Fibroblasts in the progression of gastrointestinal diseases
Because of the close interaction between clinicians and basic researchers, one of the strengths of my group is the combined analysis of clinical samples with in-depth mechanistic studies in vitro using 3D patient-derived multicellular models and advanced animal models.
Our work has been supported by grants from the Dutch Cancer society/ Alpe d’HuZes, Stichting Fonds Oncologie Holland (SFOH), Stichting Sacha Swarttouw-Hijmans, Tracon Pharmaceuticals, Agentschap voor innoveren en onderzoeken (VLAIO) and the European Crohn and Colitis organisation (ECCO).
…Because of the close interaction between clinicians and basic researchers, one of the strengths of my group is the combined analysis of clinical samples with in-depth mechanistic studies in vitro using 3D patient-derived multicellular models and advanced animal models.
Our work has been supported by grants from the Dutch Cancer society/ Alpe d’HuZes, Stichting Fonds Oncologie Holland (SFOH), Stichting Sacha Swarttouw-Hijmans, Tracon Pharmaceuticals, Agentschap voor innoveren en onderzoeken (VLAIO) and the European Crohn and Colitis organisation (ECCO).
A summary for layman (samenvatting voor niet-wetenschappers) can be found here.
Biosketch
After obtaining his Master’s degree in Biopharmaceutical Sciences (2003), a strongly research-focused education, Luuk performed a translational research project at the Gastroenterology department of the LUMC. He focused on the interplay between tumour cells and the tumour stroma, unravelling its role in CRC progression and metastasis. This was the start of his continued research interest in how fibroblasts interact with other cells in their environment and how they can influence tumour progression.
…After obtaining his Master’s degree in Biopharmaceutical Sciences (2003), a strongly research-focused education, Luuk performed a translational research project at the Gastroenterology department of the LUMC. He focused on the interplay between tumour cells and the tumour stroma, unravelling its role in CRC progression and metastasis. This was the start of his continued research interest in how fibroblasts interact with other cells in their environment and how they can influence tumour progression.
Following his PhD defense (2009), he joined the ten Dijke group (Molecular Cell Biology), where he gained extensive knowledge on the role of the TGF-β receptors endoglin and ALK1. This position resulted in 3 key first author publications on the identification of MMP14 as the endoglin shedding protease (Cancer Res 2010), the intriguing interplay between epithelial tumour cells and CAFs in CRC progression (Oncogene 2014) and targeting of ALK1 in tumour angiogenesis (Clin Cancer Res 2016).
In the course of this post-doc project he started extending my own independent research line, for which he was awarded the Alpe d’HuZes Bas Mulder Award in 2011. This project focused on how the endoglin-dependent interaction between cancer cells and CAFs influences metastatic spread of tumours and resulted in 2 important publications in Oncogene (2016) and Clinical Cancer Research (2018).
In 2015 his group moved to the Gastroenterology and hepatology department, who have appointed him as assistant professor in 2016. This position enabled me to expand my research on fibroblasts into inflammatory bowel diseases. In January 2018 I was appointed as head of the research laboratory gastroenterology-hepatology and in June 2019 as associate professor.