ECResearch

From Boston, to Utrecht, to Oxford via Sydney, the consistent thread running through Ewoud's research has been seeking to understand the immune cell's remodelling and reorganisation that support efficient immune cell-cell communication using leading microscopy techniques and its translation to human diseases.

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University of Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

As an undergraduate, he worked with Dr. Berend-Jan Bosch on the endocytic remodelling required for Coronavirus fusion and entry, and with Prof. Cox Terhost at Harvard Medical School on the bactericidal endosome remodelling mediates by SLAM in macrophages.

 

As a PhD candidate with Dr. Marianne Boes, his research focused on cell biological processes that occur just prior to activation of antigen-specific lymphocytes with a special focus on endosomal remodelling in both healthy and patient immune cells.

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University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

As a postdoctoral researcher with Katharina Gaus and Jeremie Rossy, Ewoud expanded his imaging skills at the EMBL node and ARC centre of excellence for single molecule imaging at the University of New South Wales in Sydney; specifically – imaging beyond the light diffraction limit, including SPT-PALM, 2D-PALM and dSTORM. Applying these and other techniques on T cell receptor (TCR) trafficking, his team identified a protein that forms and demonstrates a connection between activation-induced 2D nanoscaled TCR redistribution at the cell surface and reorganisation of the underlying 3D endocytic network. All necessary for an efficient activation of T cells and the following adaptive immune response.

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University of Oxford, Oxford, the United Kingdom

Currently Ewoud is working in the lab of Prof. Mike Dustin where he investigates (a) the immune cell remodelling that supports and (b) in vivo role of, a novel cell-cell communication that relies on extracellular vesicles produced and released at the site of cell-cell interaction. His additional research showed that T cells remodel their cytoskeleton and mitochondria that have profound effect on cholesterol levels that, in collaboration with Prof. Lawrence Turka, Prof. Bruce Blazar, and Dr. Sergi Padilla-Parra, proved to be pivotal to effector T cell survival, regulatory T cell function, and susceptibility of T cells to HIV entry, respectively.

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Alongside his research commitments, Ewoud feels a responsibility to help shape the next generation of scientists through involvement in Bachelor, Masters and PhD programmes and is keen to engage younger audiences via outreach such as the Curiosity Carnival and Microscopy Day. He is a strong advocate for open science and worked as eLife Ambassador with an international team of early career researchers (ECRs) to increase science data availability and integrity. Recently he launched the Dutch Society of Young Immunologists (Young-NVVI) to represent ECRs within the NVVI and EFIS to improve the research culture and environment for young immunologists. In parallel, he works as a Director and is Treasurer of DANinUK Ltd. to improve cross-cultural research and dissemination of its results.

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