Yvette Van Kooyk

Prof. Van Kooyk is Head of the Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology Department at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands that consists of 120 scientists/investigators that work in the field of Cancer Immunology, Mucosal Immunology, Neuro Immunology, and Dermatology. Prof. Kooyk had her PhD training at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (1989-1993) in the field of transplantation immunology revealing pioneering molecular mechanisms that regulate immune cell adhesion through integrin activation. From her postdoc-to associate professor at Radboud UMC (1994-2000), and training at Genentech, US, she focused her research on cell adhesion and Dendritic cells in inflammatory immune processes. In 2000, she discovered the innate receptor DC-SIGN, a C-type lectin on Dendritic cells, playing a crucial role in HIV recognition and cellular interactions through the recognition of glycan structures. This discovery set the stage for a new field that led to novel concepts on pathogen glycosylations that interact with the host via recognition by C-type lectin receptor, present on innate immune cells such as Dendritic cells and modulate immune responses.

Prof. Van Kooyk’s research team is working on dendritic cell (DC) mediated immune responses guided by glycosylation. Her work is focused on innate immune responses and cellular communication driven by modified glycoproteins/lipids in cancer, infection, and autoimmunity. Central in her work is the development of new glycan modified cancer vaccines targeting skin resident antigens presenting cells such as DC. Her research is aimed to discover glycan imposed regulatory immune imprinting by inflamed tissue and tumor microenvironment. Prof. Kooyk studies these questions in in-vivo mouse tumor models such as pancreatic cancer, colon and melanoma 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.

Prof. Van Kooyk was awarded various NWO grants (PIONIER-ASPASIA-TOP) and EU grants (ERC Advanced-Eurostars-H2020) and the van Loghem award for life-time achievement in field of Immunology (2014). She received the SPINOZA award in 2019, a highest scientific award in the Netherlands, and is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW, 2018) and Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (KHMW, 2020). She published more than 280 scientific papers in well recognized journals (Cell, Nature, Nature Immunology, PNAS, and JEM) and supervised 29 PhD students. She is inventor of 6 patents.