Teun van der Klugt
Graduate student
Email: t.klugt@erasmusmc.nl

Werner J.D. Ouwendijk
Assistant professor
Email: w.ouwendijk@erasmusmc.nl
ORCID ID
Link to thesis W.J.D. Ouwendijk (2013)

Post-doc at NYU Langone Health (New York, USA)
Link to thesis S. Braspenning (2022)

Scientist at Kite Pharma (Den Haag, Netherlands)
Link to thesis R. Duan (2009)
 

Ongoing projects’ & ‘Completed projects

Ongoing

Impact of virus infections on the development of Alzheimer’s disease
Project Aims: To define the association between virus infection and risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Team: Werner Ouwendijk
Funding: Dutch Research Council (NWO: OCENW.XS22.3.025)

Awakening of a sleeping virus: chromatin control of varicella-zoster virus latency and reactivation.
Project Aims: To determine how chromatin modifications affect VZV latency and reactivation.
Team: Team: Anaïs Wiech & Werner Ouwendijk
International collaboration: Tomohiko Sadaoka (Kobe University, Kobe, Japan) & Daniel P. Depledge (Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany)
Funding: Dutch Research Council (NWO: OCENW.M.22.052)

Intrinsic control of neurotropic herpesvirus infection
Project Aims: Characterization of (1) human cell-intrinsic control mechanisms that restrict neurotropic herpesvirus infection as well as (2) viral evasion mechanisms that counteract intrinsic host responses
Team: Michiel van Gent
Collaboration: Not applicable\
Funding: MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship & Dutch Research Council (NWO) Vidi 

 Completed projects

Herpes simplex virus infection induces necroptosis of neurons and astrocytes in human fetal organotypic brain slice cultures.
Rashidi AS, Tran DN, Peelen CR, van Gent M, Ouwendijk WJD, Verjans GMGM. J Neuroinflammation. 2024;21:38. doi: 10.1186/s12974-024-03027-5.

Whole exome sequencing of patients with varicella-zoster virus and herpes simplex virus induced acute retinal necrosis reveals rare disease- associated genetic variants. 
Heinz JL, Swagemakers SMA, von Hofsten J, Helleberg M, Thomsen MM, De Keukeleere K, de Boer JH, Ilginis T, Verjans GMGM, van Hagen PM, van der Spek PJ, Mogensen TH.  
Front Mol Neurosci. 2023;16:1253040. doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2023.1253040

Virus-specific TRM cells of both donor and recipient origin reside in human kidney transplants. 
Hullegie-Peelen DM, Tejeda Mora H, Hesselink DA, Bindels EM, van den Bosch TPP, Clahsen-van Groningen MC, Dieterich M, Heidt S, Minnee RC, Verjans GMGM, Hoogduijn MJ, Baan CC.  JCI Insight. 2023 Sep 26:e172681. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.172681.

ER stress induces caspase-2-tBID-GSDME-dependent cell death in neurons lytically infected with herpes simplex virus type 2.
Ren F, Narita R, Rashidi AS, Fruhwürth S, Gao Z, Bak RO, Thomsen MK, Verjans GMGM, Reinert LS, Paludan SR.  EMBO J. 2023 Aug 30:e113118. doi: 10.15252/embj.2022113118.

Current perspectives on the management of herpesvirus infections in solid organ transplant recipients.
Malahe SRK, van Kampen JJA, Manintveld OC, Hoek RAS, den Hoed CM, Baan CC, Kho MML, Verjans GMGM. Viruses. 2023;15:1595. doi: 10.3390/v15071595.

