Lieve Temmerman

Post doc

Dr Lieve Temmerman graduated Master in Biomedical Sciences at the KU Leuven (Belgium) in 2005. She was selected for a PhD at the EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory) Mouse Biology Unit with Prof. Dr. Nadia Rosenthal. Her work focussed on the possibly differential role of several isoforms of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), where she created and studied severel IGF-1 isoform knockout mice.

In April 2011, she joined the group of Prof. Erik Biessen at Maastricht University. Her first years as a post-doc focussed on the role of antigen presenting cells (DC subsets and macrophages) in mouse models of atherosclerosis. In 2015-2016 she received a grant from the UM board to co-manage eNovum, a University-wide initiative to spearhead e-innovations at the UM. Since 2017, she is again dedicating her time to research, now leading the high content analysis cluster in Prof. Biessen's group.

Our current research centres on macrophages, and how we can better understand and potentially manipulate their plasticity in a cardiovascular disease context. We have developed a high content analysis platform based on automated fluorescent microscopy, which enables us to get a full functional profile of macrophage activation. Combined with machine learning techniques, transcriptomics, and through close collaboration with clinicians, we are able to map the response of macrophages to patient material, compounds and materials. Ongoing projects are studying the effect of pre-eclampsia in the development of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (part of the Queen of Hearts Study, Dutch Heart Foundation), stratifying cardiovascular risk in the obese population (STW project), characterizing cardiovascular patient monocytes, mapping a functional response to biomaterials (collaboration with DSM).

Department of Pathology
Universiteitsingel 50, 6229 ER Maastricht
PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht
Room number: 5.08
T: +31 (0)43 387 71 67

