carbohydrates be used to trigger T-cells against other conjugated antigens? Can they be used as adjuvants?

A new therapy for the serious Graft-versus-Host disease

Promotor: Prof.dr. J. Kuiper, Co-Promotor: S.C.A. de Jager

Promotor: G.F.A. Kersten, W. Jiskoot, Co-promotor: B. Metz

Promotores: J. Jonkers, K.E. de Visser

Cardiovascular diseases are among the most frequent causes of death in the world. The main underlying pathology of cardiovascular diseases is the development of atherosclerosis in the medium and large-sized arteries.

In the hunt for a vaccine against cervical cancer, fundamental knowledge about the immune system and organic chemistry have been brought together and have already resulted in a vaccine that is now being tested in clinical trials. Scientists are now working hard on an improved variant.

In autoimmune diseases such as rheumatism and diabetes the immune system attacks autologous proteins. Leiden researchers are trying to discover how this comes about.

Cardiovascular diseases are the primary cause of death in the world with atherosclerosis as primary underlying cause.

The major aim is to unravel the central mechanisms of how peoples’ expectancies affect physical symptoms, immune and endocrine responses, and related health outcomes, through the use of pioneering multidisciplinary methods in experimental studies in healthy and clinical populations.

In this research project, we aimed to obtain more insight in the role of mast cells in the immune driven disorders rheumatoid arthritis and atherosclerosis.

Promotor: Prof.dr. J. Kuiper

Promotores: T. Hankemeier; R. Berger, Co-promotor: R.J. Vreeken

Worldwide resurgence of pertussis necessitates the need for improvement of pertussis vaccines and vaccination strategies.

Chiodo

Cationic peptide amphiphile nanoparticles are employed for co-delivery of immune modulator CpG and antigen. This results in better targeting to the antigen presenting cells and eliciting strong Th1 response, which is effective against the intracellular pathogens.

Promotor: H.P. Spaink, A.H. Meijer Co-promotor: R. Marin-Juez

Promotores: Prof.dr. H.P. Spaink & Prof.dr. P.C.W. Hogendoorn, Co-promotor: Dr. M.J.M. Schaaf

What are the biological and biophysical mechanisms that control chemokine gradient sensing and migration of immune, endothelial, and tumour cells in tumour development?

Promotor: Prof.dr. J.N. Kok

We showed that constitutive and inducible chemical and morphological defenses against Western flower thrips differ between tomato and chrysanthemum plants.

Bispecific antibodies with one Fab arm binding to effector cells, such as T-cells and NK-cells, while the other Fab arm recognizing a tumor associated antigen (TAA) can be used to redirect these effector cells for tumor specific killing. Using bispecific antibodies to treat hematological cancers is…

The magazine The Economist interviewed prof Marieke Liem for their article on the European drug market during the Covid-19 pandemic. You can access the article through the link in the panel on the right.

Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) particles have been extensively studied as biodegradable delivery system to improve the potency and safety of protein-based vaccines. In this study we analyzed how the size of PLGA particles, and hence their ability to be engulfed by dendritic cells (DC), affects…

PhD Defence

The potential of bioneedles to deliver influenza vaccines was investigated.

Atherosclerosis, in particular rupture of atherosclerotic plaques, is the underlying cause of most heart attacks or strokes and is the leading cause of death worldwide.

In this project, we aim to obtain a quantitative understanding of the role of the immune system in tumor regression, of the role of tumor cell heterogeneity in cancer growth and of tumor cell migration properties.

Overkleeft

The immune system plays an important role in the development of atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of cardiovascular diseases. Thomas van der Heijden has discovered that immunosuppressants may play a preventative role. PhD defence 19 December.

Immune system defends our body against pathogens and cancerous cells, but excessive immunity can in turn lead to tissue damages and diseases. For example, scratching the surface of the eye ignites an immune response that aims at preventing infection but can also lead to edema, angiogenesis and eventually…

When foreign matter enters our body, our immune system has to make a choice whether or not to go on the attack. There are times when the system goes wrong, and we end up with an illness or an allergic reaction. Researchers at LUMC are trying to steer the immune system. The dossier on Immunity, Infection…

When the immune system attacks cancer, the tumour modifies itself to escape the immune reaction. Researchers at LUMC published on this subject in Nature on 28 June.

Liposomes – nano-sized spheres composed of fatty molecules – are very promising for vaccination. Bio-pharmaceutical scientist Naomi Benne discovered that the immune response in animal models can be steered by varying the charge of the liposomes. She obtained her PhD degree on 8 September for this research,…

Plants are able to resist a pathogen’s attack by a dual innate immune system. The relationship between the two pathways was not clear, but it turns out that they mutually potentiate each other, as assistant professor Pingtao Ding (Institute of Biology Leiden) and colleagues (The Sainsbury Laboratory,…

Transcutaneous vaccination is attractive because it is non- or minimally invasive, pain free and the site of administration (skin) is easily accessible. What’s more, transcutaneous immunization can lead to a strong immune response owing to the presence of immune-competent cells in the skin.

With cancer, the immune system is a double-edged sword: it can attack tumour cells, but can also help them grow and spread. It is a question of harnessing it. This is what Professor Karin de Visser argued in her inaugural lecture on 15 November 2019.