Lotte Verleng

Research

Since my studies I have been fascinated by the never-ending complexity of the immune system as this influences all processes in our bodies. My PhD focuses on understanding the mechanisms inducing immune tolerance during human pregnancy. The main challenge of the immune system during pregnancy is to maintain tolerance against the semi-allogeneic fetus and placenta while maintaining immunity against invading pathogens. Despite decades of research, the role of T lymphocytes at the fetal-maternal interface remains elusive. Thus, the aim of my study is to understand this unique immunological environment better and to translate this knowledge to other fields of immunology.

Curriculum vitae

In 2018 I obtained my Master’s degree in both Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Leiden University. I did my first internship in the lab of Prof. Ringdén at the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm. Here I focused on how the immune status in patients with Graft-versus-Host-Disease is altered after treatment with decidual stromal cells from the human placenta. My second internship was in the lab of Prof. Borst at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, where I focused on how opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore is regulated. After my studies, I worked for one year as a junior doctor in the department of Internal Medicine at the Alrijne Ziekenhuis in Leiderdorp. I started my PhD in the LUMC in September 2019.