RVB Translational Medicine Book

Translational 

Medicine 

at the University 

Medical Center 

Utrecht

Translational Medicine… 

… is the process of translating research outcomes to tangible products that 

can be used in clinical practice; 

… also works the other way around: research questions should arise from 

clinical care and unmet medical needs; 

… is teamwork, and requires collaboration between researchers, clinicians, 

patient organizations, and industry; 

… unites the knowledge of these different fields and experts to increase the 

societal relevance of research and ultimately improve patient care. 

UMC Utrecht 1

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2 Translational Medicine

Translational Medicine at the University Medical Center Utrecht 

Berent Prakken 

Vice-dean for Education, UMC Utrecht, and Co-founder of the Eureka Institute 

One day, my friend and colleague Salvo Albani and 

I realized how many mistakes we had made while 

trying to develop immunotherapy. We committed 

ourselves to prevent young scientists from making the 

same mistakes. This started a long and unforeseen 

journey. We met like-minded people along this 

journey, and together we started the Eureka Institute. 

The aim of Eureka is to create a community of 

Translational Medicine professionals to increase the 

impact of science on patients. The initial 

accomplishment of Eureka was our certificate course, 

an international course in worldwide Translational 

Medicine that was first offered in 2009. 

The mission of the University Medical Center Utrecht 

(UMC Utrecht) is to generate, evaluate, share and apply 

knowledge about health, illness, and care for the 

benefit of patients and society. This is in line with the 

vision and ambitions of Eureka. From that perspective, 

it was no surprise that UMC Utrecht joined 

Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School 

in becoming the first university partners of Eureka. 

Today, Translational Medicine is blooming at 

UMC Utrecht, in alignment with the philosophy of 

Science in Transition. In this book, you will find 

examples of that. But above all, it gives voice to 

scientific role models, most of whom are Eureka 

alumni. They explain what Translational Medicine 

means to them, and how it is incorporated in their daily 

work. They share their expectations and hopes for the 

future. May their words convince you that we can 

increase the impact of biomedical research, and that 

we indeed can, and will, make good on our promise of 

improving patient’s lives! 

www.umcutrecht.nl/translationalmedicine 

www.eurekainstitute.org 

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Science in Transition 

Frank Miedema 

Dean and Vice-Chairman of the Board, UMC Utrecht, and Co-founder of Science in Transition 

With the promise of new treatments and therapies, 

Translational Medicine is at the heart of biomedical 

research. But for a host of reasons, it may not always 

get the appreciation it deserves. With the Science in 

Transition initiative, which is rooted in UMC Utrecht 

and started in 2013, we aim to shed light on the 

incentive and reward system in biomedical science. 

We hope to push researchers to value efforts that bring 

results from the laboratory into clinical practice over 

publications in peer-reviewed journals. 

Science in Transition is one voice in a choir. Many 

analyses strongly suggest that current incentives, 

combined with hyper-competition for limited funds, 

contribute to the reproducibility crisis; to waste in 

research; and to poor translation of promising findings 

to clinical application. The inescapable conclusion is 

that we need new rewards and incentives for scientists, 

and that we should involve societal stakeholders in 

setting the research agenda. This conclusion and 

possible solution is echoed in the European Union’s 

‘Open Science’ agenda for science policy. 

UMC Utrecht takes its responsibility and intends to 

cultivate first-rate biomedical research and innovation. 

With Science in Transition, we make a plea for science 

that produces socially robust knowledge. We want to 

produce knowledge that answers relevant questions 

and benefits society. In the field of medicine, this 

means we have to make research ‘translational’. 

That is why I fully support Eureka and the efforts at 

UMC Utrecht to improve and expand Translational 

Medicine. 

www.scienceintransition.nl 

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“In my research, I collaborate with fundamental researchers, clinical researchers, 

and with other disciplines – for example with people who build bridges between 

research, clinical practice and society.” 

Sanne Nijhof 

Pediatrician and Postdoctoral Researcher 

UMC Utrecht 7

“Wietse Kuis is my role model, because he has a brilliant mind, is honest, is engaged 

with what he does, feels for his patients, and wants to dive into details in the lab to 

understand everything he sees in his patients.” 

Joost Swart 

Pediatric Rheumatologist and Immunologist 


UMC Utrecht 9


“The main problem is an increased gap between the amount 

of data that we generate in research and the ability to apply 

it into clinical practice, in a meaningful and impactful way.” 

Salvatore Albani 

Director of Translational Immunology Institute, Professor, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School 

Singapore, Co-founder of the Eureka Institute for Translational Medicine 

“With our broad scope, we try to cover the whole 

gradient of Translational Medicine, ranging from 

molecular biology to new products. This is very rare to 

find. The course offered by Eureka differs from most 

programs because of the international setting, and the 

way it is adapted to promote critical thinking and 

create awareness.” Most of all, Salvatore Albani wants 

to emphasize that Eureka is more than a program. 

