Simon Daan Pouwels defended his thesis entitled “DAMPS, endogenous danger signals fueling inflammation in COPD” on May 10th. Simon Daan Pouwels has been working on a Dutch Lung Foundation project of Prof. van Oosterhout, Dr. Nawijn and Prof. Heijink (Department of Pathology and Medical Biology, UMCG) and Dr. ten Hacken (Department of Pulmonology, UMCG), in order to elucidate the role of damage associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) in the pathogenesis of COPD. During 4 years, he performed research on the susceptibility of lung cells to cigarette smoke-induced damage and release of DAMPs using both in vitro and in vivo models, studying the consequences for inflammatory responses in COPD. These studies have contributed significantly to the field of respiratory medicine, providing novel insight into the mechanisms of inflammatory responses as well as exacerbations in COPD. The full manuscript can be downloaded here below.