Prof. Toos Daemen

Prof. Dr. Toos Daemen studied Medical Biology at the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands. She specialized in microbiology, immunology and parasitology for her Master’s Degree in Mathematics and Natural Sciences (1983). In 1987, she obtained her PhD degree (magna cum laude) at the University of Groningen. Starting in 1987, she worked as a post-doctoral fellow and an assistant professor at the Department of Physiological Chemistry of the University of Groningen. In 1999, she was appointed assistant professor at the Department of Medical Microbiology and Molecular Virology and was appointed associate professor at the same department in 2001. In 2008, she was appointed full professor of tumor virology at the Department of Medical Microbiology of University Medical Center Groningen. She has extensive expertise in the area of the activation of the innate and adaptive immune system for cancer immunotherapy. After joining the Molecular Virology section, she has focused on immunotherapeutic strategies against virus-induced tumors, such as HPV- and HCV-induced cancers in particular. She is currently pursuing several approaches, including genetic immunization with recombinant suicide viral vectors based on Semliki Forest virus and protein/virosome-based immunization strategies.