Our team

Please see below for our current team, our collaboration partners and our former employees.

Current team

Wouter J. de Jonge

Prof, PhD - (Group Leader)

  • Training & education: Biomedical; University of Utrecht, Columbia University, University of Amsterdam, University of Oxford.
  • Skills: Translational science, private sector partnerships, mucosal immunology, epigenetics.

René M. van den Wijngaard

Ass. prof, PhD - (Coord. IBS Research)

  • Training & education: PhD at Pathology Department, University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands).
  • Skills: motility, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), visceral hypersensitivity, mast cells, micro- and mycobiota.

Anje A. te Velde

Ass. prof, PhD - (Principal Investigator)

  • Training & education: Medical Biology, Free University Amsterdam, PhD at the University of Amsterdam
  • Skills: Immunology, Cell biology.

Jurgen Seppen

Ass. prof, PhD - (Principal Educator)

  • Training & education: Biology at University of Groningen (the Netherlands)
  • Skills: Molecular biology, cell biology, microbiology, teaching

Sigrid E.M. Heinsbroek

Ass. prof, PhD

  • Training & education: PhD cell biology at Oxford University (United Kingdom); Biochemistry at University of Professional Education Rotterdam (the Netherlands).
  • Skills: Mucosal immunology and cell biology.

Theo B. M. Hakvoort

    Ass. prof, PhD

  • Training & education: Biochemistry, University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
  • Skills: Protein chemistry, enzymology, molecular biology, stable isotopes, next generation sequencing

Bruno Sovran

Staff scientist, PhD

  • Training & education: MSc at Nestlé Research Center (Lausanne, Switzerland), PhD at Wageningen University (the Netherlands).
  • Skills: Translational science, in vivo experiments, cell culture, molecular biology, microbiology (bacteria and fungi).

Caroline Oostveen-Verseijden

BAS - (Project manager, Technician)

  • Training & education: Medical Biology at Hogeschool Alkmaar (the Netherlands); working with lab animals (article 12) and radio activity (level 5b); culturing cells and tissues course, molecular biology course.
  • Skills: Flow cytometry, (primary) cell culture, qPCR, ELISA, in vivo experiments.

Mohammed Ghiboub

MSc - (PhD-student)

  • Training & education: Pharmacy, Djillali Liabes University (Algeria), Pharmacology, Strasbourg University (France), Host-Graft relationship, Franche-Comté University (France)
  • Skills: Immunohistochemistry, qPCR, Cell culture, Mouse model of atopic dermatitis, Pharmacology and Immunology

Andrew Y.F. Li Yim

MSc - (PhD-student)

  • Training & education: Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences, University of Utrecht (the Netherlands); Liberal Arts & Sciences, University College of Utrecht (the Netherlands).
  • Skills: in vitro research (qPCR, cloning, pulldown assays), in silico research (data analyses in R, phylogenetics, scripts in Perl

Olaf Welting

MSc - (Technician)

  • Training & education: Biology at University of Utrecht (the Netherlands); working with lab animals (article 9) and with radio activity (level 5b); immunology, qPCR and statistics courses.
  • Skills: motility, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), visceral hypersensitivity, mast cells.

Patricia H.P. van Hamersveld

BAS - (Technician)

  • Training & education: Zoology (including article 12) at HLO/Life Sciences Hogeschool Utrecht (the Netherlands).
  • Skills: Experimental animal techniques, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, cell culture.

Iris Admiraal-van den Berg

BAS - (Technician)

  • Training & education: Biology and Medical Laboratory Research; Hogeschool van Hall Larenstein, Leeuwarden, The Netherlands.
  • Skills: Cell culture, Organoids, Immunohistochemistry, qPCR

Leonie C.S. de Vries

MD - (clinical PhD fellow)

  • Training & education: Medicine at University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands).
  • Skills: Culturing (primary) cells, translational science.

Anne S. ten Hove

MD - (PhD fellow)

  • Training & education: Medicine, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
  • Skills: Translational science, neurogastroenterology

Emmeline G. Peters

MD - (clinical PhD fellow)

  • Training & education: Medicine at University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands).
  • Skills: medical education

David J. (Daan) Brinkman

MD - (clincical PhD fellow)

  • Training & education: Medicine, University of Maastricht (the Netherlands).
  • Skills: Clinical research, translational research, medical education

Manon de Krijger

MD - (clinical PhD fellow)

  • Training & education: Medicine at University of Maastricht (The Netherlands)
  • Skills: Medical education, translational research

Isabelle A.M. van Thiel

MSc - (PhD-student)

  • Training & education: Molecular Life Scienes, Radboud University Nijmegen (The Netherlands)
  • Skills: RNAseq, Immunoprecipitation, Immunofluorescence and Confocal Microscopy, (q)PCR, In Situ Hybridization

Shafaque Rahman

MSc - (PhD-student)

  • Training & education: Biology (specialization Microbiology), Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
  • Skills: ELISA, qPCR, SDS-PAGE, Western Blotting, Immunofluorescence microscopy, cloning

