Menno C. van Zelm Australasian Society for Immunology Annual Scientific Meeting 2014

Menno C. van Zelm

Menno van Zelm performed his PhD studies at the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, the Netherlands on "B cell development and primary antibody deficiencies" under supervision of Jacques van Dongen and Mirjam van der Burg. These studies resulted in new insights on stepwise human B cell differentiation in bone marrow, and on homeostatic and antigen-induced B cell proliferation with the newly developed KREC assay. Furthermore, Menno described the first antibody-deficient patients with CD19 gene defects. Between 2005 and 2007, he spent 18 months in the laboratory of Kees Murre at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) on the structural organization of the Ig heavy chain locus in developing B cells. In 2008, Menno van Zelm returned to Rotterdam for postdoctoral studies on CD19 deficiencies and the newly identified CD81 deficiency. In 2009, he became group leader in the Erasmus MC, since 2013 as Associate Professor, and works on the molecular processes of B cell development and the generation of B cell memory. Most studies involve human material to allow direct translation to patient care. Current disease models include antibody deficiencies, Down syndrome, persistent viral infections, chronic inflammatory disease and IgE-mediated allergies. Menno van Zelm has been a council member of HCDM since 2011 and coordinates together with Dr. Pablo Engel the CDMaps project. Dr. van Zelm has received multiple personal grants since 2009, including a Veni fellowship from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). In 2010, he received the Heineken Young Scientists Award from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW).