Our Team 

[Jorin Petrus Henricus]

I studied Life Science with direction Biomolecular Research at the Hogeschool of Utrecht. I’m the Technician in the lab and mainly working with iPSCs and iPSC-derived neurons. In addition, I'm making tools to manipulate cholesterol metabolism and purify lysosomes. 

[Iris Kruijff]

I’m Iris! I graduated from the bachelor Biomedical Sciences and the master Neuroscience at the VU. I am investigating the role of cholesterol in APP processing in iPSC-derived neurons. In addition, I'm exploring the effect of exercise on cholesterol metabolism and different pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease in neurons, astrocytes and microglia.

[Almudena Maroto Juanes]

My name is Almudena. I am originally from Madrid, Spain. I did my Bachelor in Biochemistry in Madrid and then decided to move to Amsterdam to pursue a Master degree in Biomedical Sciences, with immunology and neuroscience background, at the Vrije University. After that, I joined the Dementia Discovery group in October 2021, where I am currently doing a PhD trying to understand how cholesterol dyshomeostasis leads to tau pathology in AD. 

[Marina Shiryaeva]

[PhD Student]

I did my Bachelor's in Biomedical Engineering at TU Eindhoven. During my bachelor's, I was interested in molecular mechanisms governing cell functioning and was particularly excited by the nervous system complexity. Therefore, I decided to follow a Master of Neurobiology at Radboud University Nijmegen where I was studying brain functioning from various perspectives ranging from brain fundamental anatomy to neuro-specific intra- and intercellular processes. Currently, I am a Ph.D. student in dr. Rik van der Kant group where I am working on a lipidomic atlas of different iPSC-derived neural cell types with various mutations associated with neurodegenerative diseases

[Aiko Robert]

[PhD Student]

After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience at King’s College London (UK), she pursued her studies with a master’s is Dementia: Causes, Treatments and Research in Neuroscience at University College London (UK). Her current research focuses on elucidating the interplay between microglial inflammation and lipid metabolism using iPSC-derived microglia, in the context of Alzheimer’s disease.

[Sascha Koppes]

[PhD Student]

Before I started my PhD in November 2022, I studied biomedical sciences in Amsterdam, specializing in neurobiology and immunology. My main interest has always been Alzheimer’s disease and especially the role of immune cells in the underlying pathology of the disease. I study iPSC-derived astrocytes and microglia with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease risk and protective mutations to gain more insight in the underlying molecular pathways.

[Femke Feringa]

[Postdoc]

After my PhD in molecular cell biology at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, I decided to switch topics and dive into the molecular mechanisms underlying Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Using human iPSC derived brain cell types I try to understand how AD risk mutations affect glial cell biology and can contribute to AD development.

[Jesica Frik ]

[Tom Cremer ]

[Lian Wang]

[Phd Student]

I'm a PhD student in the lab of Martin Giera at the LUMC. I collaborate with the van der Kant lab on generating the Neurolipid atlas. My focus is on detection of novel lipid species and ALS/FTD mutant lines

[Marlies Oosthoek ]

Together with Rik van der Kant and Jort Vijverberg I coordinate the Efavirenz clinal trial. I'm a PhD student in the lab of Charlotte Teunissen, focussing on (lipid) biomakers of Alzheimer's disease. 

[Jort Vijverberg]

As a neurologist at the Amstedam UMC, I collaborate with Rik van der Kant on the clincal repurposing of Efavirenz for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. 

[Kim de Kleijn]

[Postdoc]

I’m a postdoctoral researcher at the Candidate Center where we perform genome-wide CRISPR screens and drug screens to identify new targets and drugs for neurological diseases. In addition to my work at the Candidate Center, I also study the TREM-receptor family and their role in microglia biology and Alzheimer’s disease.