RVB Translational Medicine Book

“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