On 17 December 2025 Xinzi succesfully defended her thesis titled “Involvement of epigenetic regulator lncRNA-HOTAIR in abnormal lung epithelial damage and repair in COPD“. Congratulations Dr Xinzi!
Tessa Gillett wins the Best Presentation Award at Respiratory Genetics meeting
On 4 November 2025 Tessa Gillett won the Best Presentation Award at the Respiratory Genetics meeting in Leicester, UK. Congratulations Tessa!!
Shobna Thurausingam wins DLC impact award
Just before the ERS 2025 in Amsterdam, the Dutch Lung Congress was held on 27 September on the same location. Shobna Thursausingam won the impact award with her research on the effects off seaweed on airways complains due to air polution. Congratulations Shobna!
Janette Burgess wins the Assembly on Respiratory Structure and Function Solbert Permutt Trailblazer 2025 Award
During the ATS 2025 Professor Janette Burgess won the Assembly on Respiratory Structure and Function Solbert Permutt Trailblazer Award in Pulmonary Physiology and Medicine for her work in the field. Janette’s research focusses on the role of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in lung pathology. Her team investigate changes in the composition and biomechanical properties of…
PhD defence Akshaya Keerthi SJ
On 23 September 2024 Akshaya succesfully defended her thesis titled “Functional Genetics of IL-33 / IL-1RL1 Pathways in Asthma“. Congratulations Dr Akshaya!
PhD defence Aurore C.A. Gay
On 19 July 2024 Aurore succesfully defended her thesis titled “Towards targeting the origin of the inflammatory cascade in asthma: Assembling the epithelial cells’ puzzle“ Congratulations, Dr Aurore!
PhD defence of Kingsley Okechukwu Nwozor
On 24 June 2024 Kingsley succesfully defended his thesis titled: “Accelerated ageing in COPD: epithelial barrier dysfunction as a driver of abnormal tissue repair and remodelling“. Congratulations Kingsley!
PhD defence of Roderick de Hilster
On 10 June 2024 Roderick sucessfully defended his thesis titled: “Fundamentals for modelling the airway wall“. Congratulations Dr Ro!
Groeifonds grant of €4.4 million for research on personalized treatment of asthma & COPD
UMCG receives a grant of €4.4 million from the Dutch Nationaal Groeifonds to develop new treatments for Asthma and COPD. The aim of the research is to achieve more personalized treatments of asthma and COPD using cell models of the lungs. A special feature of this research is that it will be conducted animal-free. The…
Inaugural lecture Prof Irene Heijink
On 6 October 2023 Professor Irene Heijink gave her inaugural lecture titled: “Let’s Keep in Touch: Strong Cell-cell Contacts for Healthy Lungs” in de academic building of the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. Lung diseases are a major social problem. Diseases such as asthma and COPD are common and have a major impact on quality of life. In…