Profile photo Geert Jan Biessels

Geert Jan Biessels

Full Professor

Strategic program(s):

Biography

My area of expertise is vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) and small vessel disease (SVD), with a particular focus on MRI markers to improve diagnosis and prognostication and support personalized treatment.

Using the unique properties of high field 7T-MRI we have been able – for the first time -to detect cerebral microinfarcts in vivo. We have translated the technique to more widely available 3T-MRI, and published standards on microinfarct detection in the Lancet Neurology. Currently we explore small vessel disease at the level of the small vessels themselves using novel measures of small vessel structure and function at 7T MRI and study the cognitive impact of vascular lesions through multicenter lesion symptom mapping studies (META VCI MAP consortium; https://metavcimap.org/ ) and through white matter network studies with diffusion MRI.

I am actively involved in several national and international VCI and SVD research networks, including STRIVE and HARNESS. I lead the Dutch Heart Brain Connection consortium  (https://www.hart-brein.nl/ ). I was PI in two large RCTs in diabetes with cognitive outcomes.

I have mentored over 40 PhD students and have over 450 peer-reviewed publications. I am a Dutch National Research Council Vidi and Vici laureate and was appointed Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh in 2016 and received the Senior Investigator Award of the European Stroke Organisation in 2015 in recognition of my work.

 

Research line

Vascular Cognitive Impairment, cerebral small vessel disease

Recent key publications

  1. Van Den Brink H, Pham S, Siero JC, … Biessels GJ Assessment of Small Vessel Function Using 7T MRI in Patients With Sporadic Cerebral Small Vessel Disease: The ZOOM@SVDs Study. Neurology 2024; 102(5): e209136.
  2. Biesbroek JM, Coenen M, DeCarli C, … Biessels GJ Amyloid pathology and vascular risk are associated with distinct patterns of cerebral white matter hyperintensities: A multicenter study in 3132 memory clinic patients. Alzheimers Dement 2024.
  3. van den Brink H, Kopczak A, Arts T, … Biessels GJ CADASIL Affects Multiple Aspects of Cerebral Small Vessel Function on 7T-MRI. Ann Neurol 2023; 93(1): 29-39.
  4. Kopczak A, Stringer MS, van den Brink H, , … Biessels GJ … Effect of blood pressure-lowering agents on microvascular function in people with small vessel diseases (TREAT-SVDs): a multicentre, open-label, randomised, crossover trial. Lancet Neurol 2023; 22(11): 991-1004.
  5. Duering M, Biessels GJ, Brodtmann A, et al. Neuroimaging standards for research into small vessel disease-advances since 2013. Lancet Neurol 2023; 22(7): 602-18.
  6. Coenen M, Kuijf HJ, , … Biessels GJ, Biesbroek JM Strategic white matter hyperintensity locations for cognitive impairment: A multicenter lesion-symptom mapping study in 3525 memory clinic patients. Alzheimers Dement 2023; 19(6): 2420-32.
  7. Weaver NA, Kuijf HJ, Aben HP, , … Biessels GJ Strategic infarct locations for post-stroke cognitive impairment: a pooled analysis of individual patient data from 12 acute ischaemic stroke cohorts. Lancet Neurol 2021; 20(6): 448-59.
  8. Biessels GJ, Nobili F, Teunissen CE, Simo R, Scheltens P. Understanding multifactorial brain changes in type 2 diabetes: a biomarker perspective. Lancet Neurol 2020; 19(8): 699-710.
  9. Ferro DA, van den Brink H, Exalto LG, , … Biessels GJ Clinical relevance of acute cerebral microinfarcts in vascular cognitive impairment. Neurology 2019; 92(14): e1558-e66.
  10. Biessels GJ, Verhagen C, Janssen J, et al. Effect of Linagliptin on Cognitive Performance in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes and Cardiorenal Comorbidities: The CARMELINA Randomized Trial. Diabetes Care 2019; 42(10): 1930-8.
  11. Biessels GJ, Despa F. Cognitive decline and dementia in diabetes mellitus: mechanisms and clinical implications. Nat Rev Endocrinol 2018; 14(10): 591-604.
  12. van Veluw SJ, Shih AY, Smith EE, , … Biessels GJ Detection, risk factors, and functional consequences of cerebral microinfarcts. Lancet Neurol 2017; 16(9): 730-40.
  13. Biessels GJ, Reagan LP. Hippocampal insulin resistance and cognitive dysfunction. Nat Rev Neurosci 2015; 16(11): 660-71.
  14. van Veluw SJ, Zwanenburg JJ, Engelen-Lee J, … Biessels GJ In vivo detection of cerebral cortical microinfarcts with high-resolution 7T MRI. JCerebBlood Flow Metab 2013; 33(3): 322-9.
  15. Wardlaw JM, Smith EE, Biessels GJ, et al. Neuroimaging standards for research into small vessel disease and its contribution to ageing and neurodegeneration. Lancet Neurol 2013; 12(8): 822-38.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Biessels+G

 

Research groups

Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI)

Research aim

Our research focuses on developing and validating novel MRI markers for vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) and cerebral small vessel diseases (SVD) that can help to improve diagnosis and prognostication and support personalized treatment
Go to group

Intracranial vasculopathies

Research aim

Our research focusses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of stroke and intracranial vasculopathies, including cerebral small vessel disease and intracranial aneurysms, with the ultimate goal to improve treatment strategies and prognosis.
Go to group

Recent publications

Detectability and accuracy of computational measurements of in-silico and physical representations of enlarged perivascular spaces from magnetic resonance images Roberto Duarte Coello, Maria Del C Valdés Hernández, Jaco J M Zwanenburg, Moniek van der Velden, Hugo J Kuijf, Alberto De Luca, José Bernal Moyano, Lucia Ballerini, Francesca M Chappell, Rosalind Brown, Geert Jan Biessels, Joanna M Wardlaw
Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 2024, vol. 403
Orthostatic hypotension, cognition and structural brain imaging in hemodynamically impaired patients Naomi L.P. Starmans, Frank J. Wolters, Anna E. Leeuwis, Esther E. Bron, Jeroen de Bresser, