A lecturer’s enthusiasm for immunology rubbed off on Anouk during her undergraduate studies, and she pursued this interest in her Masters of Science and PhD. Having maintained her passion for translational immunology and experiencing firsthand the excitement of making new discoveries, translational research became the common thread throughout her scientific career. She left her native Netherlands to join a structural biology lab at Monash University’s Biomedical Discovery Institute (BDI) in 2018, where she published two lead author papers and co-authored nine more, before joining the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Laboratory within Central Clinical School’s Department of Immunology. There she is currently focused on studying the allergic immune response and how this is altered when patients are treated with allergen immunotherapy.How did you become interested in immunology? What excites you about this area?
My passion for immunology began during my lectures in my BSc studies, where I was fortunate to have a professor whose enthusiasm for the subject was infectious. His ability to convey the complexities of the immune system with true passion left me amazed and wanting to learn more about it.
What truly excites me about this area is the vast amount of uncharted territory. Despite significant progress, there is still so much we don’t fully understand about the immune system. Moreover, the prospect of contributing to the growing body of knowledge and making a positive impact on human health keeps me motivated.
