NWO grant for consortium for innovative treatment of COPD

A research consortium led by Irene Heijink from the Department of Pathology & Medical Biology of the UMCG has received a €2.3 million grant from NWO. With this the consortium will conduct research into innovative treatment of COPD. Around 600,000 people in the Netherlands suffer from COPD. To date, this progressive lung disease cannot be…

Chiesi NRS Young Investigator Award to Mehmet Nizamoglu

The 2022 Chiesi Young Investigator Award from the Netherlands Respiratory Society has been awarded to Mehmet Nizamoglu, third-year PhD student working at the department of Pathology & Medical Biology and GRIAC Research Institute at UMCG. Mehmet investigates the influence of changes in extracellular matrix on lung cells in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF).

Irene Heijink and co-workers received a Public-Private Partnership Alowance grant from LongFonds and Health~Holland (Top Sector Life Science and Health)

COPD is characterized by irreversible lung damage, leading to progressive loss of lung function. Novel regenerative treatments are urgently needed. Human lungs contain stem cells capable of tissue regeneration that reside in their local microenvironment (niche), composed of stromal cells and extracellular matrix. Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) are a key stromal element, supporting alveolar regeneration via paracrine…

PhD Defence Kaj Blokland

On 8 September 2021 Kaj Blokland, a PhD student from our group succesfully defended his thesis, titled: “The ECM as a driver of fibroblast senescence and disrupted epithelial repair in IPF”. Congratulations Kaj!

PhD Defence of Virinchi Kuchibhotla

Virinchi Kuchibhotla, a PHD student from our group successfully defended his thesis titled “The role of E-cadherin/beta-catenin signalling in the development of an asthmatic airway epithelial phenotype” on 28 June 2021. Due to the Corona situation Virinchi defended online from India Congratulations Virinchi !

NRS Young Investigator Award for Aurore Gay

The 2021 Young Investigator Award from the Netherlands Respiratory Society has been awarded to Aurore Gay, second-year PhD student working at the department of Pathology & Medical Biology and the GRIAC research Institute of the UMCG. Aurore Gay presented her research on infection of airway epithelial cells from asthma patients and healthy controls with the…

PhD Defence of Marlies Ketelaar

Marlies Ketelaar, a PhD student from the EXPIRE group succesfully defended her thesis titled “Functional and clinical translation of asthma and allergy associated genetic variants in IL33 and IL1RL1” on 14 June 2021. Congratulations Dr Marlies!

New ZonMw Project: Targeting mitochondrial function to enhance lung tissue regeneration in COPD: muscles to the rescue (MitoReg)

  Our ZonMw proposal is granted for funding! Starting from coming autumn we will be in a consortium investigating the mitochondrial dysfunction in COPD. CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE (COPD) is a prevalent, debilitating lung disease characterized by abnormal repair and irreversible damage in the lungs that currently cannot be treated and is often accompanied by…