PhD-student
Dr. Jolien J. Luimstra
Research:
Even though I hold a Master’s degree in Chemistry I have always had an interest in immunology and in the Ovaa lab I found a perfect opportunity to combine the two. My main focus is MHC class I antigen presentation, in particular how to exploit the proteins in this pathway to diagnose and treat disease. I started out studying affinities of antigens to MHC I with the purpose of designing peptide vaccines presented via the MHC I pathway to induce a specific cytotoxic immune response. In my PhD work I have developed temperature-exchangeable MHC I multimers: reagents that can be used to detect antigen-specific T cell responses. This provides invaluable tools for diagnostics and immune monitoring as well as immunotherapy. This technology is currently being expanded to other alleles and adapted for the incorporation of DNA barcodes for large-scale detection.
Curriculum Vitae:
In 2008 I completed the Bachelor Chemistry at the University in Amsterdam, after which I took a gap year to travel work. During this year working at Sanquin made me realize I wanted to work in immunology and so I followed the Biomolecular Sciences track within the Master’s Degree in Chemistry. During my Master’s I joined the Ovaa group for a 3-month research training, back then still at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, and then went abroad for my final research project at the Australian Red Cross Blood Service. I enjoyed the combination of chemistry and immunology so much that I returned to the Ovaa group in 2012 to start my PhD in 2012 working on the MHC class I antigen-presenting pathway. In autumn 2019 I moved from the Ovaa group and started training as a clinical chemist at the Meander Medical Centre in Amersfoort and defende my thesis succesfully in february 2020.
ORCID-ID: 0000-0001-9742-929X
Publications
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Altered peptide ligands revisited: vaccine design through chemically modified HLA-A2-restricted T cell epitopes.
Hoppes, R.*; Oostvogels, R.*; Luimstra, J.J.; Wals, K.; Toebes, M.; Bies, L.; Ekkebus, R.; Rijal, P.; Celie, P.H.; Huang, J.H.; Emmelot, M.E.; Spaapen, R.M.; Lokhorst, H.; Schumacher, T.N.; Mutis, T.; Rodenko, B.; Ovaa, H.
J Immunol. 2014. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.1400800.
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A flexible MHC class I multimer loading system for large-scale detection of antigen-specific T cells.
Luimstra, J.J.*; Garstka, M.A.*; Roex, M.C.J.; Redeker, A.; Janssen, G.M.C.; van Veelen, P.A.; Arens, R.; Falkenburg, J.H.F.; Neefjes, J.; Ovaa, H.
J Exp Med. 2018. doi: 10.1084/jem.20180156.
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Chemical Modification of Influenza CD8+ T-Cell Epitopes Enhances Their Immunogenicity Regardless of Immunodominance.
Rosendahl Huber, S.K.*; Luimstra, J.J.*; van Beek, J.; Hoppes, R.; Jacobi, R.H.; Hendriks, M.; Kapteijn, K.; Ouwerkerk, C.; Rodenko, B.; Ovaa, H.; de Jonge, J.
PLoS One. 2016. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0156462.
