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

  • 2024
    • van der Sluijs, K. M., Bakker, E. A., Kerstens, T. P., Stens, N. A., de Koning, I. A., Thannhauser, J., Malik, A. E. F., Reesink, K. D., Nabeel, P. M., Raj, K. V., Joseph, J., Eijsvogels, T. M. H., Thijssen, D. H. J., & Nijmegen Exercise Study collaboration (2024). Association of Objectively Measured Sedentary Behavior With Arterial Stiffness: Findings From the Nijmegen Exercise Study. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 34(11), Article e14757. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.14757
    • Parikh, S., Giudici, A., Huberts, W., Delhaas, T., Bidar, E., Spronck, B., & Reesink, K. (2024). Significance of Dynamic Axial Stretching on Estimating Biomechanical Behavior and Properties of the Human Ascending Aorta. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 52(9), 2485-2495. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-024-03537-6
    • van der Bruggen, M., Spronck, B., Bos, S., Heusinkveld, M. H. G., Taddei, S., Ghiadoni, L., Delhaas, T., Maria Bruno, R., & Reesink, K. D. (2024). Correction to: Pressure-Corrected Carotid Stiffness and Young's Modulus. American Journal of Hypertension, 37(7), 541-542. Article hpae037. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajh/hpae037
    • van der Laan, K. W. F., Reesink, K. D., Lambrichts, S., Bitsch, N. J. J. E., van der Taelen, L., Foulquier, S., Delhaas, T., Spronck, B., & Giudici, A. (2024). Effect of rapid cooling, frozen storage, and thawing on the passive viscoelastic properties and structure of the rat aorta. Journal of Biomechanics, 171, Article 112190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbiomech.2024.112190
    • Ganizada, B. H., J. A. Veltrop, R., Akbulut, A. C., Koenen, R. R., Accord, R., Lorusso, R., Maessen, J. G., Reesink, K., Bidar, E., & Schurgers, L. J. (2024). Unveiling cellular and molecular aspects of ascending thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections. Basic Research in Cardiology, 119(3), 371-395. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00395-024-01053-1
    • Steegh, F. M. E. G., Keijbeck, A. A., de Hoogt, P. A., Rademakers, T., Houben, A. J. H. M., Reesink, K. D., Stehouwer, C. D. A., Daemen, M. J. A. P., & Peutz-Kootstra, C. J. (2024). Capillary rarefaction: a missing link in renal and cardiovascular disease?Angiogenesis, 27(1), 23-35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10456-023-09883-8
  • 2023
    • Giudici, A., van der Laan, K. W. F., van der Bruggen, M. M., Parikh, S., Berends, E., Foulquier, S., Delhaas, T., Reesink, K. D., & Spronck, B. (2023). Constituent-based quasi-linear viscoelasticity: a revised quasi-linear modelling framework to capture nonlinear viscoelasticity in arteries. Biomechanics and modeling in mechanobiology, 22(5), 1607–1623. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10237-023-01711-8
    • Bianchini, E., Guala, A., Golemati, S., Alastruey, J., Climie, R. E., Dalakleidi, K., Francesconi, M., Fuchs, D., Hartman, Y., Malik, A. E. F., Makunaite, M., Nikita, K. S., Park, C., Pugh, C. J. A., Satrauskiene, A., Terentes-Printizios, D., Teynor, A., Thijssen, D., Schmidt-Trucksaess, A., ... Reesink, K. D. (2023). The Ultrasound Window Into Vascular Ageing A Technology Review by the VascAgeNet COST Action. Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, 42(10), 2183 - 2213. https://doi.org/10.1002/jum.16243