Stem Cell-Based Therapy for Lung Disease

Janette Burgess is a Rosalind Franklin Fellow, who joined the Department of Pathology and Medical Biology, Medical Biology section at UMCG in 2015. She completed her Bachelor of Science at the University of Adelaide in 1991 and her PhD at the University of New South Wales in 1998. In 1999 she was appointed to a postdoctoral position at the University of Sydney. She has been awarded a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (Australia) Peter Doherty training award (2000-2006), NHMRC R.D Wright Career Development Award (2006-2011) and a NHMRC Career Development Fellowship level 2 (2012-2015). Dr. Burgess' research focuses on the role of the extracellular matrix (ECM) in lung pathology. She is intrigued by the changes in the tissue and airway structures of the lungs that occur during disease development and progression and wants to know if these changes are a cause or a consequence of the pathology. Working with primary human cells, human lung tissue samples and patient clinical information, the research seeks to characterize the changes in the ECM that occur lung disease and to understand the mechanisms that underlie these changes. Using novel in vitro cell models, ex vivo human lung tissue models and advanced microscopy imaging techniques she is unravelling the complex nature of the regulation of the ECM and exploring its potential as a future target for therapeutic intervention. This research links basic science to the prevention and treatment of human lung diseases that afflict millions of people worldwide.Irene Heijink studied Biology at the University of Groningen, graduated in 1998 with a specialization in Medical Biology, and then started her PhD studies on the regulation of T cells in asthma at the departments of Hematology, Allergology and Pulmonology, University Medical Center in Groningen. After receiving her PhD degree in 2004, she continued her line of research as a post-doctoral researcher within the same departments. After two years, she received a personal grant from the Netherlands Lung Foundation, which enabled her to pursue post-doctoral research at St. Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, Canada, where she studied plasticity and repair responses of the airway epithelium in asthma. When she moved back to Groningen, she was appointed as a postdoc on a KNAW fellowship, which enabled her to further her line of research on the epithelial repair and immunological barrier function in asthma and COPD. In 2013, she was appointed as assistant professor, heading the Experimental Pulmonology and Inflammation Research (EXPIRE) lab. In 2015, she was appointed as tenure track associate professor. Dr. Heijink is currently a staff member of Medical Biology, board member of the Groningen Research Institute for Asthma and COPD (GRIAC), and an active member of the Netherlands Respiratory Society (NRS), European Respiratory Society (ERS) and the American Thoracic Society (ATS). The main focus of her current research is the regeneration of the respiratory epithelial barrier in asthma and COPD. Specifically, her research centers on investigating the interaction of airway epithelium with the environment, including allergens and noxious gases, other structural cells (e.g. mesenchymal cells) and inflammatory cells, as well as the extracellular matrix using 3D and co-culture models. She also investigates strategies to improve lung epithelial regeneration and barrier function, including the use of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells.