معرفی
Prof. J.E.M.A. (Reno) Debets, PhD, is a Principal Investigator and Professor in T-Cell Immunity and Adoptive Therapy of Tumors at Erasmus MC-Cancer Institute's Department of Medical Oncology since 2000. He leads a 18-member laboratory focused on tumor immunology, with expertise in T-cell biology, adoptive therapy, and TCR engineering.
- MSc (1991, cum laude) in Biological Sciences, University of Maastricht
- PhD (1996, cum laude) in Inflammation, Erasmus MC Immunology Department
- Postdoctoral work at DNAX Research Institute (1996-1999)
- Certified Immunologist (2005)
- Professor since 2019
His research targets three pillars: (1) Developing adoptive T cell therapies for solid tumors, (2) Investigating tumor-T cell cross-talk mechanisms, (3) Monitoring patient T cell immunity. Key projects include MAGE-C2-specific T cell therapy trials, TCR toxicity assessments, and immune profiling of cancer patients using multiplex technologies. His lab has pioneered gene-engineered T cells for renal cell carcinoma and melanoma treatments.
Recent publications highlight innovations in TCR engineering (2014-2018), immune evasion mechanisms in prostate and breast cancers, and clinical challenges in adoptive therapy. These works span mutational-immune correlations, non-mispairing TCR designs, and preclinical modeling of immunotoxicity.
Scientific Awards:
- Erasmus MC Research Award for PhD thesis (1997)
He supervises over 40 bachelor/master students and 14 PhD/clinical fellows, while organizing international training networks. His advisory roles include Institut National du Cancer (France) and editorial duties for major immunology journals.
The laboratory has established Europe's first gene-engineered T cell phase I/II trials for renal cancer, with ongoing melanoma/head-and-neck cancer studies. Their immune profiling work (Multomab/Responder studies) identifies predictive biomarkers for cancer therapies.
