Team
Christian Büll, Ph.D.
Christian graduated from Radboud University in 2011 (cum laude). He completed his PhD in 2017 (cum laude) studying sialic acids in cancer immunology with Prof. Gosse Adema. From 2018-2020, he was a Marie-Curie fellow with Prof. Henrik Clausen, Copenhagen University, working with the cell-based glycan array technology. Next, he received a Veni grant to reseach intestinal mucin glycans with Prof. Hans Clevers, Hubrecht Institute. In 2022, Christian was appointed as assistant professor in biomolecular chemistry at Radboud University. His group develops glycoengineering tools to probe and modulate biological interactions with glycans focusing on the sialic acids. Christian currently holds a Vidi grant and he is receipient of the NVBMB prize (2024), the KNAW early career award (2024), and the IGO Hakomori young glycoscientist award (2025).
Group leader
Annemarie
van der Heijden
Research technician
Annemarie completed her BSc in Biochemistry at HAN University of Applied Sciences in Nijmegen in 1996. Since then, she has been working as a research technician of this department. In addition, she is an illustrator and author of children’s books. As a hobby she plays flute in various orchestras.
Valeska
de Ruiter
Research technician
Stijn
Kruf
PhD candidate
Stijn obtained his BSc in Chemistry at the University of Applied Sciences Rotterdam and his MSc in Molecular Sciences at Radboud University where he researched the role of glycoproteins in autoimmunity and also worked on the organic synthesis and physical properties of chemically modified carbohydrates. During his PhD project, he develops a human cell-based platform for the production of human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) and to elucidate glycosyltransferases involved in HMO biosynthesis.
Khadra
Mohamed
PhD candidate
Khadra completed her BSc in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology and obtained a MSc degree in Biomedicine at University of Bergen. She has also studied Functional Genomics at the University of Gothenburg, investigating the catalytic activity of α-synuclein amyloids in Parkinson's disease. Her PhD project focuses on developing glycoengineering tools to study sialoglycan-Siglec interactions and to dissect the contribution of individual sialyltransferases to the sialoglycome.
Daniëlle
Geers
PhD candidate
Daniëlle completed her Bsc in Molecular Life Sciences and MSc in Medicinal Chemistry, both at Radboud University. During her MSc internship at the Neumann lab, she synthesized small cyclic peptides for enhanced therapeutic stability by employing tetrazine and click chemistry. In her PhD project in the Büll lab, she develops probes to dissect mucin degradation in the colonic mucus layer by commensals and pathogens.
Valerija
Ivšić
PhD candidate
Valerija completed her BSc in Molecular Biology at University of Zagreb and her MSc in Infection and Immunity at Utrecht University. During her MSc she explored commensal bacteria interactions with trans-membrane mucins and colon cancer- associated glycosylation changes. As a PhD student, Valerija is exploring sialoglycan clusters on mucins as potential self-signalling modules and the corresponding immune receptors.
Tamara
Spijker
PhD candidate
Tamara finished her BSc Molecular Life Sciences and MSc Medical Biology at Radboud University. She also studied and worked at Staffordshire University in England and Antwerp University in Belgium. In Antwerp, she studied the interactions of several high-carriage nasopharyngeal bacteria in infants, including host-bacteria interactions. During her PhD project, she aims to develop inhibitors for mucin-degrading enzymes of the intestinal and vaginal microbiota.
Katharina
Pape
PhD candidate
Katharina studied Biochemistry (BSc and MSc) at Freie Universität Berlin and has since built a broad research background spanning virology, immunology, and glycobiology. During a research stay at MIT, she investigated how mucin glycans regulate immune cell responses. Now, as a PhD student , she focuses on how cancer-associated sialoglycans modulate immune cell function via Siglec-15 in the tumor microenvironment with focus on thyroid cancer.
Sylvie
Tonen
MSc internship student
Sylvie studies MSc Chemistry of Life at Radboud University. In her internship, she is developing glycosyltransferase knock-out cell lines and studies glucose transport.
Isa
Verlangen
Researcher
Isa obtained her BSc in Chemistry at HAN University of Applied Sciences and completed her MSc in Molecular Sciences at Radboud University. During her MSc studies, she worked on the development of an assay to detect anti-cN1A autoantibodies in Inclusion Body Myositis. Currently, she works on glycans in autoantibody responses. Outside the lab, Isa enjoys sports and creative activities.
Amrah
Weijn, Ph.D.
Research technician
Lab alumni
Postdoctoral researchers
Jona Merx
→ Scientist at GlycoTherapeutics
2022 - 2023
PhD students
Daniël Hornikx
→ Postdoc at ETH Zürich
2022 - 2026
Research technicians
Bas Kiffen
→ Research technician at UMC Utrecht
2023 - 2025
MSc internship students
Kevin van der Donk (2026)
Bo Peusen (2026)
Niek Abbink (2025)
Maedeh Mahlooji (2025)
Dylan de Wit (2024)
Jente Hermans (2024)
Roos Weeda (2024)
Stijn Kruf (2023)
Alana Bogert (2023)