DEPARTMENT - Key Persons
Upon obtaining my PhD degree end 2006, I have 16 years of experience in life sciences research in which I have published over 70 papers with an H-inde more ...
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Agnieszka Smolinska / Assistant Professor
Agnieszka Smolinska studied Chemistry at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physic and Chemistry of the Silesian University in Katowice, Poland. Afterwards s more ...
Agnieszka Smolinska studied Chemistry at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physic and Chemistry of the Silesian University in Katowice, Poland. Afterwards she performed research within the Department of Chemometrics of the Silesian University, where she focused on the application and development of various chemometrics techniques to exhibit relations in the complex analytical methods. In 2008 she moved to the Netherlands to perform her doctoral study at Radboud University in Nijmegen (The Netherlands). During her PhD she worked in metabolomics filed, where she combined Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry with advanced machine learning technique in biomarker discovery of neurological disorders, mainly Multiple Sclerosis. She obtained her PhD degree in 2012. Her PhD thesis was appointed the international chemometric award (D.L. Massard Award in Chemometrics).
From 2012 till 2015 she was working as the postdoc researcher at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Maastricht University (The Netherlands) were she has been working on the multiple clinical applications of volatile organic compounds in exhaled air. Afterwards, she performed one year research at Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, Hanover in USA where she looked in to the relation between volatile metabolites in breath and gut bacteria. This project was funded by personal fellowship, Niels Stenson Fellowship. Since her return to the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology she has been working as researcher involved in various clinical and preclinical studies involving exhaled air and fecal microbiome analysis. Since 2017 she is working on the project focusing on the early detection of the rare liver disease, Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (VENI personal fellowship founded by NWO).
Alex Mommers studied Applied Sciences at Zuyd University in Heerlen with a focus on analytical chemistry. After concluding his Bachelor's degree in 20 more ...
Alexander Remels was born on the 13th of February 1982 in Herk-De-Stad, Belgium. After finishing high school, he started studying Biomedical Sciences more ...
Alexander Remels was born on the 13 th of February 1982 in Herk-De-Stad, Belgium. After finishing high school, he started studying Biomedical Sciences at Hasselt University (Belgium) and Maastricht University (Netherlands) in September 2000 and received his Masters' degree in 2004. After graduating, he started a PhD at the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Maastricht University. He received his PhD in 2009 for his thesis ‘'A molecular basis for the loss of muscle oxidative phenotype: implications for COPD'' in which he investigated abnormalities in skeletal muscle mitochondrial energy metabolism and the molecular regulation thereof in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). After finishing his PhD, he obtained a long-term travel fellowship from the Dutch Lung Foundation to work at the lab of Dr. D. Guttridge at Ohio State University, USA for 1 year. After this, Alexander returned to the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Maastricht University and obtained several grants including a Kootstra Talent Fellowship from Maastricht University, a NWO VENI grant and a Junior Investigator Grant from the Dutch Lung Foundation to continue his research on the molecular regulation of mitochondrial energy metabolism. His research has focused on the impact of inflammatory processes on oxidative- and glycolytic energy metabolism in cardiac and skeletal musculature. He is currently working as an Assistant Professor at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Maastricht University where he is involved in teaching within the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences and performing research on mitochondrial energy metabolism in multiple cell types and tissues and investigating potential pharmacological/nutritional modulation thereof in health and disease.
Annina Roelofsen studied biology and medical laboratory research at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht. After she finished her bachelor in 201 more ...
Annina Roelofsen studied biology and medical laboratory research at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht. After she finished her bachelor in 2018 she worked as a technician in the Leiden University Medical Center for 3 years in the field of diabetes research. During this time she was working with stem cells to generate insulin producing cells. After that, she studied the master Cancer, Stem Cells and Developmental Biology at Utrecht University and obtained her Master's degree in 2023. September 2023, she started working as a PhD student in Maastricht University at the department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Her study looks into redirecting the wound healing after myocardial infarction towards cardiac regeneration.
Ben Janssen was born in Sittard, The Netherlands in 1958. After finishing his masters in Biology (1983, Nijmegen University, The Netherlands), he was more ...
Ben Janssen was born in Sittard, The Netherlands in 1958. After finishing his masters in Biology (1983, Nijmegen University, The Netherlands), he was trained in Pharmacology (Maastricht University, NL).He received his PhD at the Maastricht University with a thesis on Sensory renal nerves and hyp erten sion (1988). In 2003 he was appointed associate professor at the department of Pharmacology of the UM. Since then he is a full member of the staff and responsible for the teaching program of pharmacology and pharmacotherapy in the medical faculty.
