Annemieke Geluk is professor of immunodiagnostics of mycobacterial infectious diseases, leprosy and tuberculosis. Additionally, her research group at the LUMC functions as the national reference centre for routine serological diagnosis of leprosy, and provides this service also in Europe.

More information about Annemieke Geluk

Annemieke Geluk is professor of immunodiagnostics of mycobacterial infectious diseases, leprosy and tuberculosis. Additionally, her research group at the LUMC functions as the national reference centre for routine serological diagnosis of leprosy, and provides this service also in Europe. 

Immunodiagnostics

The wider societal role of Geluk’s research is particularly exemplified by her studies on poverty-associated, neglected tropical diseases such as leprosy. Building on decennia-long research on immunology of leprosy  at the LUMC, user-friendly POC tests for detection of various disease stages for leprosy were developed and globally field-tested. This immunodiagnostic research approach for leprosy, has led to POC tests for tuberculosis but also for personalized diagnostics, i.e. monitoring patients to early detect harmful immune activity using similar POC assays. Particularly, the ability to detect  tissue destructive immunological flares prior to onset of clinical symptoms, allowing timely treatment, can significantly improve the patients’ quality of life.
 
Based on a OneHealth approach (human, animal, environment), Geluk also explores routes of mycobacterial transmission. Here too, immunodiagnostics plays a central role.

Academic career

Annemieke Geluk studied Chemistry at the University of Leiden and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA. Then, during her PhD, Geluk specialized as an immunologist at the Department of Immunohematology and Blood Bank at the LUMC as well as Cytel Corporation in San Diego, USA. The title of her thesis (1995) is 'HLA-DR3 / peptide / TCR interactions'. She received postdoctoral training at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.

In 1996 the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences acknowledged her a 5-year fellowship during which she focused on the immunology of leprosy and tuberculosis.

She has been appointed Professor of Immunodiagnostics at the LUMC since 1 January 2015. The title of her inaugural lecture (23rd  October 2015) is "WhatsLep: priority time for diagnostics". Currently her research focusses on immunodiagnostics of Leprosy and TB including basic-, translational-, applied- as well as field research and also on TB Vaccine Development.

In the past she was a member of the ILEP (International Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations), the Temporary Expert Group on Leprosy Research, the Expert Group on M.leprae Transmission, the Novartis Foundation Expert Group on "Role of contact-tracing and prevention strategies in the interruption of leprosy transmission".

Geluk has designed and coordinated several large-scale, multi-center studies in e.g. Bangladesh, Brazil, Ethiopia and Nepal.
Today, Geluk is a member of the steering committee of the international IDEAL (Initiative for Diagnostic & Epidemiological Assays for Leprosy) consortium, member of the Working Group "Leprosy in the Netherlands", the Dutch Expertise Center Leprosy, the board of the Q.M. Gastmann-Wichers Foundation and the Tuberculosis Vaccine Cluster of the European Union.

Prizes and honourable appointments

• Fellowship of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (1995-2001)
• Nomination “Herman Boerhaave” Award for young scientists in Immunology (1994)
• Van Walree (KNAW) scholarship for young scientists  (1993)
• Nomination VIVA400 (2016)

Publications