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Rob de Boer is an Emeritus Professor of Theoretical Biology at Utrecht University, focusing on immunology and the quantitative analysis of immune system dynamics. His research investigates the complexities of the immune system, emphasizing the decision-making processes involved in responding to stimuli from a wide variety of agents, including pathogens and food proteins. He explores immunological memory, notably how decisions made by the immune system are remembered and influence future responses. His major contributions involve developing quantitative methodologies to describe population dynamics within the immune system, employing various labeling techniques and mathematical modeling to analyze complex data sets. Notably, he has utilized deuterium labeling to study the lifespan of naïve and memory T cells in HIV-infected patients, leading to insights into cellular turnover rates and the maintenance of long-term immunological memory. Additionally, he examines the interplay between host-pathogen evolution and the antigen presentation pathways involving natural killer cells. His extensive expertise in theoretical biology aids in understanding not just the immune system, but also the evolutionary pressures influencing its development across diverse host environments.
Department of Psychology