Cécile van Els

Cécile van Els is a Dutch PhD from Leiden University and is working in the field of immunology and vaccinology. She wants to gain more insight into the quality and dynamics of protective immune mechanisms against human pathogens and has studied a variety of pathogen models including HIV, measles, RSV, influenza virus, mumps, mycobacteria, meningococci, pneumococci, and B. pertussis. Currently working in infectious disease control at RIVM, she has a keen interest in MHC peptide ligandomes, durability and immunodominant focus of vaccine-or infection-induced B and T cell responses, and systems immunology to unravel correlates of protection.
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Affiliation

Centre for Infectious Disease Control, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, The Netherlands
cecile.van.els@rivm.nl

Publications

Raeven RH, Brummelman J, Pennings J, van der Maas L, Helm K, Tilstra W, van der Ark A, Sloots A, van der Ley P, van Eden W, Jiskoot W, van Riet E, van Els CA, Kersten GF, Han WG, Metz B. Molecular and cellular signatures underlying superior immunity against Bordetella pertussis upon pulmonary vaccination. Mucosal Immunol. (2017) Sep 20. doi: 10.1038/mi.2017.81

van Twillert I, Bonačić Marinović A, Kuipers B, van Gaans-van den Brink JAM, Sanders EAM, van Els CACM. Impact of age and vaccination history on long-term serological responses after symptomatic B. pertussis infection, a high dimensional data analysis. (2017) Sci Rep. Jan 16;7:40328.

van Westen E, Wijmenga-Monsuur AJ, van Dijken HH, van Gaans-van den Brink JA, Kuipers B, Knol MJ, Berbers GA, Sanders EA, Rots NY, van Els CA. Differential B-cell memory around the 11-month booster in children vaccinated with a 10- or 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. (2015) Clin Infect Dis. Aug 1;61(3):342-9.

Stenger RM, Smits M, Kuipers B, van Gaans-Van den Brink, Poelen M, Boog CJ, van Els CA (2010) Impaired long-term maintenance and function of Bordetella pertussis specific B cell memory. Vaccine 28:6637-6646

Luijkx TA, van Gaans-van den Brink JA, van Dijken HH, van den Dobbelsteen GP, van Els CA (2008).  Hyperproliferation of B cells specific for a weakly immunogenic PorA in a meningococcal vaccine model. Clin. Vaccine Immunol. 15:1598-1605

Theses

Thomas Luijkx: Immunogenicity of meningococcal PorA antigens in OMV vaccines (University Utrecht). Awarded: 2006

Rachel Stenger: Induction and maintenance of Bordetella pertussis specific immune responses (University Utrecht). Awarded: 2010

Jolanda Brummelman: Improving pertussis vaccination: central role of CD4 T cell programming (University Utrecht). Awarded: 2016

Inonge van Twillert: Cellular and humoral immunity after infection with B. pertussis. The role of age, antigen and vaccination history (University Utrecht). Awarded: 2017

Current PhD projects

Els van Westen: Immune responses to different Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccines and leads for broader protection.