Prof. Liesbeth Veenhoff PhD

Liesbeth Veenhoff is an associate professor at the European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing (ERIBA) at the University of Groningen, where she leads the Laboratory of Cellular Biochemistry. 

The biology of ageing is one of the major enigmas in biology today. Why can some pine trees live more than 1000 years while a mayfly only lives less than a day? How do Nordic Sterns, flying a distance from here to the moon over their lifetime, withstand all the wear and tear associated with this lifestyle? And why can studies in model systems as diverse as baker’s yeast, worms, flies, and even Hydra teach us about the molecular biology of human ageing?

The mission of ERIBA, and ageing researchers at large, is to better understand what causes ageing. The hope is that if we understand ageing on a molecular level, it will uncover the common cause of a wide variety of age-related diseases, such as neurodegenerative, oncological, metabolic, and cardiovascular diseases. This would be a magnificent stride forward, as it may allow us to develop interventions that enable humans to stay healthier at advanced ages. We are far from reaching that goal, but there are many exciting developments in this relatively young field, and I would like to share and discuss some of these with you.

Eduard Verhagen is a pediatrician at the University Medical Center Groningen (Netherlands). Dr Verhagen worked for five years in Curaçao (Caribbean) before he came to Groningen to work as the clinical director of the Beatrix Children’s Hospital/UMCG, where he is now a professor of pediatrics and pediatric palliative care and the Department Chair.

He received his MD and JD from the University of Utrecht (Netherlands) and completed his pediatric specialty training in Amsterdam. His PhD thesis (University of Groningen) was on neonatal end-of-life decisions in Dutch NICUs. He has written numerous scientific papers about ethical decision-making and end-of-life care and he was one of the authors of the ‘Groningen Protocol’ for newborn euthanasia. He leads several national research and palliative care initiatives and functions as a member and chair of several national and governmental medical-ethical and legal advice councils.

Eduard Verhagen will be speaking about the decisions that have to be made when suffering becomes unbearable. The Netherlands is one of the first countries worldwide to allow pediatric euthanasia. What guidelines should be followed when making such a decision, and how can one make these decisions in the best possible way. Come and discuss these ethical points with Eduard Verhagen during the pre-course!

In today’s world, accessible and affordable healthcare for everyone is not a given, even in affluent countries with well-established infrastructures. Healthcare systems are increasingly strained due to aging populations, growing healthcare demands, and a shortage of professionals to provide care. While healthcare technology continues to advance rapidly, fewer people have direct access to new diagnostic and treatment possibilities.

If we aspire to create an inclusive and equitable healthcare system, we must work towards changes. Could a digital transformation, incorporating more AI in healthcare, be a potential solution? Or are there too many drawbacks associated with it? What factors should be considered when applying AI in healthcare?

Furthermore, who should initiate, guide, and oversee such a digital transformation? Clinical leadership and the implementation of new information technology in healthcare are interdependent. One cannot thrive without the other. The success of both is more likely with a seamless and synergistic integration. What is needed to achieve this? Let’s discuss that together to find out!

Stephanie Klein Nagelvoort Schuit is Vice President of the Executive Board of UMCG, Professor of Future Healthcare, and an internist of acute medicine. She is also actively involved in various healthcare organizations and programs (NFU, Healthcare Institute, Capacity Authority, ZE&GG, Ministry of Health, RGS, CUMULUZ, Healthcare Viewer) as well as non-healthcare entities (National Growth Fund). Klein Nagelvoort Schuit spent 20 years at Erasmus MC as an acute care internist-intensivist, educator, department head, and Vice President of staff in Rotterdam before joining the UMCG Executive Board in 2020. Additionally, she previously founded a spin-out company in serious gaming for medical education, served as a board member for 6 years at the healthcare insurer CZ, and as a board member of the Erasmus Trust Fund she was involved in restructuring the foundation’s major donation program for the growth and development of the university.

