We are a team of over 20 senior and junior researchers and laboratory technicians. Please refer to the persons listed below to get a glimpse of their expertise and contact details.
Carla C. Baan, Professor PhD
Carla C. Baan, PhD, is professor and head of the Nephrology & Transplantation Laboratory at Erasmus Medical Center, University Hospital Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Dr Baan obtained her doctorate from Erasmus University, The Netherlands.
Her position involves the supervision of doctorate research related to the role of cytokines, T cells and B cells, and immunosuppressive drugs in clinical organ transplantation. The primary objective of my research is to develop and exploit new technologies for the diagnosis of transplant rejection using blood and urinary biomarkers. She is visiting professor of the University of Aarhus, Denmark.
We have a strong collaboration with research groups of the Sichuan University (China), Leiden University Medical Center (Netherlands), University Medical Center Utrecht (Netherlands), University of Aarhus (Denmark) and Colombia University (USA).
E-mail: c.c.baan@erasmusmc.nl
Martin J. Hoogduijn, PhD
Martin Hoogduijn is employed at the Transplantation Laboratory of the Department of Internal Medicine at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam since 2006, currently as associate professor. His research focuses on cellular therapies for immunomodulation and tissue repair, with a special interest in mesenchymal stromal cells and pluripotent stem cell-derived kidney organoids. Current research projects focus on the potential of mesenchymal stem cell vesicles for immunomodulatory therapy, the use of kidney organoids for transplant related disease induction and functional analysis of transplant kidneys on machine perfusion. There are strong international collaborations with groups in Spain, Denmark, Germany and England.
E-mail: m.hoogduijn@erasmusmc.nl
Karin Boer, PhD
As a molecular biologist, Karin is interested in the clinical potential of alterations in molecular processes in solid organ transplantation. She focusses on the role of variations in DNA methylation in post-transplant complications such as rejection as well as the development of malignancies. Moreover she investigates the clinical value of minimally invasive markers such as donor-derived cell-free DNA, circulating nucleosomes and extracellular vesicles in the diagnosis of rejection.
E-mail: karin.boer@erasmusmc.nl
Nicolle H.R. Litjens, PhD
Nicolle H.R. Litjens is an assistant professor at the Nephrology & Transplantation Laboratory of Erasmus Medical Center, University Hospital Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
She obtained her doctorate from Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands in 2004 and is acknowledged as an SMBWO-certified Immunologist by the Dutch Society for Immunology in 2006. She has over 14 years of biomedical research experience and supervised 5 PhD students, 3 of whom have already obtained their doctorate. She collaborates closely with Michiel G.H. Betjes, MD PhD (internist-nephrologist) and their research focusses on the prematurely aged T-cell immune system of kidney transplant recipients and unravelling the mechanisms by which anti-donor specific T-cell hypo-responsiveness develop after kidney transplantation in relation to ageing.
E-mail: n.litjens@erasmusmc.nl
Quincy Nlandu, MSc
Quincy started his PhD at the Erasmus Medical Center in September 2022, after graduating from his Master Medical biology at the Radboud University in Nijmegen. His research is focusses on elucidating the pathological mechanisms that are involved in kidney allograft fibrotic disease. Moreover, his research will identify and validate these therapeutic targets in vitro with iPSC-derived kidney organoids and in vivo with mice models.
E-mail: q.nlandu@erasmusmc.nl
Amy van der List, MSc
Amy graduated with a Master in Cellular Life Sciences from the University of Utrecht. Since 2019 she has been working as a PhD candidate on a DKF-funded project by internist-nephrologist Dr. Michiel G.H. Betjes and assistant professor Dr. Nicolle H.R. Litjens. Her research focusses on the single cell transcriptome of anti-donor specific T-cell populations to determine the development of hypo-responsiveness after kidney transplantation in relation to ageing.
E-mail: a.vanderlist@erasmusmc.nl
Héctor Tejeda Mora, MSC
Héctor is a nanotechnologist who got a Master in Nanobiology from the Technical University of Delft. In 2019 he started his PhD at the Nephrology and Transplantation Laboratory at Erasmus Medical Center. Héctor is interested in studying cellular processes from an interdisciplinary perspective. His current research focusses on using endothelial cells as an indicator for the quality of kidney transplants, and as a tool to repair transplant kidneys. On previous projects, Héctor worked with synthetic biology tools, high resolution imaging techniques, and nanomaterial synthesis and characterization.
E-mail: h.tejedamora@erasmusmc.nl
Wouter W. Woud, MSc
As a systems biologist, Wouter is interested in the interactions and alterations of biomolecular compounds that shape life. Having finished his Research Master ‘Life Sciences’ in Amsterdam, his current research focusses on the detection of donor-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) as biomarkers to detect early (graft) rejection after renal transplantation. Subsidiary, he is studying the potential use of EVs as predictors of renal function after normothermic perfusion.
E-mail: w.woud@erasmusmc.nl
Shengbing Li, MSc
Shengbing started as a PhD-candidate at the Nephrology & Transplantation Laboratory of the Erasmus Medical Center in April 2021. Her research focusses on modeling fibrosis in iPSC-derived kidney organoids and exploring anti-fibrotic activity of MSC-derived membrane particles. She is also studying the effect of ischemia and oxygenated normothermic perfusion of transplant kidneys using single cell RNA sequencing.
E-mail: s.li.2@erasmusmc.nl
Aleixandra Mendoza, MSc
Aleixandra is a PhD student at the Nephrology & Transplantation Laboratory at Erasmus Medical Center, The Netherlands. She completed her master’s degree in Biomolecular Sciences at the VU University Amsterdam with a thesis in immunological research. Her current project focusses on the relation between intra-patient variability of immunosuppressive drugs and changes in the immune features of T and B cells after renal transplantation.
