During the annual spring meeting of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Vereniging voor Microbiologie (KNVM), held at Papendal (Arnhem) on 31 March–1 April 2026, members of the De Zoete group actively contributed to the scientific program. The meeting featured a broad range of sessions spanning fundamental microbiology to clinical applications, with a strong focus on translational research and interdisciplinary collaboration.
On Monday, 2 February 2026, the De Zoete group attended the second Triple I Conference in Utrecht. The conference brought together over 250 researchers from the Triple I community at Utrecht Science Park, providing a stimulating platform for the exchange of scientific ideas and the development of new collaborations. The program featured six keynote lectures by both international and community speakers, alongside 24 short talks and 36 poster presentations highlighting ongoing research across disciplines.
Like every year, we attended the recent KNVM/NVMM Scientific Spring Meeting as a group. We listened to many interesting speakers and had fun in between. Our favorite part of the conference was, however, the Van Leeuwenhoek Award Ceremony when Merel was presented with a prize in recognition of her recent publications: “Next-generation IgA-SEQ allows for high-throughput, anaerobic, and metagenomic assessment of IgA-coated bacteria” published for Microbiome last year. Once again: Congratulations Merel!
Last Sunday we spent a great afternoon giving a workshop at the University Museum in Utrecht. Kids and their family and the opportunity to walk a mile in our lab coats and experiment with basic microbiological research methods while answering a time-sensitive question; Patient X has an infection: what caused it and how can we treat them? Would you like to join? We will repeat the workshop on 29 April!
Last Monday, we went on our first joined team outing with some colleagues from the Medical Microbiology. Moniek and Merel picked an escape room for us to do and then we went out for dinner together. It was a very positive experience and it definietly gave us a chance to get to know each other better!
Our new paper "Fusobacterium nucleatum upregulates the immune inhibitory receptor PD-L1 in colorectal cancer cells via the activation of ALPK1" was finally published in Gut microbes!
On Wednesday 13 November 2024, the whole De Zoete group attendend the very first Triple I conference. The meeting, held in the stunning Nikolaikerk in the city centrum of Utrecht, aimed to bring together scientists working in the fields of Infection biology, Immunology and Immuno-Oncology. Between presentations and posters we were able to learn a lot about the wonderful research that is being performed just next door!
We are very proud to announce that our new paper is finally out. You can check it out here!
On Sunday October 6, the members of the De Zoete Lab woke up bright and early, but not to go to the lab as usual, but to join the Weekend of Science at Utrecht Science Park. The Weekend of Science is a country-wide initiative organized by NEMO Science Museum and designed to bring science closer to the public. Among the hundreds of activities available on campus and all over the Netherlands, we decided to share our knowledge of mini heroes with mini humans, aka kids!
Congratulations to Dr. Coco! After almost 5 years with the De Zoete Lab, Coco Duizer discussed his PhD this past June. We are very happy for him and we wish him all the best in his future endeavours! Read more about Coco's thesis here
Proud to share with you the new De Zoete Lab website at www.DeZoeteLab.com! Visit us to keep up to date with our research, news or to join our team!
Guus H. van Muijlwijk, Guido van Mierlo, Pascal W.T.C. Jansen, Michiel Vermeulen, Nancy M.C. Bleumink-Pluym, Noah W. Palm, Jos P.M. van Putten, Marcel R. de Zoete