Varicella-zoster virus proteome-wide T-cell screening demonstrates low prevalence of virus-specific CD8 T-cells in latently infected human trigeminal ganglia.
van Gent M, Ouwendijk WJD, Campbell VL, Laing KJ, Koelle DM, Verjans GMGM.  J Neuroinflammation 20, 141 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12974-023-02820-y

T-cells in human trigeminal ganglia express canonical tissue-resident memory T-cell markers. Unger PPA, Oja AE, Khemai-Mehraban T, Ouwendijk WJ, Hombrink P, Verjans GMGM.  J Neuroinflammation. 2022 Oct 06. doi: 10.1186/s12974-022-02611-x

Microglia activate early anti-viral responses upon HSV-1 entry into the brain to counteract development of encephalitis-like disease in mice.
Katzilieris-Petras G, Lai X, Rashidi AS, Verjans GM, Reinert LS & Paludan SR. J Virol. 2022 Jan 19: doi: 10.1128/JVI.01311-21.

An organoid-derived bronchioalveolar model for SARS-CoV-2 infection of human alveolar type II-like cells.
Lamers MM, van der Vaart J, Knoops K, Riesebosch S, Breugem TI, Mykytyn AZ, Beumer J, Schipper D, Bezstarosti K, Koopman CD, Groen N, Ravelli RBG, Duimel HQ, Demmers JA, Verjans GM, Koopmans MP, Muraro MJ, Peters PJ, Clevers H & Haagmans BL. EMBO J. 2021 Mar 1. doi: 10.15252/embj.2020105912.

European consensus-based (S2k) Guideline on the Management of Herpes Zoster - guided by the European Dermatology Forum (EDF) in cooperation with the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV), part 1: diagnosis.
Werner RN, Nikkels AF, Marinović B, Schäfer M, Czarnecka-Operacz M, Agius AM, Bata-Csörgő Z, Breuer J, Girolomoni G, Gross GE, Langan S, Lapid-Gortzak R, Lesser TH, Pleyer U, Sellner J, Verjans GM, Wutzler P, Dressler C, Erdmann R, Rosumeck S & Nast A. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2017 Nov 2. doi: 10.1111/jdv.13995.

14 April 2024, NRC

A finger on the sore cold sore
It was an exciting invention, but it turned out to be poorly executed. A study into the herpes virus shows where things can go wrong with data research.

The cold sore virus is good at playing hide and seek. It has been clear for decades where this virus, herpes simplex (HSV), hides in the body, but how exactly this hiding works remains mysterious. When scientists in the United States reported last year, based on a new technique with large amounts of data, that the virus is hiding in more places than had been known all along, herpes researchers worldwide were immediately interested.
Could this be the reason it is so difficult to make vaccines? Should the common approach to making antivirals change?
"It was a very exciting discovery," says Georges Verjans, lead researcher at Herpeslab NL at the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam. "It just turned out not to be true. The research was poorly conducted." But before Verjans and his colleagues figured this out, there was a tug-of-war over the data and then extensive reanalysis. Afterwards, correcting the incorrect conclusions also turned out to be a major hurdle.

Read the article (PDF in Dutch)

1 March 2024

Tim and Anja had shingles: 'The pain was nauseating'

“I have had a few ailments. But this was really miserable. I never want shingles again,” says Rotterdam resident Tim van der Meer (40). The disease left a deep impression on him. Shingles is common: one in three Dutch people will experience it at some point.

When Tim continues to talk, it becomes clear why he never wants to experience the disease again. Even though it didn't even last a week for him. “I couldn't do anything anymore, it hurt so much. Don't lie down, don't sit down. Nothing." Tim couldn't lie down and therefore couldn't sleep. “I was awake for nights.”

Anja van Loo (66) also lay awake a lot when she had shingles. “It hurts so much, it's terrible,” she says. “You just don't know how to lie.” Anja ended up suffering from it for a month.

'Whatever'
Although one in three people will develop shingles at some point in their lives, it is a disease that experts say we don't pay enough attention to. That is why an awareness week is now being organized for the second time to draw attention to the symptoms.
“It is a disease that many people think 'It's okay', but it is really serious. One in ten suffers from a lot of pain and the pain can last for months," says shingles expert and scientific researcher from Erasmus MC Georges Verjans.
Tim had shingles on the right side of his torso, he said. “It looked like a straight piece of cloth from below the chest to the back.” Anja had it on her left side with a few spots on the back.
The worst spot is on the face, Verjans sees. Then you run the risk of infecting the eyes.