E-mail: a.mendozarojas@erasmusmc.nl
Jeroen G.H.P. Verhoeven, MD MSc
Jeroen is a medical doctor and currently a PhD student at the Nephrology & Transplantation Laboratory at Erasmus Medical Center, The Netherlands. His research focusses on the clinical value of minimally invasive biomarkers for the detection of acute allograft rejection in kidney transplant recipients. He investigates potential biomarkers such as donor-derived cell-free DNA and circulating nucleosomes.
E-mail: j.verhoeven@erasmusmc.nl
Anusha Shankar, MD MSc
Anusha works on the differentiation of induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC) into kidney organoids and studies the contribution of iPSC-derived kidney organoids to kidney regeneration using mouse models. She also uses the organoid culture system to examine the functional properties, safety and stability and immunogenicity of the organoid structures.
E-mail: a.shankar@erasmusmc.nl
Steven Du, MSc
Zhaoyu got his Animal Biotechnology Research Master at Northwest A&F University, China. Zhaoyu is currently a PhD student at the Nephrology & Transplantation Laboratory at Erasmus Medical Center. His research focusses on establishing a analysis profile to monitor iPSC-derived kidney organoids’ survival and differentiation status after transplantation.
E-mail: z.du@erasmusmc.nl
DAPHNE PEELEN, MD MSC
Daphne Peelen is a medical doctor with a strong interest in translational research. For several years she combined her medical education with research projects on auto-immune diseases. After her graduation at the VU University Amsterdam she started as a PhD-candidate at the Nephrology & Transplantation Laboratory of the Erasmus Medical Center in October 2019. Her project focusses on defining the role of T-cells in acute and chronic renal allograft rejection. Therefore, she is working with kidney organoids, biopsy tissues and transplantectomies to study the rejection process at different stages. Besides, she is investigating novel approaches for better treatment stratification of immunosuppressive drugs in renal transplant recipients.
E-mail: d.peelen@erasmusmc.nl
Amanda Bas-Cristobal Menendez, MSC
Amanda is a second year Master student conducting her research thesis under the supervision of Martin Hoogduijn. Having obtained her bachelor’s degree in biology in her natal Spain, she moved to the Netherlands to obtain her MSc in molecular medicine by the Erasmus university of Rotterdam.
Amanda is focused on generating kidney organoids and culturing them in an organ-on-chip system to provide a viable model for kidney-vasculature interaction. Moreover, she researches factors involved in proliferation and maturation of endothelial cells in kidney organoids.
In September 2021 she will join the lab as a PhD student to generate kidney organoids from cells found in patient’s urine and research genetic kidney disease.
Rens Kraaijeveld, BSc
Rens is a well-experienced research technician who enjoys flow cytometry and is an Illustrator enthusiast. After finishing his bachelor degree he joined the lab of prof. Baan (2007). Rens is interested in the mechanism of action of different immunosuppressive drugs given to transplant patients. His current research project is focused on co-stimulatory blockade for which he has set up new in vitro assays.
E-mail: R.kraaijeveld@erasmusmc.nl
Ronella de Kuiper, BSc
Ronella is an experienced research technician specialized in cellular immunology. She works at the Transplantation Laboratory since 1996. Her main skills are cell culture, determination of the frequency of cytotoxic T lymphocytes and Elispots.
Sander Korevaar, BSc
Sander is a research technician with over 15 years of experience. Familiar with a lot of different techniques including cell culture, molecular biology and confocal microscopy. Current project is studying the interaction of monocytes and MSCs.
Annemiek Peeters, BSC
Annemiek is an experienced research technician who participates in several PhD projects.
She has a strong background in molecular biology and is well-trained in assays measuring DNA methylation, dd-cfDNA, mRNA, single nucleotide polymorphisms, and more.
Marjolein Dieterich, BSc
Marjolein is a research technician with 10 years of experience. She excels in flow cytometry and cell culture. She works in close collaboration with PhD students and is also responsible for the logistics of materials for diagnostics and patients studies performed at the lab.
Derek Reijerkerk
Derek started his internship at the lab in 2015 optimizing a qPCR technique for measuring T-cell receptor excision circles (TRECs) and supporting a PhD student. Following his graduation he was offered a position as technician in the lab where he is currently supporting different research projects, with a special focus on the Elispot technique.
Hui Lin, MSc
Hui got a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy from Guangdong Medical University and a master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering from Shenzhen University, China. She is currently a PhD student at the Nephrology and Transplantation Laboratory at Erasmus Medical Center. Her current research focusses on studying the roles of (pro)renin receptor in kidney development by using iPSC-derived kidney organoid model and investigating whether renin levels in the perfusate correlate with donor kidney characteristics and kidney function after transplantation.
Liang Wu, MD, MSc
Liang got his Medical Doctor degree at Xiamen University, China. Liang is interested in nephrology and renal replacement therapy, and he has been a nephrologist for 4 years. Currently, he is a PhD student at the Nephrology & Transplantation Laboratory at Erasmus Medical Center, The Netherlands. His research focus on the correlation between urinary extracellular vesicles (uEVs) and renal transplantation.
Wenda Verschoor
Experienced Laboratory Manager and Head Technician responsible for Transplantation diagnostics. Skilled in Flow Cytometry, Cell Sorting, Immunology, Cell Biology and organizing the total logistics of our Laboratory.