“It establishes collaborations, it creates an international 

network. One could talk about the individual 

achievements, but Eureka is all about a group quest. 

In my opinion, the main problem in the medical world 

is an increased gap between the amount of data that 

we generate in research and the ability to apply it into 

clinical practice, in a meaningful and impactful way,” 

Salvatore explains. That is the reason why Salvatore 

and his colleagues founded the Eureka Institute: “to 

contribute to the growth of Translational Medicine in 

a way that is directly impactful to patients.” 

www.eurekainstitute.org 

UMC Utrecht 11


“I am very proud to be building the infrastructure, setting up the network, and 

obtaining the funding to study several diseases that have frustrated me in the clinic. 

I hope to provide better answers and therefore better treatments and guidance in 

the near future.” 

Michiel Schreuder 

Pediatric Nephrologist, Radboud University Medical Center, Amalia Children’s Hospital, Nijmegen 

UMC Utrecht 13

“I am most proud of having initiated and continued to build the Scientific Alliance 

between the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital and Nutricia Research, with a focus on 

immune development and nutrition.” 

Belinda van ‘t Land 

Affiliated Senior Scientist 


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“The future of Translational Medicine will be especially 

bright if we can direct our combined efforts towards 

diseases with a large burden in difficult-to-reach 

populations around the world.” 

Joyce Browne, Assistant Professor, Global Health 

Lilly Verhagen, Postdoctoral Researcher and Pediatric Resident, Global Health 

“Translational Medicine is a continuous process in which 

you try to solve a problem in a lab setting, and then 

translate that back to your patients. We see whether it 

works, and go through the whole routine again until we 

reach clinical impact, rather than using a one-step bench 

to bedside translation.” In Lilly’s case, the focus is on 

respiratory tract infections and vaccination in global 

pediatric risk groups. These patients could be at risk 

because they live in a setting with low resources, or it 

could be a group of patients in The Netherlands with 

immune deficiencies - with an immune system that fails to 

properly protect against infections. “For me, one of the 

challenges is to tailor our vaccination strategies to the 

specific risk groups across the world, rather than the 

one-size-fits-all approach that we currently take: 

embracing rather than masking differences between 

populations. Joyce adds, ”I made the decision to focus on 

Global Health education and research. I want to focus on 

areas where the burden is high, and where I feel I can add 

the most value and impact with what I do. For 

Translational Medicine, this means thinking about how we 

can make innovations available at the bedside of patients 

all over the world. One of my research projects focuses on 

a ‘poly pill’, a pill that combines aspirin and calcium to 

prevent hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. This is one 

of the major killers of mothers and babies in the world. I 

set up the project to develop this pill for Low and Middle 

Income Countries. But at the moment, I am actually 

preparing a clinical trial in the Netherlands, using the same 

pill for Dutch women.” Both Lilly and Joyce agree that 

Global Health and Translational Medicine are related. “I 

would say that addressing global health issues requires 

the same methods and techniques in all fields and 

settings, plus some context-specific logistical challenges”, 

says Lilly. “You need to cross political, administrative, 

linguistic and cultural boundaries to address the patient’s 

most relevant questions. You need to look beyond the 

borders of your country,” adds Joyce. 

UMC Utrecht 17


“Translational Medicine requires teams consisting of clinicians and fundamental 

researchers, and aims to translate findings with the help of all team members to 

ensure that patients can benefit.” 

Sylvia Brugman 

Assistant Professor, 

Cell Biology and Immunology Group, Wageningen University 

UMC Utrecht 19

“I am most proud of having created an organoid-based screening platform that uses 

patient-specific organoids as models of disease.” 

Sabine Middendorp 

Associate Professor, Pediatric Gastroenterology 


UMC Utrecht 21

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“In my heart I am still a basic scientist, but it is amazing what 

kind of impact you can have on peoples’ lives.” 

Jeffrey Beekman 

Group Leader, Translational Research on Cystic Fibrosis, UMC Utrecht 

Recently, Jeffrey Beekman was one of the speakers at 

the largest conference on Cystic Fibrosis (CF) in the 

United States. Many parents of children with CF were 

present. “The vibe at this conference gave me goose 

bumps. I could feel the response to our research when 

everyone saw our experiments for the first time. When 

I talked to the parents afterwards, I learned that our 

research really had a large impact. It still gives me 

goose bumps.” 

