To main content To main navigation

Barbro Melgert

 Associate professor Pharmaceutical Immunology Profile
Associate professor Pharmaceutical Immunology
Contact information

I am a respiratory immunologist who trained as a pharmacist at the University of Groningen and my research is embedded within GRIAC and the Groningen Research Institute for Pharmacy. We investigate how the immune system in the lung is impaired by toxic exposures and can be harnessed to treat chronic respiratory diseases like asthma, COPD and lung fibrosis. For this, we focus on the role of macrophages in development and exacerbations of asthma and COPD using animal models and 3D lung models with direct translation to the clinic. Another important cause of development and aggravation of lung diseases is exposure to air pollutants. Our indoor environment contains many types and their concentrations are generally higher than outdoors. A novel concern are microplastics, that make up an important part of indoor dust. My recent work specializes on elucidating the effects of inhalable microplastics on human lung health with again special focus on interactions between structural lung cells and the local immune system.
Large profile picture of B. N. Melgert