After completing his MSc in Biology in 2006, Menno Oudhoff pursued doctoral work under the supervision of Dr. Enno Veerman in the Department of Oral Biochemistry at VU University, Amsterdam, where he studied salivary peptides in wound healing. In 2011, he joined the Mucosal Immunology lab of Dr. Colby Zaph at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver), and then became the group leader at the Centre of Molecular Inflammation Research, which is hosted by the Faculty of Medicine at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. In 2022 he joined the Department of Health Sciences at Carleton.

Dr. Oudhoff’s team investigates the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control infection, regeneration, and inflammation in mucosal surfaces. For example, the digestive tract is responsible for absorption of nutrients and water, but at the same time performs a crucial role as a barrier to the external environment. The barrier function is complicated by the requirement that the digestive tract be simultaneously capable of responding appropriately to dangerous pathogens and tolerant of innocuous antigens like commensal organisms and food. Dysregulation of this equilibrium, either by exposure to infection and/or chemicals or by genetic predisposition, can lead to (chronic) diseases such as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), food allergies, and cancer. Understanding the molecular and cellular principles underlying development, homeostasis, and disease provide important means for identifying novel therapeutics.