Expertise, Role and Activity
The Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR), part of the Faculty of Science of Leiden University is a centre of excellence for multidisciplinary research on drug discovery and development., where we work at the leading edge of drug-design and fundamental research of new drugs, optimization of existing drugs, and personalised medicine. At the division of BioTherapeutics, we aim to identify novel drug targets and develop therapeutics to prevent atherosclerosis progression and CVD events.
Amanda Foks
The coordinator, Assoc. Prof. Amanda Foks, leads the B-specific consortium (WP1). Her team has expertise in aging and B cell immunity, which is crucial for carrying out the tasks in WP2 in collaboration with ULUND (WP3). Moreover, preclinical aging atherosclerosis models will be used for causality studies in WP4 and testing of B cell-targeting strategies in WP5.
Bram Slütter
In the ULEI team, the group of Assoc. Prof. Bram Slütter is expert in immunology and vaccine development, which is key in identifying potential targets, obtained in WP2 for therapeutic development in WP5, together with KUL.
Ilze Bot
The group lead by Assoc. Prof. Ilze Bot brings to the B-specific expertise in both human and animal atherosclerosis studies, particularly related to disease pathology. In her studies, she combines human plaque tissue studies and mouse models of advanced atherosclerosis to identify mechanisms that underly plaque instability. She coordinates human plaque studies in collaboration with our clinical partners, which is essential for WP2.
Three PhD students, Jill de Mol, Kauthar Parker and Anna Witteveen, will carry out tasks related to WP2, 4 and 5 focusing on profiling of autoreactive B cells in atherosclerosis and exploring their potential as biomarker and therapeutic target.
Anna Witteveen
PhD Student
Kauthar Parker
PhD Student
Jill de Mol
PhD Student
All the Consortium
