Marvin van Luijn

Associate professor
NeuroImmunology Brain group leader
Department of Immunology
MS center ErasMS
Rotterdam, the Netherlands

I lead my own immunological research group (mostly funded by (inter)national grants on which I am [co-]PI, €7.1M) on how B and T cells interact to infiltrate the brain and instigate pathology in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). I learnt state-of-the-art technology and elucidated mechanisms of HLA class II-driven T-cell responses in leukemia (visiting one international and two national laboratories). Motivated by the findings during my PhD (10 publications as first author), I joined the department of Immunology as part of MS Center ErasMS at the Erasmus MC to understand these processes in MS. My group identified a type of B cells that not only forces T cells to enter the brain, but also gradually accumulates within the brain itself to mature into antibody producers as a disease hallmark. In the last years, we have developed disease-relevant human in vitro models and applied ex vivo single cell technologies to unique biomaterials from different MS cohorts to find triggers underlying these events. We uncovered intrinsic (genetic variants) and extrinsic (EBV, steroids) factors that selectively influence B- and T-cell interaction in MS. I was promoted to assistant professor in 2020 and became associate professor in 2025. I got a ZonMw-Vidi grant in 2020 and the Dutch MS-Fellowship award in 2022. I have 49 articles published in peer-reviewed journals (12 as first, 7 as second, 23 as last author). I am a PI in 3 worldwide MS consortia (e.g. WP leader in Europe Health-funded project), member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of Nationaal MS Fonds and frequently asked to give lectures at both national and international level. I am incoming board member of the Dutch Society of Immunology (DSI). Currently, I supervise 4 PhD students, 5 postdocs and 3 technicians. I successfully supervised 6 PhD students (5 as copromotor) and 2 postdocs.