Tom did his PhD on stromal – immune cell interactions during murine lymph node development in the lab of Reina Mebius.

During his postdoctoral training in Hergen Spits’ lab he discovered the human fetal innate lymphoid cells responsible for lymphoid organogenesis and postnatal mucosal immunity.

Since 2006 Tom is based as at the department of Hematology of the Erasmus University Medical Center Rotterdam.
Tom’s research has maintained a focus on interactions between immune cells and their environment, and his group has identified the interplay between innate lymphoid cells and intestinal stem cells important for tissue repair after chemotherapy, and described a mesenchymal stromal cell niche for innate lymphoid cells in human and mouse lymphoid tissues.

In 2018 Tom joined forces with Pieter Sonneveld and Annemiek Broijl to study the interactions between Multiple Myeloma cells and the bone marrow microenvironment. The Myeloma Research Lab Rotterdam is the result of this joint effort in unraveling the mechanistic underpinnings of cellular interactions and molecular alterations driving development and progression of Multiple Myeloma.

Tom is the recipient of multiple prestigious research fellowships from the Dutch organization for scientific research (Veni 2006; Vidi 2009) and his work has been published in leading scientific journals (Nature Immunology, Immunity, Journal of Experimental Medicine).

Full publication list: link