Ahmed Elfiky

MD - (PhD fellow)

  • Training & education: Human Medicine, Suez Canal University, Egypt, T cell Immunology, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Germany
  • Skills: Cell culture, Flowcytometry, Immunology & Immunomodulation+

Ishtu L. Hageman

MD, MSc - (clincical PhD fellow)

  • Training & education: Medicine; University of Amsterdam, Infection & Immunity; Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
  • Skills: immunology, PCR, multi-color flow cytometry, fluorescence-activated cell sorting

Claire P.M. van Helsdingen

MD - (clinical PhD fellow)

  • Training & education: Medicine, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
  • Skills: medical education

Irini A.M. Kreulen

MSc - (PhD-student)

  • Training & education: Pharmacy, University of Utrecht (BSc); Biomedical Sciences, Leiden University (MSc), The Netherlands.
  • Skills: Cell biology, (Mucosal) Immunology, (primary and organoid) cell culture, (q)PCR, (fluorescence) microscopy, Western Blotting, ELISA

Charlotte Verburgt

MD - (clinical PhD fellow)

  • Training & education: Medicine at Leiden University (the Netherlands).
  • Skills: medical education

Gemma Pitotti

BSc, BRes - (PhD-student)

  • Training & education: Biotechnology at Imperial College London (UK), Systems and Synthetic Biology at Imperial College London (UK)
  • Skills: Organoid and cell culture, Systems Biology.

Naomi Wieser

MSc - (PhD-student)

  • Training & education: Master in Metagenomics and biology, Bard College (USA), Master in Biomedical sciences (Immunology and oncology), University of Lausanne.
  • Skills: Metagenomics, statistical analysis, microbiology technics (transposon mutagenesis) , FACS, qPCR, microbes growth (viral, bacterial and fungal)

Margriet Vervoordeldonk

PhD - (Lecturer)

  • Training & education: Master Biochemistry; University of Utrecht; PhD in Biochemistry, University of Utrecht.
  • Skills: Bioelectronics; Immunology; Preclinical models for arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease; Early Clinical Development.

Konstantina Zafeiropoulou

BSc, MSc

  • Training & education: Bachelor, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University of Athens, Greece; Medicine MSc (by research), Department of Human Nutrition, University of Glasgow, UK.
  • Skills: Cell culture, qPCR, targeted metabolomics, ELISA, luminex, microbiology, bioinformatics.

Paula Metselaar

MSc

  • Training & education: Bachelor Liberal Arts & Sciences, Erasmus University College, Erasmus University Rotterdam. Master Biomedical Sciences, Leiden University.
  • Skills: Cell culture, qPCR, data analysis.

Collaborators

Joep P.M. Derikx

MD, PhD

  • Training & education: Medicine, University of Maastricht; PhD, Department of Surgery, University of Maastricht; Surgery (resident followed by surgeon), Sittard, MUMC in Maastricht and EKZ in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
  • Skills: Pediatric surgery, Gastro-Intestinal surgery and Endocrine surgery.

Johan Van Limbergen

MD, PhD

  • Training & education: Medicine, University of Leuven (Belgium), PhD in IBD Genetics at University of Edinburgh (UK).
  • Skills: Paediatrics, paediatric gastroenterology, endoscopy, genetics, innate immunology, microbiome.

Marcel Mannens

Prof, PhD

  • Training & education: Medicine, University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Biology/Chemistry, Radboud University Nijmegen (the Netherlands).
  • Skills: Clinical Molecular Genetics, Epigenetics

Mark Davids

MSc

  • Training & education: Biotechnology - Bioprocess Engineering, Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
  • Skills: Bioinformatics; Microbiology

Menno de Winther

Prof, PhD

  • Training & education: Biology, University of Utrecht (the Netherlands).
  • Skills: Macrophages, Inflammation, Mouse models, Signal transduction, Epigenetics, Cytokines, Atherosclerosis.

Misha Luyer

MD

  • Current employement: Catharina Hospital Eindhoven (the Netherlands).

Peter Henneman

PhD

  • Training & education: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology University of Leiden, The Netherlands)

Ric E.A.F. van Tol

PhD

  • Training & education: Biology, University of Groningen; Transplantation Immunology, University of Minnesota Minneapolis; PhD in Medicine, Leiden University; Postdoc in Gastrointestinal Disease Research (1993-1997), University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA.
  • Skills: Mucosal Immune physiology, Pediatric Nutrition Research, Industrial Research and Innovation Management

Ronald Schilderink

PhD

  • Training & education: Medical Biology at Radboud University Nijmegen (the Netherlands); Biological & Medical Laboratory Research at Saxion Hogeschool Enschede (the Netherlands); working with animals (article 9) and radio activity (level 5b).
  • Skills: Cell culture, SDS-PAGE, ELISA, qPCR, immunohistochemistry, epigenetics, flow cytometry, animal models
  • Current employement: Project manager at TNO Triskelion, Zeist (the Netherlands)

