Pim Pijnappel is interested in stem cells, gene expression and genome engineering. He pioneered identification of SET-domain protein complexes involved in epigenetic regulation of gene expression (Genes and Development, 2001). Using homologous recombination in E.coli (Red/ET recombination) he created versatile knock-in alleles in transgenic mice (Nature Biotechnology, 2003). His recent work identified the basal transcription factor TFIID as an important regulator of pluripotency in embryonic stem cells and during reprogramming to iPS cells (Nature, 2013). In 2012 he moved to the Erasmus MC to the Center for Lysosomal and Metabolic Diseases. Here he applies advances in stem cell biology and genetic engineering to disease modeling and the development of novel therapies for lysosomal storage disorders. His group works on skeletal muscle, cartilage, and the central nervous system in homeostasis and human disease including Pompe disease and Mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS).
Pim Pijnappel obtained his MSc in Medical Biology at the Utrecht University (The Netherlands). In 1996, he obtained his PhD at the same university. He performed post-doctoral research at the EMBL (Heidelberg, Germany) and the Max Planck Institute (Dresden, Germany). In 2003, he became Head of the Netherlands Proteomics Biological Research Center at the UMC Utrecht. In 2012, he was appointed Head of Basal Research at the Center for Lysosomal and Metabolic Diseases at the Erasmus MC, Rotterdam.
A complete overview of publications can be found here:
Pim Pijnappel.
Previous studies in
the lab have shown that autologous dendritic cells pulsed with allogenic tumor
cell lysate was able to induce peripheral T cell activation and tumor-reactive
T cell responses in patients with mesothelioma and pancreatic cancer. Current
research focuses on how to initiate an effective immune response in the tumor
as well as the tumor-draining lymph node using dendritic cell vaccination.
Furthermore, we are studying novel approaches for (personalized) vaccination.
In addition, we have identified T cell characteristics that underlie clinical
efficacy of immune check inhibitors or chemotherapeutic agents in mesothelioma.
The selected publications below give an impression of our work.
