Casper Schalkwijk

Professor

Prof. Casper Schalkwijk studied chemistry at University Utrecht and graduated in biochemistry. At the same university he obtained his PhD in 1992. He did post-graduate training in endothelial cell biology at TNO-PG in Leiden. He was appointed in 1995 as assistant professor and staff member at the Department of Clinical Chemistry at the Vrije Universiteit Medical Cente in Amsterdam and from 2004 as associate professor. He has led the Vascular Unit. He moved to the Department of Internal Medicine at Maastricht University in 2005, where he is heading the Laboratory for Metabolism and Vascular Medicine (~15fte). He was appointed as Professor of Experimental Internal Medicine at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML) of Maastricht UMC+ in 2011.

His main research themes are obesity, insulin resistance, endothelial function and vascular complications. The importance of endothelial dysfunction for the development of diabetic complications is studied in epidemiological setting with the availability of several cohorts and with experimental ex-vivo -, animal - and cell work. He has led several clinical studies. A major aim of his programme is to deliver specific and sensitive diagnostic biomarkers for the identification of patients developing  type 2 diabetes and to identify patients with high risk of vascular complications. Robust analytical techniques for measurements of biomarkers with multi-array technology and with UPLC-MSMS are available. A second aim of his programme is to obtain insight in the pathophysiology of vascular complications in diabetes. His current studies focus mainly on the importance non-enzymatic glycation for the development of diabetes and diabetic complications. He discovered, as one of the first, the link between AGEs and vascular complications in individuals with and without diabetes. He is an (inter)nationally recognised expert in the field of glycation. His lab is one of the most renowned labs in this field.The work has been supported by several grants and is now granted by the Diabetes Fonds Nederland, EFSD, NWO, ZonMw and NVWA.