Sex. Everyone talks about it, but what do we really know about it? No sane person would deny that by having sex we preserve our species, but why then are there so many sexual practices and preferences that are not at all aimed at, let alone suitable for, procreation? Brain research does not have all the answers, but it can provide a framework with which sex can be viewed in a fresh way – factual, free from prejudice. In this IMED talk, I will demonstrate evidence that, on the level of the human brain, reproduction is not the main driver of sexual behavior even when reproductive signals (like gonadal hormones) do play an important modulatory role. I will also show that sex is primarily an experience-driven behavior and that it adheres to the generic behavioural structures of pleasure-driven motivated and social behaviors. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, sex always takes place in context, and this interaction is instrumental in determining something probably uniquely human: the meaning of sex. This highest level of cognitive brain function is the least well understood, but science is also making progress in this area. 

More to be announced soon!

Our lungs are vital yet vulnerable organs, being in direct contact with the inhaled environment. The respiratory epithelial lining forms a protective barrier and plays a key role in host defence.  

When this epithelial lining is damaged, lung disease can develop. But why is not every individual susceptible to developing disease upon exposure to a respiratory virus, smoke, or polluted air?  

Prof. Irene Heijink aims to address this question by investigating the personal factors, like genetic make-up, that determine the vulnerability of the epithelium.  

Why is this important? Lung diseases such as asthma, long-COVID, and COPD have a high burden on patients and society. To date, COPD is the 3rd leading cause of death worldwide. As there is no cure, there is an urgent need to identify novel and personalized treatment targets.  

Heijink and her team study the role of the lung epithelium in the pathogenesis of lung diseases, using advanced, patient-specific culture models, including organoids and lab-on-chip. The main goal is to translate the findings into the clinic and to develop a novel strategy to halt or even reverse the epithelial damage in the lungs and stimulate lung tissue regeneration. One of these strategies is the use of a novel technology to deliver therapeutic cells to the lungs, which is developed in collaboration with the University of Twente. 

Irene Heijink leads the Experimental Pulmonary and Inflammation Research (EXPIRE) lab, and since 2022 she has been programme leader of the multidisciplinary and translational Groningen Research Institute for COPD (GRIAC). Irene Heijink is currently also head of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Assembly Basic and Translational Sciences.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are complex diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, characterised by chronic ulcerative inflammation and a relapse-remitting disease course. Since IBD is a complex, heterogeneous and unpredictable disease, there is an urgent need for biomarkers, which are objectively measured parameters of (ab)normal biological processes or -systems. Biomarkers may help to classify IBD, assess disease activity and disease complications, and accurately predict how a patient’s disease course will develop and/or how a patient will respond to a particular treatment. Arno Bourgonje’s research is focused on the discovery and application of novel biomarker signatures in patients with IBD, while also assessing their potential for therapeutic modulation (e.g., through dietary interventions) and their utility to predict clinical outcomes (e.g., response to established medical treatment). His strategy is to identify functionally relevant disease markers derived from different biological systems (e.g., the immune system) and -mechanisms (e.g., oxidative stress and redox signalling) and carefully examine these signatures through detailed phenotypic patient stratification. By adopting a “systems biology” approach and studying the interplay between different pathophysiological entities, his ultimate aim is to develop and validate clinically applicable biomarkers for personalised medicine, which could help improve patient outcomes. 

Hanneke combined her medical studies at the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) with a PhD trajectory. The focus of this PhD was on neonatal stress in preterm-born infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). She researched the effects of neonatal stress on neurodevelopment and behaviour, as well as underlying mechanisms of neonatal stress including DNA methylation of stress-related genes. Furthermore, she implemented and researched live-performed music therapy in the NICU as a stress-reducing intervention. During her MD-PhD trajectory, she lived in New York City, where she had the opportunity to witness this intervention in practice and study it in more detail. The findings of her research projects provide insight into care for the tiniest patients and their parents that will ultimately improve the quality of care in the NICU and the quality of life beyond the NICU.