Jeffrey has not always worked in the field of 

Translational Medicine. “As a basic scientist, you focus 

on scientific concepts and questions. Basic research is 

obviously needed, but I wanted to have more impact 

on patients’ lives. That is why I switched to the field of 

CF.” Jeffrey now collaborates with scientists from 

different disciplinary backgrounds. His team designed 

a test focussing on stem cells that could potentially be 

used for CF treatment. ”Together with the CF patient 

organisation we co-fund a program to enable 

individualized therapy for CF. What I like about having 

direct patient involvement: they keep you oriented on 

the impact of research for the patient. In the end, with 

our research we provide a service for the community. 

In my heart I am still a basic scientist, but it is amazing 

what kind of impact you can have on peoples’ lives. 

You hope and dream about what you may achieve, but 

this time it turned out to be even better in real life.” 

UMC Utrecht 23


“I hope the future of Translational Medicine will be bright and based on teamwork. 

In my view, the only way to succeed is to bring together people who have the 

creativity and freedom to think outside the box.” 

Hester den Ruijter 

Associate Professor, Experimental Cardiology 

UMC Utrecht 25

“The solution to major medical problems can often only be solved by a Translational 

Medicine approach.” 

Louis Bont 

Pediatrician and Researcher 


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Education and Research on Translational Medicine 

at UMC Utrecht 

Translational Medicine is a complex and 

interdisciplinary field. Clinicians, researchers, patients, 

and industry all need to be involved to ask research 

questions that are clinically relevant and translate 

research outcomes to tangible products at the bedside. 

Translational scientists, who are either PhDs with an 

interest in clinical research or clinician-scientists, need 

to obtain a broad range of skills to navigate the 

translational pathway. They need to learn how to work 

effectively in interdisciplinary teams and communicate 

with a broad range of stakeholders. Clinician-scientists 

have a dual role, as they are trained in both research 

and clinical practice, and can therefore play an 

important role in further closing the gap between 

research and clinical practice. 

UMC Utrecht invests in educating the next generation 

of translational scientists and in research to further 

improve training and career pathways for translational 

scientists. This is necessary, as becoming a successful 

translational scientist or clinician-scientist is 

challenging. The competitive funding system, the 

pressure to publish, and the lack of training and career 

pathways make this a challenge . 

The educational strategy of UMC Utrecht shows that 

educating translational professionals is of high 

importance for UMC Utrecht. This is illustrated by its 

focus on inter-professional education, strengthening 

the connection with patients, improving patient 

participation in education, and creating awareness of 

the societal impact of research. 

The Selective Utrecht Medical Master (SUMMA) is a 

concrete example of this, as it focuses on the training 

of clinician-scientists. The four-year SUMMA program is 

for students with a Bachelor’s degree in biomedical or 

life sciences, and combines a medical degree with a 

degree in clinical science. After four years, SUMMA 

graduates are prepared for a career that combines 

UMC Utrecht 29

clinical practice with research activities. These 

graduates can play an important role in the translation 

of research outcomes to patient care. 

UMC Utrecht also participates in further improving and 

developing the education of translational scientists 

and clinician-scientists in an international context. 

Crucial for this development is the partnership with 

the Eureka Institute. Together with Eureka, the 

UMC Utrecht embarked on several initiatives. 

In collaboration with University College London, 

University of Granada, Ghent University and Nutricia 

Research, UMC Utrecht successfully applied for a 

European Erasmus+ grant that resulted in the 

‘PATHWAY project’. The objectives of this project are to 

create efficient and sustainable career pathways for 

clinician-scientists, to integrate research and clinical 

components in the training of clinician-scientists, and 

to generate impact by raising awareness amongst 

stakeholders throughout Europe. Altogether, this 

contributes to an overall aim to bridge the gap 

between bench and bedside by training clinicianscientists 

for the academic and industrial workforce. 

In 2015, UMC Utrecht and the University of Toronto 

started an international research collaboration to 

support the clinician-scientist workforce. Research on 

the professional identity development, training, and 

career pathways of clinician-scientists is needed, as this 

workforce is both ageing and declining. The aim is to 

investigate how clinician-scientists develop their 

professional identity around their dual roles in both 

clinical practice and research, and how training and 

career pathways should improve to support 

early-career clinician-scientists. These studies are 

performed within the Eureka Network. The Julius 

Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care also 

performs research on general practitioners who 

become clinician-scientists, because a need for an 

increasing number of professionals with a research 

degree has also been identified within primary care. 

Together, the educational and research activities that 

take place within UMC Utrecht aim to improve the 

education and career support for these professionals, 

who are vital players in the field of Translational 

Medicine. 


UMC Utrecht 31


“I am most proud of having contributed to the training and mentoring of young 

professionals and scientists, each with their own career paths. They are going to 

make the difference.” 

