Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC)
Dept. Of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion
Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) employs nearly 7,000 people and has around 900 beds, with annually 20,000 in-patients and 300,000 outpatient visits. The Medical School has over 2,200 medical students and 400 students in Biomedical Sciences, the latter program being the highest ranked BMS program in the Netherlands. LUMC is one of the academic medical centers in the Netherlands that has a strong emphasis on fundamental research. Leiden University is a member of the European League of Research Universities. The intimate interaction between fundamental research and patient care forms the basis of its success. This is translated in about 75% of care being Top Referral Care. Research at LUMC is focused around 4 major medical research profiles carefully chosen to combine clinical and fundamental areas of expertise. The infrastructure at LUMC includes Technology Focus Areas focusing on mass spectrometry and metabolomics, advanced flow cytometry, bioinformatics, next-generation sequencing and a full GMP production facility for vaccines and cellular products. The work proposed in the IMI-PERISCOPE project fits perfectly with the research profile “Immunity, Infection and Tolerance” that focusses on establishing biomarkers of disease and protection.
Based on extensive experience in coordination of European consortia in the field of molecular and flow cytometric diagnostics, LUMC will lead WP5 as well as the execution of several tasks such as EuroFlow-based flow cytometric immunophenotyping of leukocyte subsets, flow cytometric detection and quantitation of Bp-specific B-cell subsets and IGH and IGK/IGL gene repertoire of B-cell subsets.
Prof. Jacques J.M. van Dongen specialized in Medical Immunology with focus on lymphoid differentiation, lymphoid malignancies and immunodeficiencies. He initiated the immunodiagnostic laboratory at Erasmus University Medical Center (EMC) in 1985 and since 1991 is full Professor of Immunology at EMC. His laboratory recently relocated to LUMC where immunology and immunemonitoring of infectious diseases, immune therapies, cancer treatment, immunodeficiencies and autoimmune diseases are highly interlinked and supportive to the Top Referral Care programs of LUMC.