In his research career he had several research trainings in cardiovascular institutes across the USA and worked one year (1995) at Baker Medical Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia in the laboratory of Prof Geoffrey Head (autonomic pharmacology). His main research line focusses on integrative pharmacological control of autonomic function in cardiovascular disease. He is considerable experienced in translating pharmacological research in vitro to hypothesis testing in vivo experimental animals. Currently his experimental research areas are related to 1) therapies and biomarkers for heart failure, 2) perinatal conditioning of hypertension, and 3) telemetric recording of tissue oxygen in kidney disease. He is a member of several national and international societies and serves of the editorial board of the Am. J. Physiol. Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology and is referee for multiple journals and (International) research foundations. Currently he has (co)authored more than 120 publications.
As a teacher he has considerable experience in mentoring and tutoring Dutch as well as international students. He lectures on many pharmacotherapeutic topics and has developed integrative courses in medicine as well as biomedical sciences. The blocks named Regulation & Integration, focusing on homeostasis and body fluid, were awarded prizes for being the best blocks in the curricula of both medicine and biomedical sciences (2012-2014). Furthermore he coordinates and develops e-learning modules on pharmacotherapy for medical students in the bachelor and master phase (see www.pscribe.eu) and serves as a teaching representative for the Dutch Pharmacological Society on several national educational initiatives.
Daniëlle Pachen studied at the technical school for chemistry in Heerlen, and she is specialised in analytical an instrumental techniques. From 1991 s more ...
Daria Majcher studied Neuroscience at Maastricht University and, in 2022, completed her master's internship in the Pharmacology and Toxicology departm more ...
Daria Majcher studied Neuroscience at Maastricht University and, in 2022, completed her master's internship in the Pharmacology and Toxicology department. Following this, she became part of the cellular engineering group at Roche Pharmaceuticals in Switzerland contributing to a gene therapy project and working with stem cell-derived neurons. In 2023, she received a one-year transition HS-BAFTA grant from CARIM Institute, enabling her to continue the previous project with a specific focus on VEGFA signalling in oligovascular interaction, particularly in the context of cerebral small vessel disease.
After his academic study chemistry, Dick finalised his Ph.D. thesis "Influence of Biotransformation on Bioaccumulation and Toxicity of Chlorinated Org more ...
Food safety in a sustainable economy (voedselveligheid in een duurzame economie
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Assistant Professor With a Background in Food Toxicology
Dr. Misha Vrolijk is an Assistant Professor with a background in Food Toxicology. For his research he focuses on food safety from a toxicological pers more ...
Dr. Misha Vrolijk is an Assistant Professor with a background in Food Toxicology. For his research he focuses on food safety from a toxicological perspective, where he is generally interested in the chemical and biological safety of food along the whole food chain. This includes, among others, the safety of food processing, food supplements, food additives, food packages and novel protein sources.
He conducted his PhD research on the safety of food supplements at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology from 2013 to 2017 After his PhD, he continued his research as a postdoctoral fellow at the Campus Venlo of Maastricht University, where he was involved in setting up the research line ‘Food Safety in a Circular Economy'. He became an Assistant Professor in 2019, after which he moved back to the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in January 2022, where he is now leading the subgroup of Food Toxicology. As such, he is currently involved as a daily supervisor in several PhD projects, all dealing with different aspects of food safety, varying from the safety of food processing, the chemical safety of food packaging materials, the safety of novel protein sources, and the safety of dietary supplements.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Assistant Professor at the University of Maastricht
Dr. Roger Godschalk graduated in Biological Health Sciences in 1995 at the Maastricht University (The Netherlands). He specialised in genetic toxicology and molecular epidemiology. Dr. Godschalk's research focuses on the assessment of DNA damage in in vitro cell-cultures, animals and humans exposed to mutagenic compounds from exogenous and endogenous origin. In 1999 he obtained his PhD at the Dept. of Health Risk Analysis and Toxicology at the University of Maastricht with his thesis entitled "Biomarkers for exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons".
