CURRENT MEMBERS

Scientific Minds

TOKAMEH MAHMOUDI

Group Leader

Tokameh was born in Tehran, Iran. She attended UC Berkeley where she completed her Balechor’s degree followed by her Master’s studies at the Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Canada and obtained her PhD in Molecular Medicine from Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMS), The Netherlands. As a trained biochemist she applied her expertise during her post-doctoral studies at UCSF at the Gladstone Institute of Immunology and Virology in the lab of Dr. Eric Verdin and later in stem cell based technologies in the lab of Dr. Hans Clevers at the Hubrecht Institute in The Netherlands. Now she is  Professor of Pathology and Urology at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam. In her free time, she likes to travel, paint and read.

ROBERT-JAN PALSTRA

Senior scientist

Robert-Jan obtained his BSc in 1995 from the Hogeschool Rotterdam. After several years of research abroad (Switzerland, Ethiopia and The United Kingdom) he moved to the lab of Prof. Frank Grosveld (ErasmusMC) to obtain his PhD which resulted in the first studies that demonstrated that cis-regulatory elements communicate with genes via chromatin loop formation. Current research interests include the fundamental mechanisms of enhancer action, the role of non-coding DNA variation in long-range gene activation and molecular control of reactivation of the HIV provirus. When he's not in the lab he likes to spend my time rock-climbing or kayaking.

SHRINGAR RAO

Assistant Professor

Shringar Rao completed a B.Sc in Microbiology and Biochemistry at St. Xavier’s college, Mumbai, India and then received a scholarship at the University of Nottingham, UK for an M.Sc in Molecular Medical Microbiology. Her PhD research brought her to McGill University, Canada where she conducted her research on HIV-1 and RNA-binding proteins. Her current research investigates innovative approaches to treat HIV and HBV. Aside from science, she spends her time reading classic literature, travelling and fighting the patriarchy.

VANDANA SOLANKI

Postdoctoral Researcher

Vandana Solanki completed her M.Sc and doctorate degree in Biochemistry from Central University of Rajasthan, India where she conducted research on host-pathogen interaction. Her current research investigates innovative approaches to identify novel treatment against non-muscle invasive bladder cancer using patient derived organoids.

CYNTHIA LUNGU

Post-doctoral Researcher

Cynthia Lungu, born in Zambia raised in Botswana, is a translational scientist in the department of Biochemistry at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. She obtained a BSc in Microbiology from the University of Zambia and completed a MSc in Infection and Immunity from Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands (2016). Her doctoral studies at Erasmus University Medical Center involved the development, validation, and implementation of several quantitative and qualitative technologies to study the HIV reservoir in pre-clinical ex-vivo or clinical in vivo latency reversal efficacy studies. Her ongoing research investigates the impact of virological failure or (analytical) treatment interruption on virus and host factors to inform the design of future HIV therapeutics. She is affiliated with the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia to establish HIV persistence research there. Critical to this endeavor, she is developing more scalable and cost-effective, clinically relevant viral reservoir assays that are amenable for use in High HIV-burdened, resource-limited settings, which will facilitate more studies geared towards generating locally relevant scientific knowledge.

TSUN WAI KAN

Lab manager

Tsun Wai was born in Zwolle, Netherlands. He completed his degree in Biology and Medical Laboratory Research in 2006 in The Netherlands, and joined the lab in 2014.

RAQUEL CRESPO

PhD Candidate

Raquel obtained a BSc in Microbiology at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in 2017. Her interests in immunology and infectious diseases led her to Rotterdam where she completed a MSc in Erasmus University. During her master, Raquel performed a long intership in Dr. Mahmoudi’s lab, where she studied HIV-1 latency and reactivation-based therapies. This led her to obtain a PhD position after completion of her master, where she continues to study the molecular mechanisms behind HIV-1 latency. Outside of the lab, she enjoys sci-fi books, cooking shows and beach days.

MATHIJS SCHOLTES

PhD  Candidate

Mathijs was born in Gouda, Netherlands (hence the cheesy humor). He is an MD and PhD candidate investigating chemotherapy response in muscle-invasive bladder cancer using patient-derived organoids and descriptive genomics.

CHRISTIAAN DE JONG

PhD candidate

Christiaan started his PhD in 2017 at the Urology and Molecular Pathology Lab under supervision of Dr. Zuiverloon, Prof. dr. Zwarthoff and Prof. dr. Boormans. In 2019, he was invited by Prof. dr. Theodorescu for a 7 month internship at the Computational Biology Lab of Dr. Costello in Denver, Colorado (USA). Here, he learned programming skills and how to interrogate his –omics  (sequencing) data. His research focus is on clinical, pathological, molecular and genomic markers associated with BCG-treatment failure in high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. Between February 2022 and January 2023, Christiaan worked as an MD at the Urology Department of the Franciscus Gasthuis & Vlietland. Since spring 2023, he returned to work as an MD and researcher at the Urology Deparment, under supervision of Prof. Mahmoudi, at the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, where he is aiming to finish his PhD.

