Prof. Dr. H.U. Scherer is professor of rheumatology, in particular translational rheumatology. He works as a rheumatologist/internist and translational scientist in the department of rheumatology at Leiden University Medical Center. His scientific area of interest focuses on the biology of auto-reactive B cells in the pathophysiology of autoimmune diseases. He is a laureate of a ZonMW VENI and VIDI grant and head of the rheumatology outpatient clinic. He also supervises a team of experimental researchers. In 2019, he received the Marie-Parijs Prize from the LUMC. He is actively involved in the education of medical and biomedical science students and in the training of physicians as internists and rheumatologists.

More information about Uli Scherer

Prof. Dr. H.U. Scherer is professor of rheumatology, in particular translational rheumatology. He works as a rheumatologist/internist and translational scientist in the department of rheumatology at Leiden University Medical Center. His scientific area of interest focuses on the biology of auto-reactive B cells in the pathophysiology of autoimmune diseases. He is a laureate of a ZonMW VENI and VIDI grant and head of the rheumatology outpatient clinic. He also supervises a team of experimental researchers. In 2019, he received the Marie-Parijs Prize from the LUMC. He is actively involved in the education of medical and biomedical science students and in the training of physicians as internists and rheumatologists.

Reumatologie

Translational research focuses on translating clinical observations into questions for experimental scientific research, and on translating findings from the experimental research into clinical application. This means that Prof. Scherer performs a bridging function between experimental research and patient care. In this regard, Prof. Scherer's work focuses on a deep understanding of the biology of rheumatoid autoimmune diseases. Most autoimmune diseases are chronic diseases that to date cannot be cured. Rheumatic autoimmune diseases are mostly characterized by inflammation in organs and tissues. In many of these diseases, B cells, and especially auto-reactive B cells, play a crucial role in the onset of disease and in the chronic disease course. Prof. Scherer and his team have developed unique technology to identify and study auto-reactive B cells in patients. In general, the inflammatory processes in these conditions can be treated reasonably and increasingly well with modern medication. In many cases, however, the drugs primarily suppress inflammation but cannot cure the disease process. Prof. Scherer's research has shown that immunological processes often remain underlyingly active despite use of medication, requiring patients to be treated chronically. In particular, auto-reactive B cells seem to be an important driver behind the persistence of the chronic disease process. The challenge is to permanently silence this "immunological disease activity," thereby potentially curing autoimmune diseases. To this end, Prof. Scherer is working on various forms of therapies to specifically remove B cells, and specifically auto-reactive B cells.

Academic career

Prof. Scherer studied medicine at the Free and Humboldt Universities in Berlin and at the Eberhard-Karls University in Tübingen, Germany. He conducted experimental scientific research as a fellow of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft at the Institute for Immunology at the University of Tübingen, at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (Lyon, France), and as an Articulum Fellow in the Laboratory for Experimental Rheumatology at the LUMC. Since 2010, he has been a physician and translational scientist in the Department of Rheumatology at LUMC. He received his PhD from Leiden University in 2013 with the thesis "Basic Disease Mechanisms in Rheumatoid Arthritis". On June 21, 2024, he will deliver his inaugural lecture entitled " Over barriers and bridges - Autoimmune diseases on the road to cure."