“I originally decided to study Biology because of my fascination with animals. But during one of the lectures, my fascination changed to microbiology, especially the way diseases work. Everything is much more complex than you might think. Consider macrophages, for example. This type of immune cell is incredibly versatile. One particular type of macrophage appears to contribute to tumor growth in the brain. I was able to identify this type together with my colleagues, and we were the first to discover how it develops. These macrophages first absorb fatty material from the tumor, becoming loaded with fat, suppressing the immune system and passing certain fats back to the tumor, helping it grow more easily. The next step is to find ways to inhibit this specific type of macrophage. In our mouse models, we found that this allows mice to live longer, but it will most likely take many more years before we can implement macrophage-based therapies into the clinic. I’ll keep studying the behavior of these cells at the Princess Máxima Center in Utrecht, where I am working towards the development of a macrophage-based cell therapy for children with brain cancer.”
Daan Kloosterman will defend his self-illustrated thesis on October 8.
Research at the Netherlands Cancer Institute is financially supported by KWF Dutch Cancer Society.
prof. dr. T. Schumacher
dr. L. Akkari