Menno van Zelm, PhD

Where do you work?

Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands

What are your research interests?

My main research interest is the formation, durability and plasticity of memory B cells. This immune memory compartment is important to provide immunity after infection or vaccination, but can also be pathogenic in autoimmune diseases and in allergy. With a better understanding of how these memory cells are formed and how they are modified after allergen immunotherapy, I hope to find better targets and means to prevent or treat IgE-mediated allergies.

What scientific achievements are you most proud of?

So hard to state. There have been many milestones, and I advocate in my team that we should celebrate these all. If I have to choose one recent achievement, it would be that over the past years, we have developed and optimized a pipeline for production of recombinant proteins that can be used as fluorescent tetramers for detection of antigen-specific B cells. This has formed the basis of many papers from our group, which demonstrated formation and durability of memory B cells after COVID-19 infection and vaccination, as well as re-shaping memory B cells after allergen immunotherapy.

Who nominated you to join the Collegium?

Prof. Robyn O'Hehir

How has being a member of the Collegium benefited your career?

I have not been a member for very long, but I already enjoyed my first CIA meeting in Montreal in 2023, and had the pleasure to interact with esteemed colleagues. Being a member also provided me with the opportunity to present at the 2024 EAACI meeting in Valencia in the CIA organized session.

What is your favorite memory from a past CIA Symposium?

I really enjoyed the boat trip in Montreal.

What are your hobbies or what do you spend the most of your free time doing?

Being from the Netherlands, I am a big football (soccer) fan and still play myself. I also coach my son's junior team. In general, I enjoy the outdoors, whether on foot, on bike or on skis.

Inducted into the Collegium: October 2023