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Researcher
Inez Wens
- Research Expertise:I'm currenly assiged as project manager of the European Horizon2020 project ReSToRe. As a postdoctoral researcher, I'm part of the Immune Regulation and tolerance-inducing Strategies (IRiS) research group at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University of Antwerp. The main research interests of the IRiS team focus on immunobiology of human dendritic cells in the pathogenesis of autoimmunity and their modulation in order to provide the prospect for their use to suppress pathogenic immune responses in autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is the most common disabling neurologic disease of young people, affecting approximately one in thousand people in Europe. Our research has demonstrated that dendritic cells of MS patients are in an “hyper-activated” state setting a cascade of processes in motion that ultimately results in damage to the body's own myelin. In contrast, when dendritic cells were generated in the laboratory under the influence of vitamin D, so-called tolerance-inducing or tolerogenic DC (tolDC) were created being able to re-educate the immune system not to react against myelin. Currently, this novel tolDC approach is being moved forward to a first phase I study in patients with MS. To date, a dose-escalation clinical trial for a clinical-grade vitamin D3-treated tolDC product has been approved by the Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products (FAMHP) in Belgium. I have a strong background in MS research, with a special interest in neuro-rehabilitation, muscle biology and neuro-immunology. My research has been internationally recognised and rewarded (amongst others by FWO Flanders) and has resulted in more than 40 scientific publications in peer-reviewed international journals.
- Keywords:REGENERATION CAPACITY, Medicine
- Disciplines:Applied immunology, Autoimmunity, Cell therapy, Hematology, Immunology not elsewhere classified, Molecular and cell biology not elsewhere classified, Neurosciences not elsewhere classified, Regenerative medicine not elsewhere classified
- Research techniques:Biological system engineering,Hematology,Immunology,Medical biotechnology,Molecular and cell biology,Neurosciences,Regenerative medicine
- Users of research expertise:neuro/immunology researchers