Associate Professor - medical
Strategic program(s):
Biography
Bas is a pediatric rheumatologist in the “EULAR center of excellence in rheumatology" Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital Utrecht. Besides being an esteemed clinician in the field of Pediatric Rheumatology, he has developed into a translational researcher, with a PhD on mechanisms of disease and therapy in severe JIA in 2013. From 2015, he has been starting a translational research group together with Jorg van Loosdregt, molecular biologist. They currently supervise 5 PhD students, 1 post-doc and 2 technicians together, within the Center of Translational Immunology in Utrecht (v Loosdregt-Vastert group). Their labgroup aims to translate cutting edge science into clinical benefit for patients and their research focusses on systemic JIA and on development of novel treatment strategies for JIA. Bas is currently leading a multi-center prospective trial implementing a biomarker driven stop-strategy for rIL-1RA therapy in systemic JIA in the Netherlands (the ESTIS trial).
In addition, as a designated Young Investigator, Bas is the Dutch lead for all translational laboratory studies within UCAN CAN DU (major infrastructural research project 2017-2021 in Canada and the Netherlands).
Key words: Translational research in childhood arthritis, biology of systemic JIA, (regulation of) auto-inflammation, regulation of autoimmune inflammation, epigenetics.
Research aim
It is our goal to improve the diagnosis and treatment of immune-related diseases with a focus on Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
Go to group2020: Jeffrey Modell Foundation C.H.I.L.D.R.E.N! Research Program grant
