My major research line
encompasses the quantification of leukocyte dynamics.
Despite enormous
advances in the field of immunology, many quantitative insights
in immunology are still badly lacking, including the expected
lifespan of different
types of leukocytes, the contribution of thymus and bone marrow
output to leukocyte
homeostasis, and changes in lymphocyte diversity during ageing.
This lack of
information hampers our understanding of the immunological changes
that occur during healthy ageing, and in different diseases. Our
research aims to
reveal such quantitative insights by taking an interdisciplinary
approach in which
experimental immunologists and mathematicians work together on a daily
basis.
Using in vivo stable
isotope labelling we study the daily production rates
of different
types of leukocytes, how they are maintained during healthy ageing,
and how these
processes are disturbed in diseases such as leukemia, HIV infection, and
after
haematopoietic
stem-cell transplantation. Our quantitative approach has also pointed
out that T-cell maintenance occurs fundamentally differently in
mice and men,
underlining the need
for more in vivo studies in humans.