Koen started his PhD (Doctor of Philosophy ) in October 2022 under supervision of Jacco Wallinga and Debbie van Baarle. His research is part of the BioClock consortium, which examines the role of the biological clock in health and society. Koen investigates whether there is an optimal time of the day at which vaccines should be administered to offer the best protection against pathogens, like influenza or SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)-CoV (coronavirus)-2. The objective is to determine the effect of vaccination timing on the immunological response, and subsequently, to assess the potential impact that optimized timing of vaccinations could have on the spread of the pathogens in the population.
Background
Koen obtained his master’s degree in 2022 in Biomedical Sciences at the Radboud university, Nijmegen, specialising in epidemiology and immunology. In an internship he assessed the accuracy of a screening/triage tool for pulmonary tuberculosis, “computer-aided detection for TB (tuberculose)” (CAD4TB), in a diabetic population from Sub-Saharan Africa.