Oncode researcher Megan Farrell has received a Veni grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The grant will support her three-year project exploring how immune cells respond to signals from the tissue around them.
The project, titled The Brakes of Immunity: Spatial Regulation of Immune Activation by Inhibitory Receptors, will be carried out in the the Physics of Cellular Interactions group led by Dr. Kristina Ganzinger. Farrell will collaborate with Linde Meyaard and Michiel van der Vlist from the Meyaard Lab at UMC Utrecht.
Immune responses are often studied by looking at direct contact between cells. However, immune cells also receive signals from the tissue around them. This includes collagen and other materials that create the structure surrounding cells.
This environment can change significantly inside tumours. These changes may affect how immune cells recognise and respond to cancer cells. However, we still know little about how this process works.
Using advanced microscopy and nanotechnology, Farrell will study how inhibitory receptors recognise signals from their surroundings. These receptors act as brakes on immune activity. Her research could provide new insights into how the tumour environment affects the immune response to cancer.
Megan Farrell, Oncode researcher and postdoctoral researcher at AMOLF
Megan Farrell, Oncode researcher and postdoctoral researcher at AMOLF
“This exciting project will allow me to understand how immune cells interact with their environment in a creative and technologically innovative way. Understanding the balance between immune activation and inhibition will influence how we think about immune cells in unhealthy tissues, including cancerous and inflamed environments,” says Farrell.
About the Veni grant
The Veni grant is part of the NWO Talent Programme. It supports researchers who have recently obtained their PhD and gives them the opportunity to develop their own research ideas during a three-year project.