'The interdisciplinary approach of combining biology with technology will push the field of immunoengineering to the next level and bridge the gap between scientific breakthroughs and its direct medical applications'

Laura Van Eyndhoven is a PhD Candidate in the Laboratory of Immunoengineering under the supervision of dr. Jurjen Tel. Her current research focuses on an extremely rare subset of immune cells, called plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs). Connecting the innate and adaptive immune system, pDCs play a crucial role in regulating the tight balance between tolerance and immunity and are therefore related to multiple pathological conditions, like auto-immune diseases and cancer. By using droplet-based microfluidics, Laura will further characterize pDCs on a single-cell level, studying the cellular heterogeneity of different subsets of pDCs and their potential for immunotherapy.

Laura Van Eyndhoven obtained her BSc and MSc in Biology at Wageningen University, with a specialization in health and disease. During her master thesis, under supervision of prof.dr. Huub Savelkoul and prof.dr. Jeroen Saeij, she contributed to the characterization of Toxoplasma effector proteins and their role in resistance against host defense mechanisms, at the University of California, Davis, USA. For her internship, she worked at the Maastricht University Medical Center to study B and T cell intrinsic defects in patients with immunodeficiency disorders, supervised by prof.dr. Jan Damoiseaux. Laura decided to continue her career at the TUe, as she started to see the revolutionary power of combining biology with technology.