Femke van Wijk 

Associate Professor 

UMC Utrecht 33

“At the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, continuous improvement in care for these 

small and very vulnerable human beings is mandatory to improve long-term 

outcome and quality of life. Historically, this population has been underrepresented 

in basic science and therapeutic research. I feel a responsibility to make research on 

neonates possible in the best clinical way.” 

Sanne Hoeks 

Pediatrician and Neonatologist 


UMC Utrecht 35

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“There is a bright idea or healthcare innovation and a firstin-man 

study has been done, so it is beautifully translated 

from the lab to human. But then, boom, still nobody knows 

whether it works or has impact in daily medical practice.” 

Carl Moons 

Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care 

“From my perspective, we can only speak of 

Translational Medicine when research results are 

applicable to the end-users. These end-users would 

include patients or care providers, and not only 

research going from the bench to the first-in-man 

studies.” For Carl it is obvious, “Medical science is often 

too discovery-driven. It is sexy to discover things or 

develop innovations, but not to validate or test these 

discoveries in the context for which the innovation is 

eventually to be applied. And that is what is needed 

before taking wide scale implementation of any 

innovation into practice. I used to be the same, in a 

way. We finished a phase 3 trial, described it in a 

beautiful paper, published it in a high impact journal 

and went on with the next trial. What I should have 

done is pick up the result, further explain it where 

needed, and bring it to the relevant stakeholders to 

make sure it entered the clinical guidelines.” 

Carl continues, “To me, Translational Medicine often 

seems less translational than it should be. Researchers 

and research teams often stop too early. From the start 

of the idea or conception of the innovation, we should 

work much more in multidisciplinary teams. This is 

needed in the entire chain to bring the idea into daily 

practice. Then Translational Medicine will be fully 

translational, and much more effective and impactful. 

It moves from discovery- and technology-driven to 

impact- and fit-for-purpose-driven. If you talk about 

decision support systems, for example, the end-users 

are you and I, and actually the whole population. 

Developing a decision support system or some 

e-health app is one thing, but evaluating whether it 

indeed has true impact on the health of the actual 

end-users in the intended context of the app is 

something else.” 

UMC Utrecht 37


“In my research, I try to keep in mind how patients can benefit from the results. 

I find this hard to accomplish, due to the fact that most research findings represent 

small steps ahead and need further research and optimizations before they can be 

really applied in daily clinical practice.” 

Pieter van Dijkhuizen 

PhD student, Pediatric Rheumatology 

UMC Utrecht 39

“I would call someone a translational scientist when the main objective of their 

research is to cross the ‘Valley of Death’ between promising pre-clinical results and 

making the drug or device part of daily clinical practice.” 

Roel Deckers 

Assistant professor, Imaging Division 


UMC Utrecht 41

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“At the UMC Utrecht, people talk about how the translational 

pathway works and if we need to challenge that paradigm. 

That is part of the uniqueness of the UMC Utrecht.” 

Norman Rosenblum 

Staff Nephrologist at The Hospital for Sick Children, and Senior Scientist Developmental 

& Stem Cell Biology, University of Toronto 

Asked about the relevance of Translational Medicine, 

Norman Rosenblum answers, ”Medicine exists today at 

a time where there is potential to bring a variety of 

discoveries to the clinical context and to wider 

populations. Populations of not necessarily sick people, 

but even healthy people for whom we seek to optimize 

health. There is tremendous potential to do this 

because of real revolutions in the biological sciences 

over the last 30 years, as well as in information 

technology, population health sciences, and artificial 

intelligence. The old way of thinking was about 

bringing discoveries to the market, but we now focus 

on technology and patient interfaces, information, and 

healthcare models. The patient has become a real 

partner, whereas before the patient was a target.” 

“The University of Toronto plays a big role in the field 

of Translational Medicine as a top-20 university in Life 

Sciences and top-3 university in pediatrics,” Norman 

explains. “But the UMC Utrecht does not just talk about 

Translational Medicine; it is trying to promote it as a 

way for people to engage in their science and in the 

application of their science. They are asking about 

patient’s priorities, asking about waste in science. 

From the Dean down, they are willing to do it.” 

UMC Utrecht 43


“I am most proud of having brought together different people into a 

multidisciplinary group. All had something to bring to the table, and the 

outcome will be bigger than all the individual input.” 

Joris van Montfrans 

Pediatrician 

UMC Utrecht 45

“I would call myself a clinician-scientist because I am translating clinical findings 

into new research projects, and translating lab findings into potential clinical 

applications. I do this within my own field of interest as well as in the projects of my 

colleagues or researchers that I meet.” 

