Dr. Frits Koning (PhD) is professor of Immunology in the Department of Immunohaematology and Blood Transfusion (IHB) of the Leiden University Medical Centre. Dr. Koning will bring his more than 20 years of experience in immunology and biochemistry. He is section leader in the Department of IHB and head of the mass spectrometry unit. Dr. Koning is an internationally recognized expert in the field of CD as evidenced by invitations to speak during many international meetings on CD. He is the Chief Executive Officer of the Dutch-based CDC and the coordinator of the MC-RTN-CT-512385 "Drugs for Therapy". He participates in national and international (EU) projects on CD. His group was the first to identify a gluten peptide that was recognised by gluten-specific T cells isolated from the small intestine of a CD patient. More recently he has elucidated the specificity of tissue transglutaminase, an enzyme that is involved in gluten toxicity, work that has contributed significantly to our understanding of the molecular basis for the association between HLA-DQ2/8 and CD. He has developed an antibody-based test to screen food and foodstuffs for the presence of toxic gluten peptides. He has filed four patent applications, including three in the field of CD.