Working as a clinician-scientist fulfils me with a great sense of purpose and satisfaction. I aim to combine the responsibility of being an asset to my field as a diagnostic pathologist and navigating the challenging and competitive research field.ย My international collaborations in both the Netherlands and Germany let me experience and enjoy different cultures and languages daily.
Our research focuses on cholangiocarcinoma, a type of cancer originating from the bile ducts in the liver. We hope that understanding more about the tumor microenvironment will increase patientsโ chances of survival and improve their quality of life. Tumor microenvironment research is a dynamic field in which we mostly study nerve fibers, immune cells, and fibroblasts.
Our multidisciplinary team is young and diverse, and we all share the goal of improving cancer survival rates. We use various methods such as wet lab laboratory techniques, computational methods and deep immunoprofiling. We love sharing experience and knowledge and are always open to new collaborations. This is meant to be a team effort in which everyone gets to use their skills and can find joy in their work. We learn from each other here and grow as a team.
The staggering number of yearly cases of cholangiocarcinoma clearly shows why this is such an important field of research. We hope that learning as much as we can about these types of cancer will advance the currently available treatments.
Lara Heijโs work has given her extensive knowledge of the cancer microenvironment. Follow her journey as she endeavors to further the field of pancreatic cancer and cholangiocarcinoma research.
Lab day-out! Cow hugging: A Dutch wellness tradition. The warm temperature of the cows and their embracing kindness slows you down. Because mental health matters and so many young students and researchers experience high stress levels, we went on a field trip. The day was to relax, connect and experience culture differences.
This collaboration is a result from the ICRN ENSCCA career award: ENS-CCA/ICRN Mentor/Mentee Assignment for scientific and career advice mentorship. My assigned mentor, Prof F. Rocha, Oregon Health and Science University, USA, has coached me and introduced me to the international cholangiocarcinoma society. Also, we started research projects together. The monthly mentorship meetings have created a transatlantic collaboration and this provided access to cohorts from America and Europe.
Post: https://x.com/laraheij/status/1627532365391368194?s=20
Nerve Fibers in the Tumor Microenvironment as a novel biomarker for oncological outcome in patients undergoing surgery for cholangiocarcinoma.
Besides the characteristic aggressive feature of cholangiocarcinoma called perinueral invasion which is identified in histology slides very often. I discovered protective nerve fibers as well. This phenomenon I called: nerve fiber density.
Future work will be the validation in larger cohorts and hopefully this biomarker can be integrated in the future in the pathology report of each resected patient.
Different methods we use
Learn more about the findings of Lara Heij and her team as they dive deeper into the tumor microenvironment, distinguishing predictive biomarkers and expanding knowledge about the behavior of nerve fibers in cancer cells.
Authors: Tan X, Sivakumar S, Bednarsch J, Wiltberger G, Kather JN, Niehues J, de Vos-Geelen J, Valkenburg-van Iersel L, Kintsler S, Roeth A, Hao G,
Authors: Heij LR, Tan X, Kather JN, Niehues JM, Sivakumar S, Heussen N, van der Kroft G, Lang S, Aberle MR, Luedde T, Gaisa NT,
Authors: Bednarsch J, Tan X, Czigany Z, Liu D, Lang SA, Sivakumar S, Kather JN, Appinger S, Rosin M, Boroojerdi S, Dahl E, Gaisa NT,
Authors: Bednarsch J, Kather J, Tan X, Sivakumar S, Cacchi C, Wiltberger G, Czigany Z, Ulmer F, Neumann UP, Heij LR. Liver Cancer. 2021 Jun;10(3):260-274Epub
Easy to read and stay up to date with new findings, publications and other crucial information relating to the work of Lara Heij and her team.ย
Besides my work on nerve fibers and single cell analysis, I am always looking for ways to apply my -and my teams’- knowledge to the
No, these are living cells isolated, before freezing.This is what the viable single cells look like after an extensive digestion protocol. This quality check we
We hope that understanding more about the tumor microenvironment will increase patientsโ chances of survival and improve their quality of life. Tumor microenvironment research is
Never miss an important event or publication. Let us continue to inspire one another as we work on understanding the nature of these diseases. Please find me on Twitter and follow my work and social life online: @laraheij
It was great to be in SLC and meet up with @FlavioRochaMD. Excited for our collaboration with new work to present next year.
Thanks to the @currecc @CcaEns mentorship program for facilitating international and worldwide collaboration ๐
(Tip: it is easy to sign up for it ๐ค)
So great to catch up with @CcaEns ๐ช๐บ
mentee @laraheij @curecc #CCF2024
and hear about all her accomplishments
Our Poster on Cholangiocarcinoma and single cell sequencing of the tumor microenvironment was shown on the main stage at the GASL conference 2024 in Essen.
#cholangiocarcinoma @curecc @enscca @CcaEns Thanks to @BenniRuf for your nice overview of the poster session!
๏ฟผFALK SYMPOSIA
Liver Transplantation Meets Cancer in Essen (GE) just finished organized by Ulf Neumann and Dieter Hoyer. Learned a lot โ๏ธthanks to great speakers: @tom_luedde @Tacke_lab @CancerInflam
So happy to share that I have started in my new position @UKEssen, after climbing the Highlands in Iceland Iโm ready to go! Big thanks to all my colleagues for supporting me ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ช@ErasmusMC @UniklinikAachen
๐ฌ pathologist ๐scientist ๐งช
Preprint alert:
cholangiocarcinoma and TIGIT ๐ฆ
To read the full version โฌ๏ธ
TIGIT drives the immunosuppressive environment by downregulation of metalloproteinases MMP2 and MMP14 in perihilar cholangiocarcinoma
TIGIT drives the immunosuppressive environment by downregulation of metalloproteinases MMP2 and...
Background Checkpoint blockade in cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is promising; however, little is known about the response to ...
www.biorxiv.org
The Cholangiocarcinoma Conference - Molecular Drivers, Microenvironment and Precision Medicine takes place in California from August 13-17th.
@staclinds and @LewisRobertsMD are presenting about Genome-wide Association Studies in CCA.
Register today at https://web.cvent.com/event/f7e60ad2-597c-4901-86c5-138d369b502e/summary.
This week, EURO-CHOLANGIO-NET participants will meet for the monothematic conference "The Importance of Accurate Diagnosis and Classification of #Cholangiocarcinoma".
๐๏ธ 8-9 June 2023
๐@SapienzaRoma (Rome, Italy)
Learn more about what will be covered ๐
Pan-European collaborative researches in CCA will continue with @EU_Commission support (2023-2027)!!! ๐๐
๐We investigate and put effort for patients! Thanks for this important support from all european citiziens ๐๐ซถ
@curecc @CharityAMMF
Outstanding clinician investigator @laraheij presenting her work on nerve fiber density in #cholangiocarcinoma @curecc #ccfac2023. So great to see her rising โญ๏ธ shine and grateful to @CcaEns for the international mentorship program. ๐ณ๐ฑ ๐ฉ๐ช ๐บ๐ธ ๐ง๐ท
Please contact us if you have any questions concerning our research or if you wish to contribute to this important work through collaboration, resources or funding.
LARA HEIJ RESEARCH
Affiliated with University Hospital Essen & University Hospital Rotterdam EMC.
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