Previous Experience

R. Westendorp’s team participates in various large collaborative projects, including Lifespan, Netherlands Consortium of Healthy Aging and Leiden Longevity Study.


Main Tasks: Subject recruitment and in-depth phenotyping.

Short profile of key persons involved:
◘ Rudi G.J. Westendorp (1959) is trained as a physician and epidemiologist at Leiden University. He has been a research fellow, in the Biological Gerontology Group, University of Manchester, UK In 2000 he was appointed full professor and in 2005 became chairman of the department of Gerontology and Geriatrics, University Hospital Leiden. He is founding chairman of Leyden Academy on vitality and aging. Amongst various professional memberships he is principle investigator of LifeSpan: an European network of Excellence linking research in development and Aging (since 2006), and principle-investigator of the National Genomics initiative ‘Netherlands initiative into healthy aging’ (since 2007). He has published > 350 international peer reviewed articles, his H‑index is 49.
◘ Diana van Heemst is associate professor at LUMC. Trained as molecular biologist, since 2002 she works in a clinical setting in collaborative projects involving biologists, geneticists and physicians, aimed at identifying factors contributing to healthy human longevity. She focused on the analysis of key candidate molecules and mechanisms identified by translating data from model organisms to humans, including genetic polymorphisms, circulating protein levels as well as cellular phenotypes. Her current research is aimed at characterising the metabolic profile of offspring of exceptionally long-lived siblings from the Leiden Longevity Study, that display a significant lower morbidity and mortality compared to controls.


Selected publications

Kuningas M, May L, Tamm R, van Bodegom D, van den Biggelaar AH, Meij JJ, Frölich M, Ziem JB, Suchiman HE, Metspalu A, Slagboom PE, Westendorp RG. Selection for genetic variation inducing pro-inflammatory responses under adverse environmental conditions in a Ghanaian population.
PLoS One. 2009 Nov 11;4(11):e7795.

Sattar N, Westendorp RG, Shepherd J, Ford I, Packard CJ. Prospective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk (PROSPER) Study Group. Are markers of inflammation more strongly associated with risk for fatal than for nonfatal vascular events ?
PLoS Med. 2009 Jun 23;6(6):e1000099

Sattar N, Westendorp RG, Whincup P, Shepherd J, Wannamethee SG. Can metabolic syndrome usefullypredict cardiovascular disease and diabetes ? Outcome data from two prospective studies.
Lancet 2008;371:1927-35

Gussekloo J, van Exel E, De Craen AJM, Meinders AE, Frölich M, Westendorp RGJ. Thyroid status, Performance and survival in old age.
JAMA 2004;292:2591-99.

van Heemst D, Beekman M, Mooijaart SP, Heijmans BT, Brandt BW, Zwaan BJ, Slagboom PE, Westendorp RG. Reduced insulin/IGF-1 signalling and human longevity. Aging Cell.
2005; 4: 79-85.

Previous Experience

The department is partner or coordinator of various European Research Consortia (e.g. TALOS ; ENCITE ). It is one of the few clinical labs that has extensive experience with the mathematical analysis of (circadian) plasma hormone time series. Also, various members of the department are experts in the field of insulin action and diabetes. The department has 2 main areas of scientific interest: regeneration of (endocrine) tissues and neuroendocrine control of glucose and lipid metabolism. It has an excellent track record in both areas.


Main Tasks

The departments of geriatrics, endocrinology and radiology will share responsibility for contributions to clinical studies in work packages 2, 3 and 4. It will specifically contribute to measurement and analyses of circadian hormone profiles as well as endocrine and metabolic responses to fasting and intranasal insulin administration.


Short profile of key persons involved

◘ Dr Hanno Pijl, MD, PhD is an endocrinologist at the Leiden University Medical Centre in Leiden, The Netherlands. He is a professor of diabetology and currently heads the diabetes outpatient clinic of the university hospital. He has a longstanding scientific interest in the neuroendocrine features of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. His doctoral thesis, defended in 1994, concerns the effects of serotonin on food intake in obese and bulimic humans. In 1996-1997 he worked in the lab of Prof Ralph DeFronzo at the Health Science Centre in San Antonio, TX, studying the effects of dopamine D2 receptor stimulation on body weight and glucose metabolism in obese type 2 diabetic patients. His current scientific work focuses on the impact of nutrition on endocrine and metabolic features of aging and age related disease.