  • 2024
    • Medina, I., Wieland, E. B., Temmerman, L., Otten, J. J. T., Bermudez, B., Bot, I., Rademakers, T., Wijnands, E., Schurgers, L., Mees, B., van Berkel, T. J. C., Goossens, P., & Biessen, E. A. L. (2024). Colony stimulating factor 1 receptor (Csf1r) expressing cell ablation in mafia (macrophage-specific Fas-induced apoptosis) mice alters monocyte landscape and atherosclerotic lesion characteristics. European Journal of Immunology, 54(11), Article 2350943. https://doi.org/10.1002/eji.202350943
    • Christ, A., Maas, S. L., Jin, H., Lu, C., Legein, B., Wijnands, E., Temmerman, L., Otten, J., Isaacs, A., Zenke, M., Stoll, M., Biessen, E. A. L., & van der Vorst, E. P. C. (2024). In situ lipid-loading activates peripheral dendritic cell subsets characterized by cellular ROS accumulation but compromises their capacity to prime naïve T cells. Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 210, 406-415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2023.11.044
  • 2023
    • Nagenborg, J., Jin, H., Ruder, A. V., Temmerman, L., Mees, B., Schalkwijk, C., Müller-Klieser, D., Berg, T., Goossens, P., Donners, M. M. P. C., & Biessen, E. A. L. (2023). GM-CSF-activated STAT5A regulates macrophage functions and inflammation in atherosclerosis. Frontiers in Immunology, 14, Article 1165306. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1165306
    • Ruder, A., Wetzels, S. M. W., Temmerman, L., Biessen, E. A. L., & Goossens, P. (2023). Monocyte heterogeneity in cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular Research, 119(11), 2033-2045. https://doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvad069
    • van Kuijk, K., McCracken, I. R., Tillie, R. J. H. A., Asselberghs, S. E. J., Kheder, D. A., Muitjens, S., Jin, H., Taylor, R. S., Schreur, R. W., Kuppe, C., Dobie, R., Ramachandran, P., Gijbels, M. J., Temmerman, L., Kirkwoord, P. M., Luyten, J., Li, Y. M., Noels, H., Goossens, P., ... Sluimer, J. C. (2023). Human and murine fibroblast single-cell transcriptomics reveals fibroblast clusters are differentially affected by ageing and serum cholesterol. Cardiovascular Research, 119(7), 1509-1523. https://doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvad016
    • Ruder, A. V., Temmerman, L., van Dommelen, J. M. A., Nagenborg, J., Lu, C., Sluimer, J. C., Goossens, P., & Biessen, E. A. L. (2023). Culture density influences the functional phenotype of human macrophages. Frontiers in Immunology, 14(1), Article 1078591. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1078591
    • Fontaine, M. A. C., Jin, H., Gagliardi, M., Rousch, M., Wijnands, E., Stoll, M., Li, X., Schurgers, L., Reutelingsperger, C., Schalkwijk, C., van den Akker, N. M. S., Molin, D. G. M., Gullestad, L., Eritsland, J., Hoffman, P., Skjelland, M., Andersen, G. Ø., Aukrust, P., Karel, J., ... Biessen, E. A. L. (2023). Blood Milieu in Acute Myocardial Infarction Reprograms Human Macrophages for Trauma Repair. Advanced Science, 10(5), Article 2203053. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202203053
  • 2022
    • van Dierendonck, X. A. M. H., Vrieling, F., Smeehuijzen, L., Deng, L., Boogaard, J. P., Croes, C. A., Temmerman, L., Wetzels, S., Biessen, E., Kersten, S., & Stienstra, R. (2022). Triglyceride breakdown from lipid droplets regulates the inflammatory response in macrophages. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(12), Article e2114739119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2114739119
  • 2021
    • Tillie, R. J. H. A., De Bruijn, J., Perales-Paton, J., Temmerman, L., Ghosheh, Y., Van Kuijk, K., Gijbels, M. J., Carmeliet, P., Ley, K., Saez-Rodriguez, J., & Sluimer, J. C. (2021). Partial Inhibition of the 6-Phosphofructo-2-Kinase/Fructose-2,6-Bisphosphatase-3 (PFKFB3) Enzyme in Myeloid Cells Does Not Affect Atherosclerosis. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, 9, Article 695684. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2021.695684
    • Jaminon, A. M. G., Akbulut, A. C., Rapp, N., Kramann, R., Biessen, E. A. L., Temmerman, L., Mees, B., Brandenburg, V., Dzhanaev, R., Jahnen-Dechent, W., Floege, J., Uitto, J., Reutelingsperger, C. P., & Schurgers, L. J. (2021). Development of the BioHybrid Assay: Combining Primary Human Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells and Blood to Measure Vascular Calcification Propensity. Cells, 10(8), Article 2097. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10082097
