CiMaas is a young biotech company (spin-off from Maastricht University) focused on the development of cellular immunotherapy for cancer patients. The companies’ lead products are natural killer (NK) cells for adoptive transfer that are obtained from healthy donors. Our NK cells have already proven in rodent studies to demonstrate great anti-tumor activity, leading to >80% cure.Donor derived NK cells will be manufactured by CiMaas in its own GMP facility using a specific bio-reactor allowing production of the required high numbers of these cells needed in patients with cancer in only 12 days.CiMaas is building up an immune therapy pipeline to develop this technology. This pipeline might partly be based on R&D activities performed at the MUMC+, Maastricht, the Netherlands. Initiatives of other institutes in the field of cell therapy in cancer will also be explored.

We aim to develop Immunotherapy. In this work we have various projects. Our first project is targeting of tumor antigens to Dendritic cells for tumour vaccine development. We have identified cocktails for better DC maturation that improve CD8+ T cell generation as well as attraction and activation of NK cells. Clinically we work on hematopoietic stem cell transplantations for patients with hematopoietic malignancies. These patients often suffer from opportunistic infections and many die because of it. Therefore we study de novo generation of T cells in a so-called "artificial thymus" for adoptive transfer. We can generate T cell precursors in vitro that mature in the thymus after injection into immunodeficient mice. Finally we would like to transfer the idea of HSC transplantation to solid tumors, like breast cancer. In various mice models, we could cure 50-80% of them depending on the model. We have identified that NK cells clear the tumour.Further activitiesEducation:Overall Coordinator Clinical Investigator (KO) of A-KO master 2010-2016Member Curriculum Committee A-KO master 2010-2016Master coordinator Biomedical Sciences 2013-2019 Double Degree program with Tohoku University and Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, JapanMember management team Biomedical Sciences 2013-2019Coordinator/Member of various teaching course coordination groupsTeaching graduate and undergraduate studentsManagement:Trainer/Coordinator “SMBWO Immunologist” certification in Maastricht Departmental Biosafety ExpertInstitutional FACS Unit supervisionMembership:Dutch Society of Immunology - Lunteren Symposium Committee- 50th anniversary Lustrum committee- 8-UMC citytour committee (chairman)- Program committee memberDutch Society for Hematology- Program committee member

Developing immunotherapy for cancer

Developing immunotherapy for cancer.

Targeting Dendritic cells for tumor vaccine developmentMolecular aspects of human dendritic cell differentiation

The role of the thymic stroma in T cell differentiation

With phage antibody display technology we generated monoclonal antibodies against thymic epithelial cells

Transgenic and knock-out animal models for Philadelphia chromosome positive leukemia