The ETRL welcomes Priscilla Kerkman

On 1 September we welcomed Priscilla Kerkman in the ETRL team. She will be trained as ETRL director to be the successor of Gottfried Fischer in 2 years. Below you will find a short introduction of Priscilla.

I’m Priscilla Kerkman and joined the ETRL in September 2026. I studied Life Science and Technology at TU Delft and Leiden University in The Netherlands and graduated in 2011. I subsequently obtained my PhD at Leiden University Medical Center, where I worked on antigen-specific B cells in rheumatology. I continued my academic career as a postdoctoral researcher, first at Umeå University, Sweden and later at University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands, working on B cells and antibodies in viral and bacterial infections. I then moved to a small biotechnology start-up in Leiden, where I optimized the product and helped establish the processes, documentation, and infrastructure required to scale the company, while also supporting the expansion of the team. I am very pleased to join the ETRL and begin training to become the next director. I look forward to learning more about this field and meeting you.