Thomas Höllt

Professor

(Biomedical) Visualization and Visual Analytics

 Head Team Höllt

I am a professor for Visualization and Visual Analytics with a focus on biomedical applications. Before joining UiB, I was an assistant professor in the Computer Graphics and Visualization group at TU Delft (until 2026) and in the Leiden Computational Biology Center (until 2020). I received my PhD from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in 2013.

My research interests include Visualization and Visual Analytics, with a focus on high-dimensional data and biomedical applications. I lead the research and development of Cytosplore, an interactive visual analytics platform for cytometry data which is used by researchers world-wide. In 2019, I received the Dirk Bartz Prize for Visual Computing in Medicine for the Cytosplore project. In 2023, I was awarded with the inaugural VRVis Visual Computing Award for contributions to sustainable development with visual computing. Further, my research won best paper and honorable mention awards at IEEE VIS, VCBM and PacificVis. For more detail, please refer to my full cv.

If you are a master student looking for a possible theses topic, we have several open projects and possibilities within topics related to data visualization in general, visual analytics and biomedical visualization. The projects can range fundamental to very applied. If you are interested in a project in the direction of my research, please, contact me and we can discuss the possibilities.

For more information, including my complete set of publications, please visit my personal website.

Publications

2026

    [PDF] [DOI] [Bibtex] 
    @article{bib:jiang:2026,
author = { Jiang, Qinyue and Merkus, Veerle A. and Lindelauf, Ciska and Krijgsman, Jens and Guo, Nannan and Ouboter, Laura F. and Höllt, Thomas and Voorneveld, Philip W. and Meijer-Boekel, Caroline R. and Koning, Frits and van der Meulen-de Jong, Andrea E and Pascutti, Maria Fernanda and van Unen, Vincent },
title = { Tissue-embedded CD4+ plasticity defines mucosal immunity in inflammatory bowel disease },
journal = { Mucosal Immunology },
year = { 2026 },
pages = { 100369 },
doi = { 10.1016/j.mucimm.2026.100369 },
abstract = {CD4+ T helper (Th) cell responses to commensal microbiota are linked to Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), yet how Th programs coexist and evolve in human tissues remains poorly defined. Here, we profiled CD4+ memory T cells in intestinal biopsies using immunological and histological approaches to map phenotypes, functional states, and spatial relationships across disease states. A marked expansion of CD4+ T cells concomitant with a RORγt+ Th population with elevated T-bet expression was linked to the progression of inflammation. Moreover, Foxp3+ cells co-expressing RORγt emerged within the inflamed niche, indicating regulatory–Th17 plasticity. Trajectory visualization revealed a potential branched differentiation path toward regulatory or tissue-resident Th17-like fates, with both termini expressing activation and proliferation markers. Correlation network analysis connected pro-inflammatory CD4+ states to T-bet+Granzyme-B+ CD8+ subsets, indicating coordination between helper and cytotoxic lineages. Histology revealed increased T-cell infiltration and spatial segregation of tissue-resident subsets, with CD103+CD4+ T cells localized mainly in the lamina propria and CD103+CD8+ T cells near the epithelium. TCR stimulation during active disease revealed broad suppression of CD4+ pro-inflammatory cytokines alongside Foxp3+ expansion. Conversely, HLA-DR+CD38+ memory subset retained multifunctionality, producing elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Together, these results define a dynamic, tissue-embedded CD4 T-cell landscape in IBD.},
pdf = {pdfs/2026-Jiang-MucosalImmunology.pdf},
images = {images/2026-Jiang-MucosalImmunology.png},
thumbnails = {images/2026-Jiang-MucosalImmunology-icon.png},
}