Experience

Janssen Vaccines & Prevention B.V.

• Netherlands
• Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Senior Scientist, Team lead

  • Oct 2021 - Present

• Scientist, Team lead

  • Sep 2020 - Oct 2021



Janssen Vaccines and Prevention

• Leiden

• Scientist

  • Mar 2019 - Sep 2020



Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute, Oregon Health and Science University

• (Asistant) staff scientist

  • Aug 2013 - May 2018

  Continued VZV project up until graduation of PhD student and publishing of results in March 2015.Currently working as a staff scientist on the collaborative ‘Development of Attenuated CMV Vectors for an HIV/AIDS Vaccine’ project supervised by Prof. Dr. K. Früh and Prof. Dr. L. Picker. Focusing on the induction of unconventional CTL responses to the recombinant CMV vaccine that protect against SIV/HIV. The work involves the designing and conducting experiments, networking, supervising (graduate) students, technicians and postdocs, presenting results, scientific writing, and grant writing.Scientific techniques: CMV BAC recombineering, culturing herpesviruses (including CMV, HSV and VZV), deconvolution microscopy, cloning, site-directed mutagenesis, adenovirus production and infection, creation of stable cell lines using lentiviruses, luciferase reporter assays, real-time PCR, (radio-labeled) immunoprecipiations, Western blot, and flow cytometry.

• Postdoctoral Fellow

  • Apr 2010 - Aug 2013

  Funded by and EMBO Long-Term Fellowship I independently initiated research projects focused on immune evasion strategies of varicella-zoster virus. Supervised a PhD student and several summer students. Initiated collaborations with scientists at the University of Colorado, Denver. The work was published in two manuscripts, I wrote both of the manuscripts and appeared on one as a first and the other as last author. Scientific techniques: culturing alphaherpesviruses, confocal microscopy, cloning, site-directed mutagenesis, adenovirus production and infection, creation of stable cell lines using lentiviruses, luciferase reporter assays, (radio-labeled) immunoprecipiations, Western blot, and flow cytometry.



Leiden University Medical Center

• Netherlands
• Hospitals and Health Care
• 700 & Above Employee

• PhD Student

  • Sep 2005 - Feb 2010

  The aim of my project was to study immune evasion strategies of alphaherpesviruses, specifically TAP inhibition by the UL49.5 protein. The work included designing and conducting experiments, setting up and maintaining international collaborations, and supervising master students. I defended my thesis was “The inhibition of the transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP) by the varicellovirus-encoded UL49.5 protein” on September 29th, 2010. Scientific techniques: alphaherpesvirus infections, cloning, site-directed mutagenesis, retrovirus and lentivirus production and transductions to create stable cell lines, peptide transport assays, peptide and ATP binding assays, cytotoxic T lymphocyte assays, flow cytomtery, Western blotting, immunofluorescence, fluorescence recovery after photobleaching assays, and immunoprecipitations with radiolabeled material.



Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, King's College

• London, United Kingdom

• Master student

  • Apr 2005 - Jul 2005

  Extracurricular training period studying innate immune signaling pathways. Learned general molecular-biological techniques, such as cloning, site-directed mutagenesis, luciferase assays, co-immunoprecipitations, and Western blot analysis. Extracurricular training period studying innate immune signaling pathways. Learned general molecular-biological techniques, such as cloning, site-directed mutagenesis, luciferase assays, co-immunoprecipitations, and Western blot analysis.



Department of Pathology, Vrije Universiteit

• Amsterdam, The Netherlands

• Master Student

  • Aug 2004 - Feb 2005

  Master internship focusing on the presentation of EBV-derived antigens by dendritic cells. The work involved dendritic cell maturation, ELISPOT assays, immunofluorescence (confocal) microscopy, and Western blot analysis. Master internship focusing on the presentation of EBV-derived antigens by dendritic cells. The work involved dendritic cell maturation, ELISPOT assays, immunofluorescence (confocal) microscopy, and Western blot analysis.



Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Univeristy of Utrect

• Utrecht, The Netherlands

• Master Student

  • Sep 2003 - Jul 2004

  Master internship focused on the influence of cytokines on autoimmune responses. Acquired experience in general immunologic techniques like PBMC isolation, MACS cell separation, flow cytometry, and tissue culture including transwell cultures and proliferation assays. Master internship focused on the influence of cytokines on autoimmune responses. Acquired experience in general immunologic techniques like PBMC isolation, MACS cell separation, flow cytometry, and tissue culture including transwell cultures and proliferation assays.