Koen Reesink

Assistant Professor

Dr Koen Reesink was originally trained in Electrical Engineering and has been active in biomedical research for over 20 years. His interests and specialties are vascular structure and function, ventricular-vascular hemodynamic interaction, system dynamics and signal processing. Dr Reesink’s group has made significant and awarded contributions to quantify and interpret arterial stiffness measurements, especially in clinical settings. Reesink leads his research line ‘Constitutive and system characteristics of large arteries’ within in the CARIM programme 'Complex Arrhythmias' (PI Prof. Tammo Delhaas).

Dr Reesink contributes actively to research organisational development, as initiator/chair of the Vascular Network Group, as steering group member of the CARIM Muroidean Facility, and as chair of the Operational Excellence project MF2BMC around the new Biomedical Center (BMC) for animal research in Maastricht.

Dr Reesink’s current research line ‘Constitutive and system characteristics of large arteries’ is focussed on unravelling the multi-scale structure-function relations that underlie the pathophysiology of accelerated arterial stiffening. Quantitative insights into these relations are of utmost importance to conceive, develop and validate therapeutic approaches for de-stiffening arteries, in order to combat the growing epidemic of ‘old-age’ systolic hypertension and its desastrous cardiovascular and societal sequelae.

Reesink is currently involved in the EU H2020 Demonstrator project CARDIS (as WP co-lead), and in the EU grant proposals MSCA-ITN-EJD2019 MINDSHIFT (as coordinator) and COST VascAge (as participant).

Department of Biomedical Engineering
Universiteitssingel 50, 6229 ER Maastricht
PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht
Room number: H3.360
T: +31(0)43 388 16 59

  • 2025
    • Okoro, C., van der Kallen, C. J. H., Mokhtar, S. B. A., Zhou, T. L., Berendschot, T. T. J. M., Koster, A., Reesink, K., Reulen, J., Mess, W. H., Webers, C. A. B., Kroon, A., & Stehouwer, C. D. A. (2025). Arterial stiffness is associated with small and large fiber neuropathy: The Maastricht Study. Journal of Hypertension, 43(12), 1945-1952. https://doi.org/10.1097/HJH.0000000000004126
    • Parikh, S., Reesink, K. D., Spronck, B., Delhaas, T., & Giudici, A. (2025). Impact of Dynamic Axial Stretching on the Arterial Pulse Wave Velocity: Physical Foundation and Clinical Implications. Annals of Biomedical Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-025-03940-7
    • van der Laan, K. W. F., Neutel, C. H. G., Pencheva, M. G., Wesley, C. D., Krüger, D. N., Schalwijk, C. G., De Meyer, G. R. Y., Martinet, W., Reesink, K. D., Delhaas, T., Giudici, A., Guns, P.-J., & Spronck, B. (2025). Vascular aging impairs active modulation of murine aortic stiffness by smooth muscle cells. American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology, 329(5), C1398-C1410. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpcell.00387.2025
    • van der Bruggen, M. M., van Greevenbroek, M. M. J., Spronck, B., Stehouwer, C. D. A., Delhaas, T., Reesink, K. D., & Schalkwijk, C. G. (2025). Plasma reactive dicarbonyls are not independently associated with arterial stiffness: The Maastricht Study. American Journal of Hypertension, 38(10), 777-787. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajh/hpaf068
    • Van den Eynde, M. D. G., van der Bruggen, M. M., Houben, A. J. H. M., Reesink, K. D., Spronck, B., Delhaas, T., Scheijen, J. J. L. J. M., Miyata, T., & Schalkwijk, C. G. (2025). Pyridoxamine does not reduce arterial stiffness in an 8-week randomized double-blind placebo-controlled intervention trial with abdominally obese individuals. Diabetes Obesity & Metabolism, 27(9), 5332-5336. https://doi.org/10.1111/dom.16524
    • Ganizada, B. H., Reesink, K. D., Parikh, S., Saraber, P. J. M. H., Cleutjens, J. P., Isabella, A., Krebbekx, M. Q. E., Jaminon, A. M., Maassen, C. F. M., Ramaekers, M. J. F. G., Spronck, B., van der Laan, K., Koenen, R. R., Lorusso, R., Maessen, J. G., Bidar, E., & Schurgers, L. J. (2025). Loss of wall stress homeostasis in ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm: histomorphometric insights into patient variants. The Journal of Physiology, 603(14), 3899-3922. https://doi.org/10.1113/JP288734
    • Pencheva, M. G., Berends, E., van der Laan, K. W. F., Giudici, A., Niessen, P., Scheijen, J. L. J. M., Vangrieken, P., Leenders, P., Delhaas, T., Caiment, F., Kutmon, M., Trujillo, F. M., Wouters, K., Foulquier, S., Spronck, B., Reesink, K. D., & Schalkwijk, C. G. (2025). Glyoxalase-1 overexpression attenuates arterial wall stiffening in diabetic mice. Cardiovascular Diabetology, 24(1), Article 283. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12933-025-02823-4
    • Saraber, P., Bica, L., Reesink, K., Mees, B., Bidar, E., Schurger, L., & Heuts, S. (2025). The clinical relevance of the decelerating effect of angiotensin receptor blockers on aortic growth in Marfan patients; a Bayesian perspective. International Journal of Cardiology, 433, Article 133318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcard.2025.133318
    • Giudici, A., Grillo, A., Scalise, F., Reesink, K. D., Delhaas, T., Salvi, P., Spronck, B., & Parati, G. (2025). Beat-to-beat variability of aortic pulse wave velocity: Implications for aortic stiffness measurements. Journal of Hypertension, 43(4), 589-597. Article 3935. https://doi.org/10.1097/HJH.0000000000003935
    • Parikh, S., Wehrens, A., Giudici, A., Ganizada, B., Saraber, P., Schurgers, L., Debeij, G., Natour, E., Maessen, J., Huberts, W., Delhaas, T., Reesink, K., & Bidar, E. (2025). Interpretation of intra-operative strain differences in ascending thoracic aortic repair patients. Journal of Biomechanics, 179, Article 112447. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2024.112447