Judith Sluimer

Professor

Prof. Dr. Judith Sluimer defended her PhD thesis at Maastricht University in 2008, under supervision of Prof. Mat Daemen. She established the first proof of hypoxia in human and murine atherosclerosis and investigated the hypoxia-dependent formation and leaky phenotype of atherosclerotic plaque angiogenesis. After her PhD defense, she joined the lab of Prof. Ira Tabas (Columbia University, NYC, USA) in 2008 as a post-doctoral fellow to further her expertise in macrophage apoptosis, efferocytosis and autophagy (funded by the Netherlands Scientific Organisation (NWO, Rubicon), the international atherosclerosis society (IAS), and Maastricht University). Since 2010, Judith has established an independent research line to investigate pharmaceutical and genetic strategies to improve plaque oxygen levels and their impact on atherogenesis (NWO Veni). In 2013, CARIM consolidated her tenure track. 

Judith’s team in the Department of Pathology of Maastricht UMC+ currently works on the overarching goal and vision is to revert vascular ageing, atherosclerotic plaque destabilisation and ensuing clinical events by elucidating the role of inflammatory and fibrotic cellular players.

She studied cellular oxygen metabolism and autophagy as network member of the highly competitive Leducq grant scheme for transatlantic networks of excellence, and as 2016 recipient of the Dr. Dekker senior postdoc fellowship from the Dutch Heart Foundation. Her group benefits from interdisciplinary expertise through honorary scientist positions at RWTH Aachen and University of Edinburgh. These interactions have led to single cell sequencing data supporting heterogeneity of mesenchymal cells in healthy and diseased vasculature (NWO VIDI, ERA-CVD, Marie Curie fellowship, Humboldt fellowship). In addition to research and teaching, she has been mentor of BSc students in Medicine and Biomedical Sciences since 2011. Judith was local organizer of the ESM-EVBO conference (430 delegates) in Maastricht in 2019. She is associate editor for several journals, treasurer of the European Vascular Biology Organization (2019-2025), Member of the Basic Science council European society for cardiology (ESC), board member of the CARIM division Blood, and she chairs CARIM’s Grants & Incentives team, and the faculty-wide committee that advises the dean on promotions to assistant and associate professorships (2020-2026).

Department of Pathology
P. Debeyelaan 25, 6229 HX Maastricht
PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht

  • 2024
    • Sluimer, J. C. (2024). Metabolic and Shear Stress Regulate Endothelial Epas1 in Atherosclerosis. Circulation Research, 135(8), 838-840. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.124.325131
    • Rademakers, T., Manca, M., Jin, H., Orban, T., Perisic, L. M., Frissen, H. J. M., Rühle, F., Hautvast, P., van Rijssel, J., van Kuijk, K., Mees, B. M. E., Peutz-Kootstra, C. J., Heeneman, S., Daemen, M. J. A. P., Pasterkamp, G., Stoll, M., van Zandvoort, M. A. M. J., Hedin, U., Dequiedt, F., ... Biessen, E. A. L. (2024). Human atherosclerotic plaque transcriptomics reveals endothelial beta-2 spectrin as a potential regulator a leaky plaque microvasculature phenotype. Angiogenesis, 27(3), 461-474. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10456-024-09921-z
    • Jin, H., Zhang, C., Nagenborg, J., Juhasz, P., Ruder, A. V., Sikkink, C. J. J. M., Mees, B. M. E., Waring, O., Sluimer, J. C., Neumann, D., Goossens, P., Donners, M. M. P. C., Mardinoglu, A., & Biessen, E. A. L. (2024). Genome-scale metabolic network of human carotid plaque reveals the pivotal role of glutamine/glutamate metabolism in macrophage modulating plaque inflammation and vulnerability. Cardiovascular Diabetology, 23(1), Article 240. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12933-024-02339-3
    • Cao, J., Martin-Lorenzo, M., van Kuijk, K., Wieland, E., Gijbels, M. J., Claes, B. S. R., Heredero, A., Aldamiz-Echevarria, G., Heeren, R. M. A., Goossens, P., Sluimer, J., Balluff, B., & Alvarez-Llamas, G. (2024). Spatial Metabolomics Identifies LPC(18:0) and LPA(18:1) in Advanced Atheroma With Translation to Plasma for Cardiovascular Risk Estimation. Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, 44(3), 741-754. https://doi.org/10.1161/ATVBAHA.123.320278
    • Lu, C., Donners, M. M. P. C., de Baaij, J. B. J., Jin, H., Otten, J. J. T., Manca, M., van Zonneveld, A. J., Jukema, J. W., Kraaijeveld, A., Kuiper, J., Pasterkamp, G., Mees, B., Sluimer, J. C., Cavill, R., Karel, J. M. H., Goossens, P., & Biessen, E. A. L. (2024). Identification of a gene network driving the attenuated response to lipopolysaccharide of monocytes from hypertensive coronary artery disease patients. Frontiers in Immunology, 15, Article 1286382. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2024.1286382
    • Sluiter, T. J., Tillie, R. J. H. A., de Jong, A., de Bruijn, J. B. G., Peters, H. A. B., van de Leijgraaf, R., Halawani, R., Westmaas, M., Starink, L. I. W., Quax, P. H. A., Sluimer, J. C., & de Vries, M. R. (2024). Myeloid PHD2 Conditional Knockout Improves Intraplaque Angiogenesis and Vascular Remodeling in a Murine Model of Venous Bypass Grafting. Journal of the American Heart Association, 13(3), 033109. Article e033109. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.123.033109
    • Lin, A., Brittan, M., Baker, A. H., Dimmeler, S., Fisher, E. A., Sluimer, J. C., & Misra, A. (2024). Clonal Expansion in Cardiovascular Pathology. JACC: Basic to Translational Science, 9(1), 120-144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacbts.2023.04.008
  • 2023
    • Sarad, K., Stefanska, M., Kraszewska, I., Szade, K., Sluimer, J. C., Blyszczuk, P., Dulak, J., & Jazwa-Kusior, A. (2023). Single-cell transcriptomics reveals subtype-specific molecular profiles in Nrf2-deficient macrophages from murine atherosclerotic aortas. Frontiers in Immunology, 14, Article 1249379. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1249379
    • Maas, S., Jin, H., Lu, C., Nagenborg, J., Manca, M., Karel, J., Cavill, R., Sikkink, C., Yu, B., Nadeau, S., Dos Santos, J., Gijbels, M., Mees, B., Smirnov, E., Sluimer, J., Martins, G., Van der Vorst, E., & Biessen, E. (2023). Identification Of A Prdm1-Regulated T-Cell Network Which Controls T-Cell Driven Plaque Inflammation In Human And Mouse Atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis, 379(S1), S11-S11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2023.06.914
    • van Kuijk, K., McCracken, I. R., Tillie, R. J. H. A., Asselberghs, S. E. J., Kheder, D. A., Muitjens, S., Jin, H., Taylor, R. S., Schreur, R. W., Kuppe, C., Dobie, R., Ramachandran, P., Gijbels, M. J., Temmerman, L., Kirkwoord, P. M., Luyten, J., Li, Y. M., Noels, H., Goossens, P., ... Sluimer, J. C. (2023). Human and murine fibroblast single-cell transcriptomics reveals fibroblast clusters are differentially affected by ageing and serum cholesterol. Cardiovascular Research, 119(7), 1509-1523. https://doi.org/10.1093/cvr/cvad016