Read the whole article on Rijnmond Nieuws (in Dutch)

Guest Lecture 'Modeling Covid-19 immunity and therapy’

Prof. Joshua T. Schiffer, MD 
Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center

Date: 7 December 2023
Location: Room EE-822
Time: 13:00 - 14:00 

November 2023

Guest Lecture 'Early host defense and immune responses to herpesvirus infections’

Date: 16 november 2023
Location: Room EE-822
Time: 16:00 - 17:00 

July 2023

Ius promovendi awarded to the HerpeslabNL PI:

The Erasmus MC’s Doctorate Board has granted dr. G.M.G.M. Verjans the Ius promovendi.

June 2023

Michiel van Gent receives prestigious personal grant (VIDI) from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) to study intrinsic immunity against viral infections of the human nervous system

Seven scientists from Erasmus MC receive a grant from NWO for their research. This will enable the laureates to develop an innovative line of research over the next five years and to further expand their own research group. Six Vidis have been awarded and a subsidy through the Open Technology Programme. Michiel van Gent is one of them.

Viral infections of the nervous system can have very serious consequences, such as permanent neurological damage in newborns, eye infections that can lead to permanent blindness, and inflammation in the brain with fatal outcome.

This research will determine how nerve cells arm themselves against these infections to ensure that harmful viruses cannot enter. A better understanding of these protective processes will provide starting points for the development of new drugs and therapies to combat these viral infections and thus prevent serious disorders of the nervous system.

May 2023

Werner Ouwendijk received an ENW-M grant from the Dutch NWO Domain Board Science to investigate how herpesviruses establish latency and how they can reactivate.  Link 

Awakening a sleeping virus
Dr. W.J.D. (Werner) Ouwendijk (Erasmus medisch centrum)

Herpesviruses are an important cause of severe diseases in humans and animals. Following infection herpesviruses persist in the host as latent virus (i.e., the virus enters a sleep mode). Later in life, the virus can awaken (reactivation) to cause recurrent disease. I will investigate how herpesviruses establish latency and how they can reactivate. Hereto, I will be using varicella-zoster virus (VZV), the cause of chickenpox and shingles, as a model. More insight into these poorly understood processes will be essential for the development of new therapies that prevent reactivation of VZV and possibly other herpesviruses.

November 2022

Werner Ouwendijk received an ENW XS grant to explore the link between virus infections and Alzheimer’s disease Link (In Dutch)

Impact of virus infections on the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. W.J.D. (Werner) Ouwendijk (Erasmus medisch centrum)

Infectious diseases increase the risk of getting Alzheimer's disease. How pathogens contribute to Alzheimer's is unclear. In this study, I will use a powerful and innovative technique to analyze the history of virus infections during the lifetime of an individual. By comparing Alzheimer's patients with non-demented controls, I can identify specific viruses or combinations of virus infections that are associated with the development of Alzheimer's disease. This knowledge encourages further research into how these viruses contribute to the disease and can prioritize the development of new antiviral therapies or vaccines.

October 2022

On Tuesday October 25 2022 Shirley Braspenning successfully defended her PhD dissertation ‘Molecular Biology of Lytic and Latent Varicellovirus Infections’. Link to thesis.

Juli 2022

Minisymposium "Herpesviruses: molecular interactions between virus and host" 

Date: 24 october 2022
Location: Science Tower, Rotterdam and online
Time: 13:00 - 17:15 

ON LINE ZOOM LINK

Synopsis_Bibliography Speakers

REGISTER HERE 

May 2022:
After performing an 8-month internship in the HerpesLab, Mike Eterman obtained his MSc degree in Biomedical Sciences at the Leiden University Medical Center. Dr. Werner Ouwendijk attended the graduation ceremony and awarded Mike his degree (image; Mike: left, Werner: right).