After that, Dr. Godschalk joined the Department of Toxicology and Cancer Risk Factors at the German Cancer Research Center (Heidelberg, Germany) until October 2002. At this institute, he developed and validated an improved methodology to measure the DNA adduct O4-ethyl-thymidine, which is induced by ethylating compounds present in diet and cigarette smoke. This assay was subsequently successfully applied to human lung samples. In January 2001, Dr. Godschalk received a Marie-Curie fellowship, to perform a 2 year study on the role of DNA lesions induced by lipid peroxidation in the aetiology of atherosclerosis. In this interdisciplinary project, knowledge from the field of carcinogenesis was applied in the research area of atherosclerosis.
Dr. Godschalk was appointed assistant professor at the University of Maastricht in November 2002, and his current research activities focusses on the biological consequences of DNA adduct formation and subsequent preventive mechanisms of the cell, with special emphasis on Reproduction Toxicology. Dr. Godschalk frequently acts as a peer reviewer of papers submitted to various international journals.
Teaching:
Dr. Godschalk is PhD-student coordinator of the Institute NUTRIM
Dr. Sabine Langie studied Biomedical Sciences at the transnational University of Limburg (tUL; collaboration between Hasselt and Maastricht Unversity) more ...
Dr. Sabine Langie studied Biomedical Sciences at the transnational University of Limburg (tUL; collaboration between Hasselt and Maastricht Unversity) and graduated in 2004. In 2008, she obtained her PhD at the Department of Health Risk Analysis & Toxicology at Maastricht University, on the topic: "Nutritional modulation of DNA repair" (ISBN 978 90 5278 791 6). It comprised the full range of studies with cells in vitro, experimental animals as well as human volunteers, and contributed to the field of genetic toxicology since she adapted a modified comet assay for DNA repair phenotyping purposes. In 2006, she went on an exchange visit of 3 months at the Department of Nutrition at the University of Oslo by means of a "NuGO exchange grant".
From April 2009 till June 2012, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Newcastle University (UK) in the Centre for Brain Ageing and Vitality, focussing on the modulation of epigenetic modifications and DNA repair in the ageing brain in mice.
In 2012, she received an AXA postdoctoral fellowship to conduct research at VITO in Belgium; investigating the effect of early-life exposures on epigenetic marks that underlie the developmental origin of respiratory allergies. Receiving the prestigious Cefic-LRI Innovative Science Award in 2013 enabled her to broaden her research and analyze DNA methylation in saliva of respiratory allergic children participating in Flemish birth cohorts.
From 2015-2019, as FWO-VITO postdoctoral researcher (12L5216N, 1523817N), Sabine focused on the use of non-invasive biomatrixes in biomonitoring studies and the identification of (epigenetic)biomarkers to assess the risk to develop complex diseases.
From October 2017 till September 2020, she was appointed as a 10% guest professor at Hasselt University, teaching/coordinating the MSc course Experimental Design.
Since February 2020, Sabine is appointed as assistant professor at the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology.
Ellen Weltjens, born May 2 1996 in Genk, Belgium . Studied Biomedical laboratory technology at UCLL in Leuven with a focus on medical laboratory techn more ...
Ellen Weltjens, born May 2 1996 in Genk, Belgium . Studied Biomedical laboratory technology at UCLL in Leuven with a focus on medical laboratory technology. After concluding her bachelor`s degree in 2017 she started working at Clinical genetics at the MUMC+. In 2022 , she started working at the department of Pharmacology and Toxicology as a technician/ lab-manager. Here her focus is on .
Job Titles:
- Professor of Pharmacology at Maastricht University
Harry Struijker-Boudier is emeritus Professor of Pharmacology at Maastricht University, The Netherlands. He graduated in 1973 in Pharmacochemist more ...
Heleen completed her bachelor's and master's Nutrition and Health at Wageningen University & Research, with a specialization in Food Digestion and more ...
Ingeborg Kooter PhD ERT (F) is working at TNO, department of circular economy and environment as a senior scientist. She has a background in molecular more ...
Ingeborg Kooter PhD ERT (F) is working at TNO, department of circular economy and environment as a senior scientist. She has a background in molecular sciences, obtained a PhD (1999) in biochemistry at University of Amsterdam and is a European registrated toxicologist. She has worked at Unilever Research Vlaardingen and the National Institute of Health and Environment (RIVM) in the Netherlands before she joined TNO in 2007. Since 2020 she has a part-time appointment at the University of Maastricht.
