Kirsten De Ridder

Kirsten De Ridder (°Sint-Niklaas, 01/04/1996) holds a Msc in Bioscience Engineering with a major in Medical Cell & Gene Biotechnology (UGent). Intrigued by the field of cancer immunology she reached out to the lab of Prof. Karine Breckpot where she started her master thesis project entitled “Evaluation of the impact of lung tumor infiltrating myeloid cells on anti-PD-L1 therapy”. Under the wings of Prof. Cleo Goyvaerts this research led to the start of her PhD project. With knowledge gained on myeloid cells in the lung tumor microenvironment, the development of threedimensional tumor immunology models and transcriptomics she now focusses on unravelling resistant mechanisms to cytotoxic T lymphocytes in non-small cell lung cancer. Aside from her passion for science she is always in for a trip through nature on her bicycle.