The research started in August 2024 and is now running at full speed. Blood was taken from more than 30 patients. In the meantime, the team is working hard to perfect the laboratory techniques, under the guidance of Dr. Juan Garcia Vallejo. “We do test runs, draw up protocols, make sure everything is correct,” Filip explains. “Soon we want to be able to do the analysis correctly the first time.”
The biggest challenge? The pathogenic immune cells are only a small part of all white blood cells in our body. “Most white blood cells actually protect us against infections. Distinguishing between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ cells has proven difficult, but we believe that this will be possible with the new techniques.”
At the end of 2026, the team expects to be able to conduct the first analyzes of patients who have not yet been treated. Additional analyzes of patients treated with rituximab will follow in 2027. It will then become clear whether the team can indeed predict who will or will not respond to this treatment.
