Anke Huckriede

Anke Huckriede, always interested in immunology and infectious diseases, arrived at the field of vaccinology only after some detours.  Anke studied cell biology and obtained her PhD in this field at the University of Bielefeld, Germany.  During a postdoc at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, Anke got involved in research on heat shock proteins which, at the time, were explored as cancer vaccines.  Though her research on heat shock protein-based vaccines was moderately successful, she became fascinated by vaccinology and subsequently turned to influenza vaccines.

Anke’s main interest is in understanding what (pheno)type of immune response is best suited to counteract a certain pathogen and how such an immune response can best be generated by vaccination. In this line, her work aims at improving immune responses to (influenza) vaccines by generating knowledge on the effects of pre-existing immunity on vaccine-induced responses, by elucidating the role of vaccine composition and of host-specific factors on the magnitude and quality of immune responses, and by developing new vaccine administration forms.

In 2011, she was appointed Professor of Vaccinology at the Department of Microbiology and Infection Prevention, University Medical Center Groningen.

Anke has been involved in various national and international vaccine consortia as participant, work package leader or co-coordinator.  She is founding member of the Division Vaccinology of the Royal Dutch Society for Microbiology (KNVM) and has been co-organizer of the Dutch Vaccine Symposium for many years.  Anke teaches vaccinology for medical and biology students and regularly presents on vaccines for the public. In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, she has been involved in advisory committees on coronavirus vaccination on local, regional, and national levels, writing regular columns on new developments for a Dutch medical journal, and giving many interviews on coronavirus vaccines for newspapers, news sites, radio and television.