Dr Elly Van Riet
Sr. Scientist
- Elly is a senior scientist at TBVI, using her 20 years of experience in several aspects of vaccine research, to move the development of safe, effective and affordable TB vaccines forward. She earned her MSc as an engineer in biotechnology at Wageningen University and Research Centre, followed by a Ph.D. in immunology at the Department of Parasitology, Leiden University Medical Centre, both in The Netherlands.
After her Ph.D., as a postdoc at the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research Elly was involved in studies on nanoparticles for transcutaneous and intranasal vaccine delivery. She was granted a postdoctoral fellowship by the ‘Japan Society for the Promotion of Science’ to investigate human immune responses to intranasal influenza vaccination at the Influenza Virus Research Center of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (Tokyo, Japan). In 2013 she joined Intravacc, a Dutch organization developing vaccines, first as head of the department Clinical Development and later as Program Manager of Innovation, Program Manager of Bacterial Vaccines, and Vice President R&D. In 2022 Elly switched gears to focus more Global Health, starting both at TBVI as well as AIGHD (Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development).
Elly: “During my PhD in parasitology, I ‘accidently’ got involved in vaccine research when investigating the effect of helminth infections on immune responses to vaccination in children in Gabon. This made me realize that there was – and still is – so much to discover about something that has such a great impact on human health. The combination of scientific challenge and societal impact, with TB excelling in both, has kept me in the field of vaccine development ever since.”