Aqueous one-pot photoinitiated polymerization-induced self-assembly (photo-PISA) to synthesize therapeutic protein loaded nanocarriers
Irma Vermeijlen completed her Bachelor of Science (BSc + Honors; ‘Cum Laude’) in Medical Sciences and Engineering in 2018 at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e; Netherlands). She continued to obtain her Master of Science degree (MSc; ‘With great appreciation’) in Biomedical Engineering at the TU/e in 2021. During this master she specialized in the direction of Bio-Organic Chemistry, performing her graduation project on the development of polymersomes with controlled topology as antigen-presenting cells for immunotherapy in the group of prof. dr. ir. Jan van Hest. She completed her degree with an internship in the group of prof. dr. Bert Meijer (TU/e), in which she synthesized an asymmetric water-soluble benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide (BTA) monomer to introduce specific functionalities in BTA fibers. In July 2022, she started her PhD at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN) and Centre for Advanced Imaging (CAI) at the University of Queensland. Her research focuses on using aqueous one-pot photoinitiated polymerization-induced self-assembly (photo-PISA) via reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) to synthesize therapeutic protein loaded nanocarriers, under the supervision of prof. dr. Kristofer Thurecht. Irma is an active member of the Polymer Division of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) in Queensland.
Key Publications
Annelies C. Wauters, Jari F. Scheerstra, Irma G. Vermeijlen, Roel Hammink, Marjolein Schluck, Laura Woythe, Hanglong Wu, Lorenzo Albertazzi, Carl G. Figdor, Jurjen Tel, Loai K. E. A. Abdelmohsen, and Jan C. M. van Hest (2022). Artificial Antigen-Presenting Cell Topology Dictates T Cell Activation. ACS Nano, 2022, 16(9), 15072–15085.