Ramon Arens is Professor of Cellular Immunology and head of the T Cell Regulation group in the Department of Immunology at Leiden University Medical Center. In addition, he has been appointed Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. He has received several grants and awards, including an NWO-VENI, a Gisela Thier Fellowship, a Marie Curie Fellowship, and various grants from NWO, the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF), and Health-Holland.

More information about Ramon Arens

Ramon Arens is Professor of Cellular Immunology and head of the T Cell Regulation group in the Department of Immunology at Leiden University Medical Center. In addition, he has been appointed Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. He has received several grants and awards, including an NWO-VENI, a Gisela Thier Fellowship, a Marie Curie Fellowship, and various grants from NWO, the Dutch Cancer Society (KWF), and Health-Holland.

Chair Description and Societal Relevance

The chair of Prof. Dr. Ramon Arens focuses on uncovering the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate T cell immunity, with the aim of using this knowledge to improve immunotherapy. T cells play a central role in the immune response against viral infections and cancer, making them key targets for vaccines and immunotherapeutic strategies such as immune checkpoint blockade and adoptive T cell therapy. This research investigates how costimulatory and inhibitory signals together shape the development of T cells into functional effector and memory subsets, with particular attention to features such as cytokine production, cytotoxicity, and metabolic fitness.

The societal relevance of this chair aligns with the Dutch National Research Agenda (NWA), particularly the route "Healthcare research, prevention and treatment." By linking fundamental insights to clinically relevant applications, the research contributes directly to the development of more effective and personalized immunotherapies for infectious diseases and cancer. The main research lines focus on (1) the programming and functional capacity of T cells and (2) the optimization of T cell-based immunotherapies, including therapeutic vaccines, checkpoint modulation, and adoptive cell therapy.

Academic career

Ramon Arens studied Medical Biology at the University of Amsterdam and obtained his PhD in 2003 at Sanquin and the Amsterdam University Medical Centers, in the laboratory of Prof. Dr. René van Lier. He subsequently conducted postdoctoral research (2004–2005) in the group of Prof. Dr. Ton Schumacher at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, followed by a research position at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in California, USA.
In 2010, he joined Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunohematology, where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2017. Since 2024, he has been Professor in the Department of Immunology at LUMC. His inaugural lecture, titled "In Search of the Lost Balance," will take place on July 11, 2025.