Prof. Dr. A. (Annemieke) Geluk (PhD)

During my training as a chemist and immunologist, I have worked at three institutes in the USA (Univ Virginia, Cytel, Mayo Clinic) where I was involved in basic mechanisms of T cell/antigen interactions. As a postdoc, I utilized my five-years KNAW-fellowship to focus on peptide-mediated immunomodulation of T cells in autoimmune- & infectious diseases, and gradually shifted to immunology of leprosy and tuberculosis.
My current research focuses on immunodiagnostics of mycobacterial diseases including basic, translational, and field research with the main goal to develop and evaluate host biomarker-based tests for low resource settings in LMICs.
I have designed and coordinated multi-center studies in e.g. Bangladesh, Brazil, Madagascar, Indonesia and Nepal. I am a member of various WHO-related taskforce/advisory groups regarding leprosy diagnostics.
My research group at the LUMC functions as the national reference center for diagnosis of leprosy and is part of the NFU-Leprosy Expertise Center.

It is my vision that not only scientific but also societal and philanthropic valorization will result from the research and through collaborations with institutes in countries where tuberculosis and leprosy are endemic. Therefore, my research aims at the design of strategies to unravel their disease mechanisms leading to improved early diagnosis and treatment as well as reducing transmission in endemic areas.
For leprosy we develop tests for several use cases including personalized diagnostics for early diagnosis of leprosy (reactions) and tests for large scale population screening to monitor transmission.
To combat TB, our research focusses on the development of TB Triage tests based on host serum biomarkers instead of sputum. Availability of such tests would not only help control transmission, but significantly accelerate diagnostic approaches and decrease costly referrals.