In Chapter 1B and chapter 1C, we provide an overview of the challenges encountered within the cardiac biology research field and how the CRISPR/Cas9 toolbox can facilitate in overcoming these limitations. Chapter 2 ...

In this thesis, we aimed to explore short-term immune induction treatments to prime breast tumors for immunotherapy response and to investigate immune responses in breast cancer for improved patient selection. In the ...

At present, treatment for psychotic disorder patients is suboptimal, as a substantial part of these patients do not sufficiently respond to currently available treatment options. In order to optimize treatment for these ...

The development of the human microbiome starts at birth with the partially transmitted microbiota from mother to child and continues in the first years of life under the influence of factors like nutrition, daycare attendance ...

Disease control measures during large infectious disease outbreaks rely mainly on counting disease cases, which can result in under- or delayed reporting. I explored surveillance complements and alternative surveillance ...

HCM is the most common genetic heart disease, affecting between 1:500 to 1:200 people worldwide. HCM is considered a sarcomeropathy, since mutations primarily affect proteins located at the cardiac sarcomeres. Furthermore, ...

The eye surface consists of 4 distinct tissues: the cornea, the conjunctiva, the lacrimal gland and the meibomian gland. The role of the three latter is to produce tears in order to protect the transparent cornea. Tears ...

T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is a rare hematological malignancy accounting for about only 15% of the pediatric ALL cases. It originates when genetic lesions accumulate in the DNA of immature T cell precursors. ...

In the Netherlands, more than 14,000 patients are diagnosed with lung cancer each year. Despite the rapid introduction of therapeutic innovations, platinum-based therapy, consisting of cisplatin of carboplatin, remains a ...

Over 12% of the Dutch population has chronic kidney disease. As chronic kidney disease progresses toward end-stage kidney disease, patients receive education on treatment options (kidney transplantation, dialysis, conservative ...