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Kikkie Poels is a 3+ year PhD student in the Medical Biochemistry Lutgens group at the Amsterdam ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� Medical Centre. There she works in the Medical Biochemistry department’s Experimental Vascular Biology subdepartment, researching cardiovascular disease. She aims to help oncologists and cardiologists work together to understand immunotherapy and its effect on cardiovascular health.  

With success Kikkie has been able to demonstrate that there are immunotherapies being used for cancer patients which increase the risk of aggravated atherosclerosis. She has published six articles already, with a seventh one on the way. Kikkie hopes that this will make oncologists and cardiologists aware of the need to monitor cancer patients within the risk groups to prevent cardiovascular episodes such as heart infarctions.

“My PhD focuses on how immunotherapies are used in cancer patients and how they aggravate atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis starts with bad cholesterol which accumulates in artery walls. The cholesterol attracts immune cells […] and chronic inflammation process leads to plaque formation in big arteries. The accumulation of cells and fatty particles in the bloodstream can obstruct or tear and result in blot clots, which can lead to heart infarctions and strokes.”

My PhD focuses on how immunotherapies are used in cancer patients and how they aggravate atherosclerosis.

Much of Kikkie’s data collection comes from plaque morphology. “At the end of a study we sacrifice the mice, and the real research can start.” She considers this her favourite part of the research because a lot her data collection can start then. For her research, Kikkie must determine the progression of plaques and which cells are involved. She does this using immunohistochemistry. The cells become coloured because antibodies with fluorescent tags target proteins in the cells, allowing Kikkie to see structures. This is method is known as immunohistochemistry. Other organs, such as the spleen, lymph nodes and thymus are utilized too. With the use of labelled antibodies and a technique called flow cytometry, she can detect and characterize cells. This gives her an idea of what the organ looks like and how it was functioning.

Kikkie’s PhD defence is planned to occur on the 14^th of April, so she still has half a year left. Given the COVID-19 crisis, she now spends two days in the laboratory in Amsterdam and the rest of the time writing. “I actually enjoy writing. You can easily organize your own time. You also learn a lot about what other people have done and you must understand your own data very well to ensure that everything important is included.”