Oscar van Hengel

RESEARCH

During my PhD I’m working together with Prof. Dr. Hermelijn Smits, Dr. Ir. Erik van den Akker (Data Sciences) and Dr. Tamar Tak (Flow Core Facility), where we are advancing our understanding on microbial influences on the immune system during infancy. There is a compelling epidemiological case that changed microbial exposure during childhood, due to lifestyle changes, is linked to an increased risk to develop allergies and childhood asthma which may have implications for the wiring of the neonatal immune system and the delicate balance between regulatory and effector immune responses. How these exposures shape our developing immune system is not well understood yet, and whether immune adaptions typical found in children raised in urbanized areas with a changed life style can be ‘corrected’ or manipulated by controlled microbial or microbe-friendly dietary exposures remains to be investigated.

Within my research I apply new analysis tools for analyzing longitudinal multi-omics datasets from a recent clinical trial researching the effects of minimally processed milk intake in young infants. Drawing on methodologies originally designed for single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), I aim to adapt and extend these approaches to better manage time-series data, in order to overcome different challenges such as missing data, non-overlapping sampling dates and high data variability. By incorporating concepts from scRNA-seq analysis, such as trajectory inference and cell-cell transition analysis, I aim to create innovative pipelines that can more effectively capture temporal trends and heterogeneity in longitudinal datasets.

CURRICULUM VITAE

I completed my Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences at Utrecht University after which I made my move to the LUMC for the master Biomedical Sciences. My first research internship was conducted in the Department of Nephrology under the supervision of Dr. J. van Gils, where I focused on the expression of neuronal guidance cues in atherosclerosis. For my second internship, I wanted to learn more about bioinformatics and the use of R, where I was supervised by Dr. Ir. E.B. van den Akker and Dr. L.M. Slot in the department of Rheumatology on the clonal evolution of ACPA-secreting B cells. In January 2022 I started working with Prof. Hermelijn Smits as a Research Assistant in the Department of Parasitology (now LUCID), transitioning to a PhD position in July 2022.