Niels Bovenschen

Prof. dr. Niels Bovenschen studied Medical Biology at the Free University in Amsterdam and he obtained his PhD in 2003 at Sanquin Research (Amsterdam). In 2004, he moved to the department of Pathology at the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMC Utrecht). His research group focuses on the effector immune response in eliminating tumor cells and virus-infected cells and how to improve (cancer) immunotherapy. He is in charge of the UMC Utrecht Pathology Research Laboratory and head of the Laboratory of Translational Immunology core facility Proteins. Niels was appointed as Senior Fellow in 2017 and as Principal Fellow in 2020 at Utrecht University. His mission is to engage undergraduate students in science by creating synergy between education, scientific research, and healthcare already at the early undergraduate level. Niels focuses on multidisciplinary collaboration and facilitates students to work on real-world societally relevant problems in the healthcare domain. He is examiner and coordinator of several (bio)medical educational programs and courses at the faculty of Medicine, Utrecht University. He founded the Bachelor Research Hub and Student Research Hub network. In 2019, Niels Bovenschen won the Outstanding Teacher Award of Utrecht University. He was appointed professor of Biomedical Research-based Education at the faculty of Medicine in 2021.