◘ Dr Ferdinand Roelfsema is an internist who has extensive experience in the area of plasma hormone time series analysis.


Selected publications

Vidarsdottir S, de Leeuw van Weenen JE, Frölich M, Roelfsema F, Romijn JA, Pijl H. Effects of Olanzapine and Haloperidol on the Metabolic Status of Healthy Men.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2009 Nov 11. [Epub ahead of print].

Roelfsema F, Kok P, Frolich M, Pereira AM, Pijl H. Disordered and Increased Adrenocorticotropin Secretion with Diminished Adrenocorticotropin Potency in Obese in Premenopausal Women.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 94:2991-2997, 2009.

Kok P, Roelfsema F, Frölich M, van Pelt J, Meinders AE, Pijl H. Bromocriptine reduces augmented thyrotropin secretion in obese premenopausal women.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 94:1176-81, 2009

Kok P, Roelfsema F, Frolich M, van PJ, Meinders AE, Pijl H. Short-term treatment with bromocriptine improves impaired circadian growth hormone secretion in obese premenopausal women.
J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab 93:3455-61, 2008

Vidarsdottir S, Smeets PA, Eichelsheim DL, van Osch MJ, Viergever MA, Romijn JA, van der GJ, Pijl H. Glucose ingestion fails to inhibit hypothalamic neuronal activity in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes 56:2547-50, 2007.

 

Previous Experience

M. van Buchem’s team hosts a large group of experts on all aspects of neuroimaging with access to an array of MRI systems, ranging from human (1.5, 3 and 7 Tesla) to preclinical platforms (7, 9.4, 17.6 Tesla). This team participates in a number of large collaborative projects focused on the aging brain and dementia, including the CTMM project LeARN, the AGES Reykjavik Study, the Netherlands Consortium of Healthy Aging and the Leiden Longevity Study.


Main Tasks

structural and functional brain imaging using MRI.


Short profile of key persons involved

◘ M.A. van Buchem (1960) was trained as a radiologist at the LUMC and obtained a PhD degree in internal medicine. He has been a research fellow at the Department of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia in 1994-1995. Since 1996 he has been chief of neuroradiology and since 2002 professor of neuroradiology at the LUMC. In 2005-2006 he was visiting professor at Harvard Medical School in Boston in 2005-2006. He is founding director of the Neuroimaging Research Group, founder and co-director of the C.J. Gorter Center for High-field MRI, and co-founder and chairman of the board of the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition. He is actively involved in research on the aging brain and dementia, and – among other things – he is principal investigator of a national consortium on “In vivo molecular diagnostics in Alzheimer’s disease”. Van Buchem has published almost 200 peer-reviewed papers, and his H-index is 25.

◘ J. van der Grond is associate professor of radiology and principal investigator in the Neuroimaging Research Group at the department of Radiology of the LUMC. His experience covers the full range of applied and experimental MR neuroimaging techniques in aging and various diseases, including dementia, cardiovascular disease and obesity. He has published over 150 scientific papers and book chapters. His H-index is 27.


Selected publications

Palm WM,, Gudnason V, Admiraal-Behloul F, Launer LJ, van Buchem MA. Ventricular dilatation: association with gait and cognition.
Ann Neurol 2009;66:485-493

Greenberg SM, Vernooij MW, van Buchem MA, Breteler MM. Cerebral microbleeds: a guide to detection and interpretation.
Lancet Neurol 2009;8:165-174

de Jong LW, van der Hiele K, ..., de Bruin PW, Middelkoop HA, van Buchem MA, van der Grond J. Strongly reduced volumes of putamen and thalamus in Alzheimer's disease: an MRI study.
Brain. 2008;131:3277-85

Smeets PA, de Graaf C, ..., van der GrondJ. Effect of satiety on brain activation during chocolate tasting in men and women.
Am J Clin Nutr. 2006;83(6):1297-305.

Smeets PA, de Graaf C, Stafleu A, van Osch MJ, van der Grond J. Functional MRI of human hypothalamic responses following glucose ingestion.
Neuroimage. 2005;24(2):363