Carin van der Keur

Research

The purpose of the research I’m working on is to gain more insight in the characteristics of fetal trophoblasts, their differentiation to extravillous trophoblasts (EVTs), and the interaction of trophoblast with immune cells. The development of long term cytotrophoblast cultures give us an important tool to set up a 2D co-culture system and study the interaction with maternal immune cells. The fetal EVTs express HLA-C and HLA-G which interact with the maternal immune cells (NK cells, macrophages, T cells) in the placenta.

Management of the RI-database is also an important part of my work. This database has been set up for the storage of maternal, fetal, and paternal blood, for tissue samples, and for clinical data from different studies related to pregnancy. It is an anonymous database that is linked to information from HLA-typing and antibody screening.

Curriculum vitae

I graduated from the HBO-A Clinical Chemistry Leiderdorp in 1980, HBO-B Biochemical Chemistry Den Haag in 1986, HLO-Hematomorphology Leiden in 1998 and Statistics HLO Leiden in 2016. I started to work in the LUMC in 1980 and I have worked in various departments within the LUMC ever since: Neurology, Immunohematology & Bloodbank diagnostics screening, Nephrology (complement), Hematology (immune phenotyping of leukemia and lymphomas), and Obstetrics.