Dr. Jessica Roelands

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3631-2041

After obtaining my Master’s degree in Biomedical Sciences at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), I started my PhD, focusing on the interactions between cancer cells, immune cells, and bacteria in colon cancer. During this period, I established a collaboration between LUMC and Sidra Medicine in Doha, Qatar. I conducted research under supervision of Davide Bedognetti (Sidra), Wouter Hendrickx (Sidra), and Peter Kuppen (LUMC). Together, we initiated a large-scale genomic, immunological, and metagenomic study of colon cancer patients to investigate how the tumor immune microenvironment and tumor microbiome relate to disease outcome. I completed my PhD in 2022 and returned to the Netherlands for a postdoctoral position in the Cancer Immunogenomics group at LUMC, led by Noel de Miranda. During this time, my research expanded towards the spatial and molecular organization of early-stage colorectal cancer.

In 2024, I was awarded a KWF Young Investigator Grant–Alpe d’HuZes Bas Mulder Award to investigate the tumor–immune–microbiota triad in early-stage colorectal cancer. This funding enabled me to establish my independent research group within the Department of Pathology at LUMC. In the same year, I received the LUMC Gisela Thier Fellowship to study how bacteria and bacterial metabolites modulate antigen-presenting cells in cancer immunity. My team aims to uncover the mechanisms underlying cancer development by integrating tumor, immune, and microbial biology, with the ultimate goal of improving cancer prevention, early detection, and patient stratification. Our research is further supported by the Leiden University Fund–Schild-de Groen Fonds, STIMAG Research Grant, and NVGE GastroStart Grant.