    • Tillie, R. J. H. A., Theelen, T. L., van Kuijk, K., Temmerman, L., de Bruijn, J., Gijbels, M., Betsholtz, C., Biessen, E. A. L., & Sluimer, J. C. (2021). A Switch from Cell-Associated to Soluble PDGF-B Protects against Atherosclerosis, despite Driving Extramedullary Hematopoiesis. Cells, 10(7), Article 1746. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells10071746
  • 2020
    • Chteinberg, E., Wetzels, S., Gerritsen, W., Temmerman, L., van den Oord, J., Biessen, E., Kurz, A. K., Winnepenninckx, V., Zenke, M., Speel, E.-J., & Hausen, A. Z. (2020). Navitoclax combined with Alpelisib effectively inhibits Merkel cell carcinoma cell growth in vitro. Therapeutic Advances in Medical Oncology, 12, Article 1758835920975621. https://doi.org/10.1177/1758835920975621
    • Legein, B., Janssen, E. M., Theelen, T., Gijbels, M., Walraven, J., Klarquist, J. S., Hennies, C. M., Wouters, K., Seijkens, T., Wijnands, E., Sluimer, J., Lutgens, E., Zenke, M., Hildner, K., Biessen, E., & Temmerman, L. (2020). Author Correction: Ablation of CD8α+ dendritic cell mediated cross-presentation does not impact atherosclerosis in hyperlipidemic mice. Scientific Reports, 10(1), Article 8747. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-65653-2
    • Hung, J., Scanlon, J. P., Mahmoud, A. D., Rodor, J., Ballantyne, M., Fontaine, M. A. C., Temmerman, L., Kaczynski, J., Connor, K. L., Bhushan, R., Biessen, E. A. L., Newby, D. E., Sluimer, J. C., & Baker, A. H. (2020). Novel Plaque Enriched Long Noncoding RNA in Atherosclerotic Macrophage Regulation (PELATON). Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, 40(3), 697-713. https://doi.org/10.1161/ATVBAHA.119.313430
  • 2019
    • Fontaine, M. A. C., Westra, M. M., Bot, I., Jin, H., Franssen, A. J. P. M., Bot, M., de Jager, S. C. A., Dzhagalov, I., He, Y.-W., van Vlijmen, B. J. M., Gijbels, M. J. J., Reutelingsperger, C. P., van Berkel, T. J. C., Sluimer, J. C., Temmerman, L., & Biessen, E. A. L. (2019). Low human and murine Mcl-1 expression leads to a pro-apoptotic plaque phenotype enriched in giant-cells. Scientific Reports, 9(1), Article 14547. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51020-3
  • 2017
    • Temmerman, L., Westra, M. M., Bot, I., van Vlijmen, B. J. M., Van Bree, N., Bot, M., Habets, K. L. L., Keulers, T. G. H., van der Vlag, J., Cotter, T. G., van Berkel, T. J. C., & Biessen, E. A. L. (2017). Leukocyte Bim deficiency does not impact atherogenesis in ldlr(-/-) mice, despite a pronounced induction of autoimmune inflammation. Scientific Reports, 7(1), Article 3086. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-02771-4
  • 2015
    • Legein, B., Janssen, E. M., Theelen, T. L., Gijbels, M. J., Walraven, J., Klarquist, J. S., Hennies, C. M., Wouters, K., Seijkens, T. T. P., Wijnands, E., Sluimer, J. C., Lutgens, E., Zenke, M., Hildner, K., Biessen, E. A. L., & Temmerman, L. (2015). Ablation of CD8 alpha(+) dendritic cell mediated cross-presentation does not impact atherosclerosis in hyperlipidemic mice. Scientific Reports, 5, Article 15414. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep15414
    • Tonkin, J., Temmerman, L., Sampson, R. D., Gallego-Colon, E., Barberi, L., Bilbao, D., Schneider, M. D., Musaro, A., & Rosenthal, N. (2015). Monocyte/Macrophage-derived IGF-1 Orchestrates Murine Skeletal Muscle Regeneration and Modulates Autocrine Polarization. Molecular Therapy, 23(7), 1189-1200. https://doi.org/10.1038/mt.2015.66
    • Temmerman, L., & Biessen, E. A. L. (2015). Deadly tricks to combat atherosclerosis. Cardiovascular Research, 106(3), 345-347. https://doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvv133
  • 2013
    • Christ, A., Temmerman, L., Legein, B., Daemen, M. J. A. P., & Biessen, E. A. L. (2013). Dendritic Cells in Cardiovascular Diseases Epiphenomenon, Contributor, or Therapeutic Opportunity. Circulation, 128(24), 2603-2613. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.003364
    • Legein, B., Temmerman, L., Biessen, E. A. L., & Lutgens, E. (2013). Inflammation and immune system interactions in atherosclerosis. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 70(20), 3847-3869. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-013-1289-1
  • 2011
    • Daissormont, I. T. M. N., Christ, A., Temmerman, L., Millares, S. S., Seijkens, T., Manca, M., Rousch, M., Poggi, M., Boon, L., van der Loos, C. M., Daemen, M. J. A. P., Lutgens, E., Halvorsen, B., Aukrust, P., Janssen, E. M., & Biessen, E. A. L. (2011). Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells Protect Against Atherosclerosis by Tuning T-Cell Proliferation and Activity. Circulation Research, 109(12), 1387-1395. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.111.256529