Associate Professor
dr. Lisette van Lieshout
Research
My primary research interest is in the application of new diagnostic tools to study the epidemiology of human parasitic infections. Since my early career I have been involved in numerous projects in Africa and other low-income regions around the world, mostly dealing with diagnosis and epidemiology of stool and urine parasites, in particular for the detection of Schistosoma infections and Soil Transmitted Helminths. I also have been active in the domain of travel medicine and clinical parasitology.
Curriculum Vitae
After receiving my MSc in BioMedical Sciences (University of Amsterdam), I spent three years of research at Naval American Medical Research Unit No. 3, Cairo, Egypt, in a project on immunodiagnosis of schistosomiasis. This position was already in strong collaboration with the LUMC Parasitology team. In 1991, I returned to the Netherlands and formally joined the Department of Parasitology at the LUMC as a junior researcher and I am proud to have worked there since. I completed my PhD in 1997 on the topic of circulating antigen detection (CAA, CCA) for the diagnosis of schistosomiasis. Soon after my first post-doc position, I broadened my scope to diagnostics of all medically relevant parasites and became a consultant for laboratory diagnosis of parasitic infections.
Besides doing research, I love teaching in medical parasitology and in Global Health. I also coordinate specialized training courses on laboratory diagnosis of parasitic diseases, both on national and international level. From 2002 till 2007 I was member of the board of the Netherlands Society for Parasitology. Since its establishment, I have been an expert board member of the parasitology section of the SKML, which is the Dutch Foundation for Quality Assessment in Medical Laboratories. I chaired the parasitology section from 2002-2012 and have been the secretary from 2012-2022. I am co-author of more than 200 research papers on parasite diagnostics.
Publications
-
Clinical tolerance but no protective efficacy in a placebo-controlled trial of repeated controlled schistosome infection.
Koopman JPR, Houlder EL, Janse JJ, Lamers OA, Roozen GV, Sijtsma JC, Casacuberta-Partal M, Hilt ST, van der Stoep MYEC, van Amerongen-Westra IM, Brienen EA, Wammes LJ, van Lieshout L, van Dam GJ, Corstjens PL, van Diepen A, Yazdanbakhsh M, et al.
J Clin Invest. (2024) 135:e185422.
-
Validation of artificial intelligence-based digital microscopy for automated detection of Schistosoma haematobium eggs in urine in Gabon.
Meulah B, Oyibo P, Hoekstra PT, Moure PAN, Maloum MN, Laclong-Lontchi RA, Honkpehedji YJ, Bengtson M, Hokke C, Corstjens PLAM, Agbana T, Diehl JC, Adegnika AA, van Lieshout L.
PLoS Negl Trop Dis. (2024) Feb 23;18(2):e0011967
-
Crucial role of biosensors in the detection of helminth biomarkers in public health programmes.
Cambra-Pellejà M, van Lieshout L, Baptista-Pires L, Vilaplana M, Muñoz J, Gandasegui J, Parolo C.
Lancet Microbe. (2025) 6:100964.
Groups:
Translational Parasitology
