Two prestigious VENI grants for Sanquin researchers

Regina Stark en Pleun Hombrink, each received a prestigious VENI-grant. Less than 15% of the submitted proposals could be granted. The VENI grants provides highly promising young scientists with the opportunity to further elaborate their own ideas during a period of three years.

Regina (Dept. Hematopoiesis) received the grant for her research proposal ‘Immune cells under attack’. Regina: “The immune system is essential to keep us healthy. During the attack by pathogens the inflammation generated by the fighting immune system also causes collateral damage and restructures the tissue. I will investigate how this inflammation influences the local defense function of immune cells in tissues.”

Pleun (Adaptive Immunity Laboratory) received his grant for the research proposal ‘Local support to lung-resident memory T cell function: The importance of location.’ Pleun: “Lungs are protected against pathogens by distinct CD8+ T cell populations with unique functional and phenotypic properties. The molecular mechanisms underlying their precise localization, function and maintenance are unknown. I will combine unbiased genomic analysis of single cells with immunohistochemistry to investigate interactions between T cells and diverse microenvironments.”