Shobhit Dhawan

PhD

  • Training & education: Pharmacology at Oxford University (United Kingdom); Pfizer Global Research & Development (United Kingdom); Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry (Germany).
  • Skills: In vivo pharmacology, flow cytometry, confocal microscopy.
  • Current employement: Fund Manager at Oncode Oncology Bridge Fund

Sven Wehner

PhD

  • Training & education: Biology, University of Bonn; PhD, University of Bonn and Technologiepark Jülich, Germany
  • Skills: Bowel motility, intestinal (neuro) immunology, adhesion formation and wound healing

Former employees

Francisca W.M. van Leeuwen

BASc

  • Training & education: Zoology (including article 12) at HLO/Life Sciences Hogeschool Utrecht (the Netherlands); working with lab animals (article 9).
  • Skills: (primary) cell/tissue culture, transduction using shRNA, ELISA, western blot, (real time) PCR, IHC staining, genotyping and coordination of breeding experimental animals, assisting in vivo experiments.

Evelina Ferrantelli

PhD

  • Training & education: Medical Biochemistry, University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Biochemistry and Biology, Barcelona University (Spain)
  • Skills: Molecular biology, metabolism, biochemistry, immunology

Rose A. Willemze

MD, PhD

  • Training & education: Medicine at University of Groningen (the Netherlands)
  • Skills: Cell culture, qPCR, nerve stimulation

Svenja Löring

MSc

  • Training & education: Biomedicine at University of Southern Denmark (Denmark), Applied Biology at University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhine-Sieg (Germany)
  • Skills: Cell culture, cell-based assays, Western blotting, Neurobiology

Rafael Simone Saia

Prof, PhD

  • Training & education: Pharmacist, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo (Brazil), PhD in Physiology, Department of Physiology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo (Brazil)
  • Skills: sepsis, systemic inflammatory response, intestinal permeability, tight junctions

Daniele M. Ferreira

MSc

  • Training & education: Biomedicine at Paraná University (Brazil); Pharmacology at Federal University of Paraná (Brazil). Currently exchange PhD. student of Capes-Nuffic in Tytgat Institute for Liver and Intestinal Research working with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Inflammatory Bowel disease.
  • Skills: Working with emphasis in Pharmacology of Natural Products acting on the gastrointestinal tract, mainly studying models of gastric ulcer and inflammatory bowel disease

José M.M.A.T. Duarte

MSc

  • Training & education: Agriculture engineering, Technical University of Lisbon (Portugal); Plant biotechnology at Wageningen University and Research Centre (the Netherlands); advanced immunology course and working with lab animals (article 9).
  • Skills: Molecular biology, mucosal immunology, flow cytometry, in vitro tissue culturing.
  • Current employement: Scientist at Immunosafety and Protein Biomarker Development at Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, Zurich (Switzerland)

Oana Ingrid Stanisor

MD, PhD

  • Current employement: Owner at RO Medical Beauty

Jing Zhao

PhD

  • Training & education: Biology at Liaoning University (China); Biochemistry and Molecular biology at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (China); working with lab animals (article 9).
  • Skills: Next Generation Sequencing (mRNA and miRNA) on SOLiD platform, computer R, immunohistochemistry, qPCR, cell culture, mouse model (diabetic pregnancy).

Sara Botschuijver

PhD

  • Training & education: Molecular biology, University of Amsterdam (the Netherlands); Clinical chemistry, Hogeschool van Amsterdam (the Netherlands); Bioinformatics and advanced immunology course.
  • Skills: Biomolecular and immunological techniques (such as DNA cloning), PCR, ELISA, multi-color flow cytometry, sorting, culturing (primary) cells, cytosolic calcium measurements.

Esmerij P.M. van der Zanden

MD, PhD

  • Current employement: Gastroenterologist bij Noord West Ziekenhuisgroep, Alkmaar (the Netherlands). Specialised in IBD.

Nicolette W. Duijvis

MD, PhD

  • Training & education: Medicine at University of Amsterdam. Basic Laboratory Safety; BROK; Biochemistry crash course; Clinical Data Management; Advanced Immunology, Practical Biostatistics; SNPs & Human Diseases.
  • Skills: immunology, cell biology
  • Current employement: Medical Science Liaison at Winclove Probiotics

Zhumei Yu

MSc

  • Training & education: Master Neurobiology and Bachelor Preventive Medicine, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
  • Skills: Western blot, ELISA, Zymography, RT-PCR

Pim W. Weijenborg

PhD, MD

  • Training & education: Medicine at University of Groningen (the Netherlands).
  • Skills: Clinical neurogastroenterology, translational science.

Cathy Cailotto

PhD

  • Current employement: Program Manager at Elsevier

Léa M.M. Costes

PhD

  • Training & education: Biology specialised in Immunology and Neuroscience at the University of Poitiers (France); Physiology and Cellular Biology at the University of Limoges (France).
  • Skills: Immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, qPCR, western blot, ELISA, flow cytometry, (primary) cell culture, animal models (postoperative ileus and colitis).
  • Current employement: Postdoc at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Brenda J. Olivier

PhD

  • Current employement: Grant advisor, Free University Amsterdam (the Netherlands)