Theme 1 is a leading theme but the broad interest in biology within the Neefjes lab also initiated the studies on bacteria and cancer and on the cell biology of anti-cancer drugs like doxocubicin. It illustrates the broad scope and interests within the Neefjes lab. They have critical and intense collaborations with the Ovaa, Vertegaal, Koster, Lamers and Hoeben labs within CCB and with Ramon Arens and Peter van Veelen at IHB, Hendrik Veelken and Peter von dem Borne at the Hematology department and Christine Mummery at the Anatomy department within the LUMC in Leiden. Other collaborations involve the Dutch Health Institutes on epidemiology of infectious diseases, Leiden Science Faculty on drug improvement and biophysical studies, Leiden Biology Faculty on Streptomyces strain improvements and many activities outside Leiden for mouse experiments. Technology is not a limiting factor in the research of the Neefjes lab and this regularly yields breakthrough findings in the field of cell and chemical biology.
About the Neefjes lab
We apply cell biological and chemical tools for fundamental research, as well as translational research on cancer in three broad themes:
1. The cell biology of the endosomal system and MHC class II antigen presentation;
2. The role of bacterial infections in cancer induction, and
3. The cell biology of anti-cancer drugs, especially the anthracycline family.