She has been leading and participating in national and (inter)national research projects in the field of health effects of environmental pollutants. She is particularly interested in the health effects of environmental issues such as air pollution, nanoparticles and microplastics. Working in the field of exposure and hazard assessment. Very interested to develop a way that allows us to judge whether the air we breathe is healthy
Irene Gosselink performed her bachelor in Biotechnology, at Wageningen University. Thereafter she moved to Utrecht, where she studied the master Ca more ...
Jos le Noble (1956) MD, PhD is an internist-intensivist at the department of Intensive Care, VieCuri Medical Center, Venlo-NL, Noord-Limburg. He is al more ...
Jos le Noble (1956) MD, PhD is an internist-intensivist at the department of Intensive Care, VieCuri Medical Center, Venlo-NL, Noord-Limburg. He is also positioned at the department of Toxicology and Pharmacology of the Maastricht University.
He received his medical training at the University of Maastricht in 1981 and received his PhD title in 1987. He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine and Nephrology in the University Hospital Maastricht. Since 1993 he is board certified in Internal Medicine.
He wanted to pursue clinical fellowship training in critical care medicine and was a critical care fellow in RadboudUMC, Nijmegen-NL in 1993-1995. During that time, he became interested in critical care nephrology and pharmacokinetics. Since 1995 he is board certified in Critical Care Medicine.
Luping Chen finished her master's project themed on the mechanism of gut microbiota targeted non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) intervention by more ...
Luping Chen finished her master's project themed on the mechanism of gut microbiota targeted non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) intervention by herbal compounds at Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2023. After her master study, she started her PhD program in Maastricht University. Her PhD project is to investigate the role of Aryl hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR) agonists in Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and metabolites derived from gut microbiota.
Education: B.Sc. in Biology, Department of Biology, University of Patras M.Sc. in Biological Sciences: Research and Application, Departm more ...
Michele Davigo
PhD Student
Marie-José Drittij studied at the ‘Zuidlimburgse Laboratorium School' in Sittard, The Netherlands. She is specialized in analytical chemistry and inst more ...
Peter Leenders studied biology at the Hoge Laboratoriumschool In Utrecht.
In 1988 he started working at Maastricht university.
His work consist of setting up and carrying out laboratory animal research and histology into cardiovascular diseases.
Phyllis Jessen was born on the 29th of August in 1996. She studied at Zuyd Hogeschool in Heerlen where she graduated in 2019 with a Bachelor Applied S more ...
Phyllis Jessen was born on the 29 th of August in 1996. She studied at Zuyd Hogeschool in Heerlen where she graduated in 2019 with a Bachelor Applied Science. Following her Bachelor she went on to study at Maastricht University where she graduated in 2021 with a Master's degree in Biomedical Sciences with her focus on nutrition, physical activity and metabolism. Eager to learn more she applied for the 6 months BioTechMed Lab Rotation program in Graz, Austria, where she was involved in research within the institute of molecular biosciences .
In 2023 she started working as a Research Technician at the department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.
Job Titles:
- Director of the Office of Risk Assessment & Research
- Professor
Prof Opperhuizen studied Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and finished with a MSci in Environmental and Toxicological Chemistry in 1981. In Parallel he studied economics at the same university. From 1981, he worked as a staff member at the department of Analytical and Environmental Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam and based on the research conducted he obtained his PhD in 1986 in the field of Environmental and Toxicological Chemistry. Until 1988 he continued his academic career at the same university until he received a major grant from the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences, and moved the Research Institute of Toxicology at the University of Utrecht. In 1991, he left the university and moved to the government. From 1992 until 1996 he was head of environmental, ecotoxicological and chemical research of the National Institute for Coastal and Marine Research of the Ministry of Transport and Water Management. He continued his career at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) in Bilthoven where he initially became head of research in the field of toxicology and genetics. Consecutively immunology, pathology and nutrition were added to his field or risk assessment research. During his entire career he combined his knowledge of toxicology and risk assessment with knowledge gained from behavioural economics, particularly decision models, mental models, society dynamics, utility optimization and also marketing. This generated the foundation of his innovative research in the field risk communication.
At the Netherlands food and consumer product safety authority, Prof Opperhuizen is the director of the Office of Risk Assessment & Research. This Office is responsible for carrying out a special Act called Wet Onafhankelijke Risicobeoordeling NVWA (Independent Risk Assessment Act). Based on this act, he has the mandate and the obligation to carry out research to underpin risk assessment about emerging risk issues. As the Act requires full independence of the Office activities, all research carried out by Prof Opperhuizen is fully financed by the Office of Risk Assessment & Research. The outcome of the research is always published in the scientific literature, and the results of the studies are disclosed and in principle be used for risk assessments of the Office. In all studies the academic rules about scientific values and integrity are respected. The scientific procedures will be monitored by a curatorium at the Maastricht University, and the independence and scientific quality of the risk assessments are evaluated by a supervisory board as described in the Independent Risk Assessment Act.