Marije Bartels 

Pediatric Hematologist 


UMC Utrecht 47

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UMC Utrecht Eureka Summer Course 

on Translational Medicine 

Participating in the Eureka/UMC Utrecht Summer 

Course on Translational Medicine is like entering a 

bubble. With a group of about 30 students and almost 

as many faculty members, you go through an intense 

week with a surprising mix of presentation formats and 

content, of social and scientific activities, and of regular 

and unorthodox teaching methods. 

And you are all in it together. 

The first thing you will notice is that the many 

inconvenient truths of the scientific enterprise are 

openly discussed. This reflects the fact that the 

UMC Utrecht is home to Science in Transition, an 

initiative that criticizes how incentives and rewards 

shape the quality and relevance of science. 

At the same time, inside the bubble you will find all the 

tools and knowledge to make a positive difference as a 

translational researcher. The dedicated faculty has an 

outstanding reputation as both translational scientists 

and as teachers. The curriculum is developed with the 

Eureka Institute, which has a decade of experience in 

Translational Medicine. 

But the most important part, of course, is your fellow 

travelers inside the bubble. They are young and 

motivated researchers from around the globe that 

meet each other in Utrecht with a common belief: 

that biomedical research can improve our lives, and 

that they can add to that. 

The inspiration and energy are contagious, and long 

after leaving the bubble you will feel the effects of the 

one-week course. You will no longer take ‘how science 

works’ for granted. You will feel empowered to make a 

change by reaching out to colleagues, peers and 

stakeholders, and together you will give biomedical 

research the impact that it should have. 

UMC Utrecht 49



Edition 2016 

“I am particularly impressed by the diversity of the groups and the fact that we will face the same 

situation when we would practice Translational Medicine. Also, I learned a lot about how to cope with 

challenges and hurdles. I will spread the concept of Translational Medicine in my home institution by 

writing an article in local journals.” 

Nikmah S Idris, Pulmonary Hypertension Clinical Fellow, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Paediatric 

Cardiology, Staff University of Indonesia. 

Alumna of the Summer Course, 2016 edition 


UMC Utrecht 51



Edition 2017 

“There are many examples of individuals and institutions who take the initiative to close the gap between research 

and clinical practice. However, it is impossible for individual institutions to change the system as a whole. During the 

summer school on Translational Medicine we came up with the idea of an ‘Impact Index’: a label that indicates what 

institutions already do to close the research-practice gap. 

This index would have two goals: to create transparency on ‘best-practices’ of institutions that already invest in 

improving the quality of research and translating research outcomes to the patient, and to encourage institutions 

that have fallen behind to invest in improving the quality of research, using the 

best-practices available.” 

Anneke Monninkhof, Nienke de Graeff, and 

Margot Weggemans 

Alumni of the Summer Course, 2017 edition 


UMC Utrecht 53


“I call myself a translational scientist because I directly implement the findings from 

our nephrogenetics research line to diagnostics, thereby translating research results 

to medical care.” 

Kirsten Renkema 

Assistant Professor, Genetics 

UMC Utrecht 55

“I am proud of the improved health care in the UMC Utrecht due to better 

collaboration in professional care teams and more focus on the patient perspective.” 

Petra Baarendse 

Senior Expert / Architect 


UMC Utrecht 57

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“From the beginning to the end, it should be about patients. 

So they need to be involved in promising research as often 

and as soon as possible.” 

Ingrid Lether 

Manager of Research and Innovation at Reumafonds (arthritis patient organization and research funder) 

“Our organization tries to involve patients in the 

different phases of research. Patients are part of our 

scientific advisory board. They look at the feasibility 

and relevance of the proposals. If the result of a 

proposal will not change clinical practice, it will not 

benefit them. A proposal like that may be scientifically 

interesting, but the patients tell us what is really 

important. We also encourage researchers to set up 

their own groups of patients to help them draft 

relevant research questions. A patient can tell the 

researcher what is bothering him or her most, for 

example. This is of course the preferred option: 

involvement of patients before a proposal is written. 

We can also ask patients to bring in their perspectives 

at meetings with the government and health insurance 

companies, to inform our research. From the beginning 

to the end, it should be about the patients. So they 

need to be involved in promising research as often and 

as soon as possible,” Ingrid explains. 

In the Netherlands, arthritis researchers from Utrecht 

enjoy a good reputation, Ingrid thinks. “There is a 

concentration of knowledge about arthritis at Utrecht 

University and the University Medical Center. Utrecht 

could also be a leader when it comes to spinning off 

small companies in this field.” Ingrid says 

enthusiastically, “In my opinion, one of the main 

achievements of our charity in relation to Translational 

Medicine is that we realized that we need these small 

companies to bring new treatments to the market.” 

