Annemieke Geluk is professor of immunodiagnostics of mycobacterial infectious diseases, leprosy and tuberculosis. Additionally, her research group at the LUMC functions as the national reference centre for routine serological diagnosis of leprosy, and provides this service also in Europe.
Immunodiagnostics
The wider societal role of Geluk’s research is particularly exemplified by her studies on poverty-associated, neglected tropical diseases such as leprosy. Building on decennia-long research on immunology of leprosy at the LUMC, user-friendly POC tests for detection of various disease stages for leprosy were developed and globally field-tested. This immunodiagnostic research approach for leprosy, has led to POC tests for tuberculosis but also for personalized diagnostics, i.e. monitoring patients to early detect harmful immune activity using similar POC assays. Particularly, the ability to detect tissue destructive immunological flares prior to onset of clinical symptoms, allowing timely treatment, can significantly improve the patients’ quality of life.
This immunodiagnostic research approach for leprosy has also led to POC tests for triaging tuberculosis, and to personalized diagnostics, i.e. monitoring patients to early detect harmful immune activity or monitor treatment efficiency. In particular, the POC diagnostic tests that can quantitatively detect infection with the leprosy bacteria in individuals without clinical symptoms are used in population screening for transmission.
Based on a OneHealth approach (human, animal, environment), Geluk also explores routes of mycobacterial transmission. Here too, immunodiagnostics plays a central role.
Academic career
Annemieke Geluk studied Chemistry at the University of Leiden and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA. Then, during her PhD, Geluk specialized as an immunologist at the Department of Immunohematology and Blood Bank at the LUMC as well as Cytel Corporation in San Diego, USA. The title of her thesis (1995) is 'HLA-DR3 / peptide / TCR interactions'. She received postdoctoral training at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
In 1996 the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences acknowledged her a 5-year fellowship during which she focused on the immunology of leprosy and tuberculosis.
She has been appointed Professor of Immunodiagnostics at the LUMC since January 2015. The title of her inaugural lecture (23rd October 2015) is "WhatsLep: priority time for diagnostics". Currently her research focusses on immunodiagnostics of Leprosy and TB including basic-, translational-, applied- as well as field research.
In the past, she was a member of, among others, the ILEP (International Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations), the Temporary Expert Group on Leprosy Research, the Expert Group on M.leprae Transmission, the Novartis Foundation Expert Group on transmission, IDEAL consortium (Initiative for Diagnostic & Epidemiological Assays for Leprosy), various EDCTP consortia for the development of immunodiagnostic tests for TB and the WHO task force group on definitions, criteria and indicators for interruption of transmission and Elimination of Leprosy.
Through decades-long international collaborations with scientists and clinicians, Geluk has led several multi-center studies in e.g. Bangladesh, Brazil, Madagascar, Indonesia and Nepal in which research and capacity building went side by side.
Today Geluk is co-founder of the Dutch Leprosy Expertise Center, a board member of the Q.M. Gastmann-Wichers Foundation and member of the TrenDxTB consortium (EDCTP/NIH) for prospective evaluation of point-of-care triage testing for TB.
Prizes and honourable appointments
- Fellowship of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (1995-2001)
- Nomination “Herman Boerhaave” Award for young scientists in Immunology (1994)
- Van Walree (KNAW) scholarship for young scientists (1993)
- Nomination VIVA400 (2016)
- EDCTP’s Outstanding Research Team award: African European Tuberculosis Consortium; PI Walzl (2021)