Prof Opperhuizen has more than 40 years of senior experience in environmental and life sciences research, academic education, heading research departments of governmental organizations, and provided advice to a sweep of ministries, ranging ministry of environment, water management, infrastructure, agriculture, public health, social affairs. He published over 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals and was responsible for over 300 risk assessments, reports and advices. Besides, he has long career in international advisory bodies. Since 2000 he is advisor of the World Health Organization in the field of Tobacco related diseases, and has been involved as scientific advisor in the negotiations of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. This international treaty provides the foundations for Tobacco Control Acts in countries world wide. At the moment he is member of the WHO Scientific Study Group on tobacco Control (TOBREG). In parallel he was one of the founders of the WHO Tobacco Laboraties Network of governmental tobacco laboratories world wide. Between 2010 and 2017 he was Chair of this global organisation. Since 2012, when Prof Opperhuizen moved to the Office of Risk Assessment & Research, he became Dutch representative in the European Food Safety Authority.
Prof Van Schooten studied Biology at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the Free University in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and finished with a MSci in Medical Biology in 1985. From 1985, he worked as a staff member at the Netherlands Cancer Research Institute in Amsterdam and based on the research conducted here he obtained his PhD in 1991 at Leiden University. In 1991, he moved to the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences at Maastricht University and in 2001 became Full Professor on the chair of Genetic Toxicology.
At Maastricht University, Prof Van Schooten heads the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and leads the Division Respiratory & Age-related Health of the NUTRIM School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism. He has more than 35 years of senior management experience in life sciences research, academic education, heading departments and faculty management, public health policy, and valorization of science. Published over 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including 50 with clinical research on breath biomarker discovery and the statistical handling of breath-based data. He obtained numerous grants for research and is external reviewer of Dutch and foreign scientific programs. He teaches in Bachelor and Master educational programs in Molecular Life Sciences, and supervised(s) 50 PhD students. Member of several editorial boards, including Journal of Breath Research and he is Associate Editor of Chemosphere, Elsevier. He was member of the Dutch Health Council and its associated ad hoc committees.
Prof Van Schooten's research is within the field of molecular epidemiology developing biomarkers as indicators of inflammation, DNA damage and repair, and genetic susceptibility for disease. The overall aim is to better understand disease etiology and to develop opportunities for disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment. An important focus concerns the induction and prevention of chronic diseases (inflammatory diseases and carcinogenesis) focusing on inhalatory exposures (tobacco, vaping, microplastics, air pollution) or oral exposures (food processing mutagens, contaminants, supplements, microplastics), and applying both in vitro and in vivo models. His translational clinical research mainly consists applying a metabolomics approach in exhaled air through measuring volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by GC-TOF-MS for early diagnosis and monitoring therapeutic responses in inflammatory-related diseases of gut, liver and lung.
Robert van Vorstenbosch
PhD Student
Robert van Vorstenbosch studied Forensic Science and Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam and VU University Amsterdam. During this period he perfo more ...
Robert van Vorstenbosch studied Forensic Science and Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam and VU University Amsterdam. During this period he performed research at the VU, at TNO, the Netherlands Organization for applied scientific research, at Shell Technology centre Amsterdam, and at the bio campus of DSM in Delft. The topic of these studies ranged from the analysis of human hair for human provenancing, the detection of explosives, to studying Vacuum Ultra-Violet Spectroscopy, to finally correlating molecular information to sensory characteristics of foods and beverages under the supervision of Margriet Hendriks and Age Smilde. During these studies multivariate statistics, or chemometrics, caught his special attention and he decided to specialize in this topic. Currently he is a PhD student at Maastricht University. His study evolves around biomarker discovery in human breath and the headspace of human feces for the detection of colorectal cancer, with a main focus on data analysis. His supervisors are Agnieszka Smolinska and Frederik-Jan van Schooten.
Sara Lambrichts was born on October 24, 1994 in Sint-Truiden, Belgium. She studied Biomedical Sciences at Hasselt University and Maastricht University more ...