UMC Utrecht 59


“In the future, Translational Medicine will become more and more important – but in 

our efforts to connect with the clinic we will have to be careful not to lose touch with 

basic scientists.” 

Caroline Lindemans 

Pediatric Immunologist, and Bone Marrow Transplantation Specialist 

UMC Utrecht 61

“My research and hypotheses are always driven by patients’ needs, and aim to 

increase awareness of problems within certain areas of health care. They don’t 

always directly or immediately impact patient care, but in my opinion that is okay if 

the research still supports patients’ needs or draws attention to healthcare areas in 

need of change and innovation. In the long term, we will see the impact of this 

research.” 

Aisha Gohar 

PhD Student 


UMC Utrecht 63

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“Translational Medicine is not the Holy Grail, 

but it really makes science better.” 

Jorg van Loosdregt, Translational Immunology Researcher, Group Leader of the van Loosdregt/Vastert group 

Bas Vastert, Pediatric Rheumatologist and Researcher, Group Leader of the van Loosdregt/Vastert group 

“Working together with Bas, a pediatrician, makes my 

work more relevant and more fun”, says Jorg, a basic 

researcher. “As a fundamental scientist, I learn a lot from 

Bas about disease, disease mechanisms, how patients 

feel, and what they find important. This applies to all 

members of our research group: we learn a lot from each 

other. We perform clinical trials based on fundamental 

research we did in the lab, and that is just one example of 

many tangible results of our collaboration.” 

Bas continues, “I need this environment of smart 

scientists, with the focus and time to work on clinically 

relevant problems. Science gets better when people are 

continually present for brainstorming and problem 

solving. We both explicitly opted for Translational 

Medicine. To us, it is the missing link to make science 

relevant. Translational Medicine is not the Holy Grail, but 

it really makes sciences better.” The van Loosdregt/ 

Vastert lab is engaged in clinical science, but also in 

fundamental science. Since these are the two extremes, 

everything in between is also present in the group. 

Jorg explains, “We do super-fundamental DNA and RNA 

research, and we try to understand the biology of 

disease.” Bas adds, “But it all has to be translatable, it has 

to have impact on our patients. It is unrealistic to think 

that we can develop a new drug in a couple of years, but 

we can make smarter use of existing drugs, combine 

drugs in different ways, or put the right drugs in the right 

order for our patients. Embedding our efforts in a bigger 

organization or context is very important. We cannot do 

this alone in our group; we need local support. We also 

need to work with powerful partners, so that we have 

sufficient budget and freedom to do our work. 

We definitely see a transition here at the University 

Medical Center Utrecht in favor of Translational Medicine, 

but there is a long road ahead of us.” For Bas and Jorg it is 

obvious that working as a team has a clear advantage, 

and that patients benefit from this collaboration. They 

joke, “We can’t turn back anymore.” But more seriously, 

they add, “We really believe in Translational Medicine and 

that it will improve patient care.” 

UMC Utrecht 65


“My role model is Hans Clevers. He is a pioneering scientist with a great worldwide 

scientific and societal impact due to his ground-breaking discoveries. Organoid 

technology will revolutionize personalized and Translational Medicine.” 

Antoni Hendrickx 

Senior scientist, Hubrecht Organoid Technology 

UMC Utrecht 67

“I foresee that precision medicine will become more important with regards to 

diagnosis and treatment of diseases, with Translational Medicine being at the 

forefront of these developments.” 

Marne Hagemeijer 

Postdoctoral Researcher 


UMC Utrecht 69

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“Academia and industry need to work together to bring 

new concepts to the market.” 

Johan Garssen 

Director Platform Immunology at Nutricia Research, and Professor of Immunopharmacology at 

Utrecht University 

“At Nutricia, the majority of my work focuses on 

translatability, to develop things that can directly help 

patients. It is always in the back of my mind: can I 

translate this into something that can be used by 

patients 10 years from now? I think that both academia 

and companies like Nutricia have changed over the last 

years. Let’s be honest, ten years ago we would just look 

at your CV and ask how many publications you have as 

a scientist and what the impact factor is. This is still 

important, but now there is another aspect: translating 

science into something that can help patients and 

prevent diseases.” 

“I am in a unique position since 2005, having a parttime 

position with both Nutricia and the Faculty of 

Science of Utrecht University,“ says Johan when he talks 

about his two jobs. “I do fundamental work on immune 

regulation at the university which is not directly 

translatable, but I combine it with experiments that will 

hopefully lead to new drugs, medical food, or food for 

pregnant women or babies.” He concludes, “You need 

academia for the basic knowledge, and you need 

industry to translate the scientific concept into the 

actual drug or nutritional product or vaccine. Academia 

and industry need to work together to bring new 

concepts to the market.” 

UMC Utrecht 71


“My role model is Leonard Cohen: There is a crack in everything, 

that is where the light gets in.” 

Gijs van Haaften 

Associate Professor, Group Leader 

UMC Utrecht 73

“Translating the needs and languages of one discipline to another is truly 

challenging, but it is pivotal in order to share knowledge and to come to 

novel solutions.” 

Christiaan Vinkers 

Psychiatrist 


UMC Utrecht 75

Naam/titel 

subtitel 

bodytekst 


“My involvement with Apollo Society makes me think critically 

about the topics of my projects and what the contribution is to 

the health of patients” 

Gautam Kok and Remi Stevelink, Utrecht University students, and Board members of Apollo Society Utrecht 

Apollo Society is an active international network of 

likeminded students with an interest in Translational 

Medicine. It was founded in 2014 by four medical students 

from Utrecht. Gautam explains, “There was a lack of 

courses on Translational Medicine in our curriculum so we 

decided to teach ourselves. We gather once a month to 

discuss topics related to Translational Medicine. These 

discussions tend to be very lively. Everyone chooses a 

topic, and we look at these topics from multiple 

perspectives, including medical, ethical and political 

points of view.” Following the example of Utrecht, the 

University of Toronto started an Apollo group as well. 

“We are currently writing an article in collaboration with 

the Apollo group in Toronto on Translational Medicine 

about the role of students in promoting Translational 

Medicine globally. In the future, we want to expand Apollo 

to different hubs: the universities of Miami and Arizona, 

and University College London.” Why is Translational 

Medicine important to them? Gautam reflects, “I was 

doing lab research, trying different kinds of drugs on cell 

lines. I was tucked away somewhere in a lab and did not 

know what I was doing exactly and what I was doing it for. 

That was the moment when I decided to become a doctor 

as well, and combine research with patient care.” Remi 

says, “Actually, a similar story applies to me. I found out 

that many researchers, including myself, had never met a 

patient. I did research on autism, but I had never met 

someone with autism. And I think my professor had never 

met any patient with autism either. I realised that this was 

not the way to go forward and I decided to study 

medicine as well as doing research to actually make a 

difference on the health of patients.” Remi continues, 

“My involvement in Apollo makes me think critically about 

the reasons for choosing a particular project and the 

contribution to health in general. Currently, I am doing 

research on epilepsy. I use genetics to predict treatment 

outcomes, eventually leading to personalised medicine. 

The parents of my epilepsy patients fund my research. 

Since the parents are involved in the questions I try to 

answer, I actually produce something that is relevant to 

them. That keeps me motivated.” 

UMC Utrecht 77


“My role model is embodied in several different people, both clinician-scientists and 

clinicians, whom I encountered during my career so far. They are my role models 

because of their integrity, perseverance, passion for their work, belief in what they 

do, and belief in the people they do their work with.” 

Maja Bulatović Ćalasan 

Internal Medicine Resident 

UMC Utrecht 79

“Translational Medicine is part of my every day work. I work together with clinicians 

and basic scientists, and have numerous collaborations with private partners, 

all aiming to improve diagnosis and care by making use of translational research.” 

Imo Hoefer 

Associate Professor, Head of Central Biobank 


UMC Utrecht 81

Naam/titel 

subtitel 

bodytekst 


“The field of medicine is changing very fast. It is difficult 

to prepare our current students for future challenges, and 

we need students who are able to collaborate with people 

from different backgrounds to kickstart innovation.” 

Annet van Royen-Kerkhof 

Pediatrician, Associate Professor, Program Director of Selective Utrecht Medical Master (SUMMA) 

Annet van Royen-Kerkhof speaks enthusiastically about 

SUMMA, the four-year Medical Master Programme at 

the University Medical Center Utrecht. “The small scale 

of the program guarantees close interaction with the 

students. Our students already have a Bachelor degree 

in a field related to Life Sciences, so they are able to 

challenge you as a teacher and add different 

perspectives to the discussion. 

In my opinion, the field of medicine is changing very 

fast. It is difficult to prepare our current students for 

future challenges, but what we do know is that we 

need students who are able to interact and collaborate 

with people from different backgrounds. For example 

with technicians, since many innovations start at the 

interface of medicine and technique. 

In an ideal world, our SUMMA students would 

collaborate with students from other master programs 

on real life problems that cannot be solved by a single 

research group. This would contribute to my main aim: 

to teach students to think outside the box, to be 

creative, and not to be hampered by existing 

structures.” 

UMC Utrecht 83


“I feel that frequent inspiration by clinical problems or patients is the most 

important aspect of Translational Medicine. After all, both fundamental and clinical 

scientists can perform Translational Medicine, but their orientation matters: 

are they inspired by patients and their problems, or do they merely wish to solve 

their own experimental problems?” 

