dr. Bart Everts

Research

There has been a growing appreciation that nutrient availability and alterations in cellular metabolism greatly affects immune cell function. This field of immunometabolism has contributed to the realization that targeted modulation of immune cell metabolism can be used to direct their function and serve as a novel approach to improve immune therapy. Our studies are aimed at understanding how cellular metabolism and the metabolic micro-environment controls the functional properties of immune cells, in particular dendritic cells and macrophages, in the context of infection, cancer and obesity. Ultimately, the goal is to identify novel metabolic pathways in DCs and macrophages that could be targeted to direct their function for improving vaccination efficacy and cancer therapies.

Curriculum Vitae

After obtaining his Master’s Degree in 2005 at the University of Amsterdam, specializing on host-pathogen interactions, Bart started his PhD at the department of Parasitology at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC). During his PhD he studied the immunomodulatory effects of parasitic worm, Schistosoma, on dendritic cells (DCs). Following his PhD In 2010, he started as a postdoctoral fellow to work in the emerging field of immunometabolism of DCs, macrophages and T cells, in the group of Prof. Dr. E.J. Pearce at the School of Medicine of Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, USA. In 2014, he returned to the Center for Infectious diseases at the LUMC, where he is now an associate professor. With his group he aims to unravel  the metabolic underpinnings of the immunoregulatory functions of DCs and macrophages, with the ultimate goal to identify metabolic pathways that can be targeted to manipulate the functional properties of myeloid cells for therapeutic purposes. He is founder of the European Immunometabolism Network that aims to accelerate immunometabolism research within Europe.