Dr. S.P. (Simon) Jochems

I studied Biomedical Sciences at Utrecht University, followed by a PhD at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, where I studied immune responses to simian immunodeficiency virus infection in natural hosts in the laboratory of Nobel-laureate Francoise Barre-Sinoussi.

Following my PhD, I performed postdoctoral research in the experimental human pneumococcal carriage model group led by Prof. Daniela Ferreira at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. There I developed novel minimally-invasive methods to study nasal immune responses in the context of controlled human respiratory infections.
In 2019, I moved to LUMC to set up my own group, focusing on immune responses to infection and vaccination not just in blood but also in tissues, through the application of systems immunology tools.

I use novel minimally-invasive sampling methods to be able to collect human tissue samples to study immune responses to infection and vaccination at the site where they are being induced. For this, I collaborate with clinicians and researchers locally, nationally and internationally.
To collect and analyse these samples using state-of-the-art tools I have received support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, European Research Council and the Dutch Research Council (NWO), among others. I have also received the LUMC Gisela Fellowship.
Current specific focuses are around the dynamics of host-pathogen interactions in the upper respiratory tract of children, the development and maintenance of mucosal immunity and how this is affected by age and the mechanisms underlying the development of polysaccharide-specific immunity.