Anja Wilmes is assistant professor at the Department of Molecular and Computational Toxicology of the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam. Her research focuses on the development of cell models derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). She uses this for toxicity testing with a focus on the development of human test systems for personalised medicine and toxicity.

She completed her PhD in cell and molecular biology at the School of Biological Sciences at the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. She then worked as a postdoc in the department of physiology at the Medical University of Innsbruck (Austria), where she also obtained her habilitation in 2016. A habilitation (also called venia docendi) is an additional scientific promotion with teaching qualification that is common in certain countries, you could think of it as a kind of diploma for professor.

Wilmes has extensive experience in the development and application of non-animal in vitro models for nephrotoxicity testing with human kidney cell lines, including RPTEC/TERT1 cells, and she has developed methods to differentiate iPSC into renal podocytes and proximal tubular kidney cells. Her research interests also include liver toxicity, mitochondria toxicity, drug transport and microfluidic cell culture systems.