TANVIR (TONMOY) HOSSAIN

PhD Candidate

Tonmoy was born and raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He obtained his B.S. and M.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from University of Dhaka, Bangladesh and MSc in Infection & Immunity from Erasmus University Rotterdam. He joined the lab in 2019 as an masters intern and currently, doing his PhD. He is interested in research related to chronic viral infection (HBV and HIV) and using patient derive organoids platform for viral infection study.

KATIE HENSLEY

PhD candidate

Katie is an MD and PhD candidate and have officially been a part of the Biochemistry lab since February 2021. My main focus is working on finding a cure for HIV! I was born in Belgium to Dutch and British parents and moved to the Netherlands for my medical degree. In my free time I can be found reading a sci-fi/fantasy book or dancing ballroom and latin.

MITCHELL OLISLAGERS

PhD candidate

Mitchell left his hometown of Tilburg to start his PhD in 2022. He has a background in molecular biology, and his main interests involve identifying molecular dysregulations and translating those findings to preclinical models. His research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying treatment resistance in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer by combining laboratory work with big-data analysis.

XINGYU FAN

PhD candidate

Xingyu was born and raised in Anhui, China. She obtained her B.Sc. in Medical Laboratory Science in 2019 and M.Sc. in Clinical Diagnostics in 2022 from Anhui Medical University, China. She joined the lab in 2022 as a PhD candidate to study molecular mechanisms of  HBV infection on liver organoid platforms.

LISET DE VRIES

PhD Candidate

Liset is a PhD candidate born in Bolivia, raised in the Netherlands and Spain. She obtained her BSc. Biomedicine and MSc. Infection and Immunity at Utrecht University. She performed a public health internship in the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society (Johannesburg) and an internship about adaptive immunity against SARS-CoV-2 in the Karolinska Institute (Sweden). Her continued interest in HIV biology combined with an interest in fundamental research led to her starting a PhD in the Mahmoudi lab in 2022, studying mechanisms of HIV-1 latency and latency reversal. When she is not in the lab, Liset enjoys dancing salsa or playing the guitar.

MIRANDA VAN DIJK

Technician

Miranda van Dijk, originally from Dordrecht, the Netherlands, completed her degree in biological and medical technology in 2020. Since the culmination of her internship in the same year, she has been actively engaged in bladder cancer organoid culture as part of her role as a part-time lab technician. Concurrently, Miranda is pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Biological and Medical Life Sciences at Hogeschool Utrecht.

BRAM TORENVLIET

Technician

Bram first joined our lab to work on his BSc thesis Nanobiology, during which he was involved in image analysis focused on bladder cancer organoids. After having obtained his BSc, he joined the lab as a technician. He is currently continuing his MSc Nanobiology program while working in the lab part-time. He is interested in studying non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in patient-derived liver organoids.

ALICJA GORSKA

Research Technician

Alicja was born in Poland and obtained the title of Master and engineer in Biotechnology at the University of Agricultures Hugona Kołłątaja in Kraków, where she also finished her postgraduate studies in Dietetics at the Kraków School of Health Promotion. In her laboratory adventure, she worked at the Polish Academy of Science in the field of dendrology in the United Kingdom. Now happy to be part of this high-profile Biochemistry laboratory at the ErasmusMC, as well as working as a EHEG research technician.
She is interested in good crime and comedy (written or filmed), travel, sports and nutrition.

WILLEMIJN DRIESSE

Bachelor student 2023-2024

Willemijn is currently in her last year of "biology and medical laboratory research" bachelor at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. She is performing her graduation internship in the Mahmoudi lab under supervision of Dr. Robert-Jan Palstra. Her research concerns investigating loop formation between enhancers and the HIV promotor.

FATIMA HAMID

Bachelor student

Fatima is born and raised in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She is a bachelors student from the university of applied sciences Leiden, studying biology and medical laboratory research. She is doing her graduation research in the Mahmoudi Lab with the goal to try understand the role of frequently mutated chromatin modifiers in Bladder Cancer, under the supervision of Dr. Robert-Jan Palstra. She is honoured to be part of a lively, multicultural and proficient lab where she can learn a lot from. In her free time she likes to paint, bake, read and learn new languages, and if there is time for it, she likes traveling and experiencing new cultures.