In Dutch academia, the status of Principal Investigator (PIs) challenges researchers to take up leadership, develop their own lines of research and gain visibility. Our PIs display scientific vision, build effective research teams, and mentor talented upcoming researchers. They attract funding to facilitate new discoveries and the development of new treatments. Amsterdam institute for Infection and Immunity (AII) congratulates all newly appointed PIs.

Meet our newly appointed Principal Investigators:

Dr. Peter Bonta is a medical specialist at the department of Pulmonary Medicine. His research mainly focuses on translational respiratory medicine and imaging in pulmonary endoscopy; Asthma / COPD; lung volume reduction and total lung denervation related to novel imaging (optical coherence tomography) and translational research.

Dr. Lieuwe Bos is a Lung specialist i.t. at the department of Pulmonary Medicine and researcher at Intensive Care. His research focuses on non invasive diagnostics of shock lung and pneumonia, precision medicine for patients with shock lung and influence of the lung microbiome on the development of acute and chronic lung diseases.

Dr. Anja ten Brinke is researcher at the department of Immunopathologie at Sanquin. Her research focusses on Immune modulation and Antigen-specific Immunomonitoring, with a specific focus on antigen-specific CD4 T cell and B cell responses.

Dr. Elena Herrera Carrillo is an assistant professor at the department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Prevention. Her research focuses on developing a cure for HIV infection based on novel CRISPR-Cas methods. She focuses on viral delivery of the therapeutic genes to the cells in which HIV forms the reservoir that prevents a cure.

Dr. Jan Willem Duitman is an assistant professor at the department of Pulmonary Medicine and Experimental Immunology. His research mainly focuses on the pathophysiological mechanisms driving pulmonary fibrosis in Interstitial Lung Diseases and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

Dr. Frederique Paulus works as a nurse and senior researcher at Intensive Care. The main interest of her research is the care for invasively ventilated patients and focuses on invasive ventilation, airway care applications and implementation of ventilation and airway care strategies.

Dr. Sietze Reitsma is ENT-surgeon and rhinologist at the Ear, nose and throut department. His research line focuses on precision medicine, encompassing quality of life, treatment outcomes and costs ( on patient level and for society as a whole) and epidemiology of treatable traits.

Pythia Nieuwkerk is a researcher at the department of Medical Psychology. Her areas of expertise include Patient Reported Outcomes Measures, and more specifically health-related quality of life, patients’ treatment preferences and patient adherence to medical treatment recommendations.

Dr. Dave Dongelmans is an Intensive care doctor and leader of the Intensive care Patient Safety workgroup at location AMC. His research mainly focuses on quality and safety in healthcare, quality indicators, benchmarking, "Closed loop" ventilation and safety management.

Dr. Annette Neele is a researcher at the department of Medical biochemistry. Her research focusses on macrophage epigenetic processes in cardiovascular disease with a focus on atherosclerosis. Her work integrates fundamental research questions with translational applications both in vitro and in vivo.