Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology

Yvette van Kooyk is professor in Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology,  head of the department Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, PI of the Dendritic Cell Immunobiology group and co-director of the Amsterdam institute for Infection and Immunity (AII).

Van Kooyk’s research team studies innate and adaptive immune responses guided by glycosylation. Her team unravels cellular communication driven by modified glycoproteins/lipids in cancer, allergy and autoimmunity. Central in her work is the development of new glycan modified  immune therapy for cancer and allergy, targeting glycan binding receptors on  skin resident antigens presenting cells that induce or inhibit immunity.

Her second line of research is aimed to discover of glycan imposed regulatory immune imprinting by inflamed tissue and tumor microenvironment. She studies these questions in in-vivo mouse tumor models such as pancreatic cancer, lung, colon and melanoma  in patient derived tissues and human in-vitro models such as skin model, tumor tissues and complex 3D culture models to identify  cellular communication at omics level in the context of tissue alterations.

She was awarded various NWO grants (PIONIER-ASPASIA), ERC Advanced-Eurostars and received the SPINOZA and van Loghem award for life time achievements in field of  (Glyco)-Immunology, and is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW).