Bjorn Lars Herpers speaks to Natasha Leeson, Commissioning Editor: Bjorn Lars Herpers was born on 16 February 1974 in Schaesberg. In 1992 he graduated summa cum laude at Gymnasium Rolduc in Kerkrade (The Netherlands) and started to study medical biology at the University of Utrecht. After 3 years, he started to study medicine as well. He graduated cum laude in medical biology in 1999 and obtained his medical degree in 2001. After 1 year of residency in internal medicine at Gooi-Noord Hospital under supervision of DW Erkelens and P Niermeier, he switched to a residency in medical microbiology at the University Medical Center Utrecht and the St Antonius Hospital Nieuwegein under supervision of J Verhoef and B M de Jongh. During his residency, he started to work on his thesis on genetic polymorphisms in MBL and L-ficolin, two complement-activating pattern recognition receptors. In 2009 he became a medical microbiologist and joined the staff at the Regional Public Health Laboratory Kennemerland in Haarlem. Si...