Dr. Annemiek van Spriel, PhD

Professor of Experimental Immunology at Radboud University Medical Center

Speaker

Prof. Annemiek van Spriel, Ph.D., is Full Professor of Experimental Immunology at Radboud university medical center in the Netherlands. At the Department of Medical BioSciences – Tumor Immunology, her research focuses on the role of membrane proteins in orchestrating immune responses against cancer. She earned her Master of Science degree in Medical Biology cum laude from Utrecht University in 1996 and completed her Ph.D. in 2001, investigating neutrophil Fc receptors. Following her doctorate, she was awarded prestigious fellowships from the Dutch Cancer Society and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) to conduct postdoctoral research at the Leukocyte Membrane Protein Laboratory in Melbourne, Australia. Prof. van Spriel has received several major research grants, including the NWO-VIDI, Aspasia, ERC Consolidator Grant, and ERC Proof of Concept Grant. She currently leads the Tetraspanin Research Group and was appointed full professor and team leader of the Tetraspanin Research Group. In addition to her research, she actively contributes to education, mentoring and the scientific community. She was elected President of the Dutch Society for Immunology in 2023, and serves as organizer of the FASEB Immunoreceptors and Immunotherapy Conference in the United States (2024, 2026).

Her research focuses on understanding the biology of membrane organization in the immune system which ensures proper cell function. Her team has made fundamental contributions to comprehending the function of tetraspanin proteins in the immune system and in cancer cells. She discovered that tetraspanins can protect against development of B-cell lymphoma, and that impaired membrane organization results in signaling defects and immune deficiencies. The team combines cellular immunology with preclinical mouse models to unravel plasma membrane organization in health and disease in order to improve cancer immunotherapy.