Dr. Leonie van Leeuwen is an instructor within the Recanati/Miller transplant institute. With a strong background in machine perfusion, her main focus is to lead experimental work on ex vivo normothermic perfusion of livers and kidneys as well as advice clinicians on clinical organ perfusion.

In 2016, Leonie obtained a bachelor’s degree in Life, Science, and Technology, majoring in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Groningen. In 2018, Leonie finished the highly competitive Master’s degree in Medical, Pharmaceutical, Drug Innovation at the University of Groningen. She applied for PhD funding focusing on drug targeting during normothermic machine perfusion and protein degradation together with the University of Groningen and the University of Oxford and got awarded with a three year PhD scholarship. During her PhD, Leonie spent many years performing clinical perfusion of isolated livers, kidneys and lungs as an organ perfusionist. After her PhD, Leonie spent time as a Post-Doctoral researcher focusing on the molecular mechanisms underlying machine perfusion. She obtained several research grants, presented her research at several international conferences, and won a young investigator award.

My research interests are focused on organ assessment, preservation and repair using ex vivo normothermic machine perfusion. Ex vivo machine perfusion is an emerging technique in the transplant field that allows continuous perfusion of the donor graft at hypothermic and normothermic temperatures. Over the past years I have attempted to better understand kidney and physiology underlying isolated perfusion using integrated –Omics techniques. Furthermore, I have explored the possibility of using ex vivo machine perfusion as a targeted drug delivery platform to repair organs whilst outside of the body.

INSTRUCTOR | Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute