Host directed therapies
Coen Kuijl leads a research group focussed on applying a synthetic biology approach to study host pathogen interactions and improve host directed therapies.
Our mission is to comprehend the intracellular life of pathogenic bacteria. Knowledge from these host pathogen interactions can subsequently be exploited for treatment and vaccination purposes. For example the Kuijl recently developed antibody antibiotic conjugates to effectively deliver antibiotics where they are needed to eliminate intracellular Coxiella burnetii. Currently the group focusses the modification Salmonella and mycobacteria via synthetic biology to elicit desired immune responses against the pathogens and the antigens they carry.
Research team
Coen Kuijl, PhD
Assistant Professor, Specialty host-Pathogen interactions
Coen Kuijl (1976) studied medical Biology at the Vrije Universiteit, the Netherlands. He has done his PhD research (2002-2007) at the Dutch Cancer Institute (NKI) in the lab of Jacques Neefjes after which he continued his career as a postdoctoral fellow for 3 years in the same lab. His second position as a postdoctoral fellow was at Genentech in the lab of Richard Sheller, California and started his own research group at the Amsterdam UMC in 2014 studying host pathogen interactions.
- Janneke Maaskant, Lab technician experienced in bacterial and tissue culture.
- Aniek Meijers; PhD student studying the activity of surface localized mycobacterial protease and their role during infection.
- Lisette Waanders; PhD student studying the modification of pathogenetic bacteria to promote desired immune responses.
Grants
- Amsterdam UMC collaboration grant
- Q-support foundation for the development of antibody antibiotic conjugates
Publications
Email: c.kuijl@amsterdamumc.nl