Prof. dr. Sebastiaan Heidt

Curriculum vitae

Sebastiaan Heidt studied Biomedical Sciences at Leiden University, after which he performed his PhD studies at the Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion of the LUMC, Leiden on the role of B cells in solid organ transplantation. Thereafter, he worked as a postdoctoral scientist at the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences at Oxford University for 2 years focusing on biomarkers for transplant rejection. Upon his return in Leiden he gradually formed his own research group and became director of the Eurotransplant Reference Laboratory in 2020. Sebastiaan left the LUMC in 2024 to become head of the Nephrology and Transplantation Laboratory of Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, where he was appointed full professor in March 2025 with the chair of Transplantation Immunology. Three months thereafter he re-joined the department of Immunology of the LUMC on a part-time basis where he became full professor with the chair of Immunogenetics of Transplantation. In this dual role he aims to create synergy between the transplant institutes of both University Medical Centers. His work focuses on transplantation immunology with his main research interests in HLA molecular matching, the formation and detection of HLA-specific B cell memory, overcoming the HLA and ABO blood group barriers, and novel treatment options for sensitized patients. He published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers and won several awards, such as the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics in 2023. Sebastiaan is president of the International HLA and Immunogenetics workshop, member of the WHO committee for HLA nomenclature, and councilor of EFI. He serves as Section Editor for Solid Organ Transplantation of the HLA journal and is Associate Editor for the American Journal of Transplantation.