Henk Schipper 

Pediatric Cardiology Fellow 

UMC Utrecht 85

“My drive in doing translational science is to understand the molecular mechanisms 

of disease pathogenesis in the liver and gastrointestinal tract. Together with 

partners, such as clinicians, pharmaceutical companies, and patient representatives, 

I aim to translate this knowledge into therapy or diagnostic tools for the benefit of 

human health.” 

Saskia van Mil 

Associate Professor, and Group Leader at Center for Molecular Medicine 


UMC Utrecht 87

Naam/titel 

subtitel 

bodytekst 


“We have one research line from the bed of the patient 

to the molecules in the lab. It is not a one-way street: 

it is dynamic and it goes back and forth.” 

Jeroen Pasterkamp 

Professor of Translational Neuroscience, Director of MIND Facility, and Chair of Strategic Research 

Program Brain 

The lab of Jeroen Pasterkamp is translational in several 

different ways. He explains, “First of all, we try to 

understand how the brain normally develops and 

works, from a basic research perspective. We use the 

normal situation as a standard, and then compare it to 

the injured or diseased situation. Another strategy is to 

use genetic information, brain resection material, or 

cultured human neurons from patients as a starting 

point. We can then use this to identify the cellular and 

molecular mechanisms that are affected in different 

diseases.” 

“Translational Medicine in the field of neurosciences is 

different from other fields, because the nervous system 

is a complex organ and we do not know much about it. 

We are trying to fix the patient’s problem, but at the 

same time we are trying to understand how the brain 

works,” Jeroen explains. 

The enthusiastic professor is proud of having achieved 

an efficient method to work with the clinic for studying 

both motor neuron disease and epilepsy. “For example, 

we have one research line in studying ALS, or 

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, that extends from the bed 

of the patient to the molecules we study in the lab. It is 

not a one-way street: it is dynamic, it goes back and 

forth. And, we collaborate with the entire world.” 

UMC Utrecht 89


“What I am proud of is that, together with my research group, we came up with the 

“idea” of radioactive holmium microspheres as a possible treatment of liver tumors 

into a real product for treatment of liver tumors, available for all patients in 

Europe.” 

Frank Nijsen 

Associate Professor 

UMC Utrecht 91

“We live in a very exciting time with spectacular technological possibilities, 

including next generation sequencing, gene editing, stem cell (organoid) in vitro 

modelling, transcriptomics, metabolomics, large compound screens... Information 

technology enables world wide access to international expertise and patient 

sharing. If embedded in a collaborative, patient-oriented, creative, inspiring and 

critical environment, we should be able to raise translational medicine to 

great heights! 

Sabine Fuchs 

Pediatrician in Metabolic Diseases with dedicated research time 


UMC Utrecht 93

Colophon 

Final Editing 

Maggy Ovaa 

Texts 

Rinze Benedictus, Sandra Genet, Margot Weggemans 

Printed by 

De Bondt grafimedia 

Sponsored by 

K.F. Hein Fonds 

With the support of / thanks to: 

Salvatore Albani, Petra Baarendse, Marije Bartels, Jeffrey Beekman, 

Louis Bont, Joyce Browne, Sylvia Brugman, Maja Bulatovic-Calasan, 

Roel Deckers, Pieter van Dijkhuizen, Sabine Fuchs, Johan Garssen, 

Aisha Gohar, Gijs van Haaften, Marne Hagemeijer, Antoni Hendrickx, 

Sanne Hoeks, Imo Hofer, Gautam Kok, Belinda van ‘t Land, 

Caroline Lindemans, Ingrid Lether, Jorg van Loosdregt, 

Sabine Middendorp, Frank Miedema, Saskia van Mil, 

Joris van Montfrans, Carl Moons, Sanne Nijhof, Frank Nijsen, 

Jeroen Pasterkamp, Berent Prakken, Kirsten Renkema, Erica Roks, 

Norman Rosenblum, Annet Van Royen-Kerkhof , Hester den Ruijter, 

Henk Schipper, Michiel Schreuder, Remy Stevelink, Joost Swart, 

Bas Vastert, Lilly Verhagen, Christiaan Vinkers, Femke van Wijk 

Translations 

Alexandra Cloherty 

Photography 

Thirza Luijten 

Lay-out 

Barbara Hagoort 

Order management 

UMC Utrecht, Design & Producties, 

Jelle Westerhoff 

Tel +31 (0)88 75 662 00 


UMC Utrecht 95


January 2018

www.umcutrecht.nl/translationalmedicine

RVB Translational Medicine Book

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