Irene van der Haar Avila

Research

Antibody-based therapeutics have revolutionized the treatment of many cancer types. Although some patients achieve durable responses, others benefit less, and a substantial proportion eventually relapse due to the emergence of tumor clones that have acquired resistance to therapy. One important mechanism of immune evasion is the overexpression of complement-regulatory proteins by tumor cells, which suppress complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC). My research focuses on enhancing complement-mediated tumor cell killing and preventing tumor escape by designing antibodies that strongly activate the complement system and selectively inhibit complement regulators on tumor cells. This approach aims to improve the efficacy and durability of antibody-based cancer therapies.

Curriculum vitae

I completed my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Molecular Life Sciences at Radboud University. During my Master's program, I conducted my first internship in the group of Harry Dolstra at Radboud University Medical Center, where I investigated strategies to enhance NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity against hematological malignancies. For my second internship, I joined the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, where I was involved in immunomonitoring melanoma patients undergoing immune checkpoint blockade therapy. After completing my Master’s degree in 2018, I worked as a research technician at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in the group of Jannie Borst and Inge Verbrugge. In 2020, I started my PhD at the department of Molecular Cell Biology & Immunology at Amsterdam UMC, where I investigated the immunomodulatory role of glycans, particularly sialic acids, in colorectal cancer. I obtained my PhD in 2025 from the Vrije University of Amsterdam. In early 2026, I joined the group of Prof. Leendert Trouw as a postdoctoral researcher, where I continue my work in cancer immunology.