Sara Lambrichts was born on October 24, 1994 in Sint-Truiden, Belgium. She studied Biomedical Sciences at Hasselt University and Maastricht University and obtained her Master's degree in 2018, after which she worked as a research technician at the Department of Respiratory Medicine, Maastricht University. In 2020, she started working as a PhD student on the CRUCIAL-EU project ( https://www.crucial-project.eu/) at MHeNS, Maastricht University at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and the Department of Neurology. Her research focuses on microvascular rarefaction as a possible common mechanism between the progression of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and vascular cognitive impairment in an animal model of comorbidities.
Shan Wang studied Toxicology at the Sun Yat-sen University and obtained her Master's degree in 2016. After that, she worked as a lab assistant in Sun more ...
Shan Wang studied Toxicology at the Sun Yat-sen University and obtained her Master's degree in 2016. After that, she worked as a lab assistant in Sun Yat-sen University for one year, and worked as a R&D researcher in a Chinese daily chemical company for one year. In 2018, she started working as a PhD student in Maastricht University. Her study looks into the role of dietary factors in the development of inflammatory bowel disease, with a specific interest on AhR ligands derived from food intake and microbial metabolism.
Sébastien Foulquier studied pharmaceutical sciences at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Nancy, France from 2002 until 2008 where he specialized in R&D.
Sébastien Foulquier studied pharmaceutical sciences at the Faculty of Pharmacy of Nancy, France from 2002 until 2008 where he specialized in R&D. He joined the Cardiovascular division of the Servier Research Institute in Suresnes, near Paris for his senior internship before graduating with a Pharm.D. thesis that was awarded by the Faculty as "Best experimental Pharm.D. thesis". He pursued his studies with a Master in Physiopathology and pharmacology of the cardiovascular system in Lyon, France and a PhD in Cardiovascular Pharmacology at Nancy University, France. During his PhD, he studied the impact of hypertension and the renin angiotensin system on the structure and function of the cerebral circulation in vivo. He completed his PhD in 3 years and got awarded with a prize for the best PhD thesis from the Faculty of Pharmacy. He joined Maastricht University in July 2012 as post-doctoral researcher and established his own research line on experimental cerebral Small Vessel Disease (cSVD) with a focus on the contribution of vascular risk factors (e.g. hypertension; diabetes) to blood brain barrier dysfunction, microglial activation and cognitive dysfunction. He has obtained research grants from the European Society of Hypertension and Servier in 2015, from the Young Talent Program of the Dutch Heart Foundation-CVON "Heart-Brain Connection" in 2016, from the European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes EFSD-Boehringer Ingelheim in 2018 together with Prof C. Schalkwijk and Prof R. van Oostenbrugge. He was furthermore involved in two European programs: H2020-ITN INTRICARE and H2020 SVDs@target and is now principal investigator in two ongoing European projects: H2020-ITN MINDSHIFT and H2020 CRUCIAL as WP leader. He has been appointed as Assistant Professor in 2020 within the Dept of Pharmacology and Toxicology, affiliated at both cardiovascular and neuroscience institutes in Maastricht (CARIM & MHeNs). He is now leading a young interdisciplinary research group consisting of 6 PhD students with projects focusing on the impact of vascular risk factors on the glio-vascular unit and its importance for vascular dementia.
Victor is a PhD candidate in the department of pharmacology and toxicology at Maastricht University. He is investigating perfluoroalkyl compounds' str more ...
I was born in Salvador, Brazil in January 99. After concluding high school, I moved to the Netherlands in 2018 to follow a bachelor program at the HZ more ...
Research of interest: (NAD+) has become a "trendy" molecule in ageing research recently. By using the methodology of both in vitro toxicology and e more ...
Xiu Mei Moonen studied Biomedical Sciences at Maastricht University and obtained her Master's degree in 2023 with a specialisation in Inflammation and more ...
Xiu Mei Moonen studied Biomedical Sciences at Maastricht University and obtained her Master's degree in 2023 with a specialisation in Inflammation and Pathophysiology. During her Master's internship, she conducted research concerning the effects of food additives on the intestinal barrier to obtain more insights into the role of diet in inflammatory bowel disease. Currently, she is a PhD student at Maastricht University working on the allergenicity of novel protein sources. In this project, she aims to assess the allergenic potential of novel proteins, investigating both de novo sensitisation and cross-reactivity, and which factors can influence their allergenicity.
Xu He completed her research project on the correlation between depression and circadian rhythms at Shaanxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine more ...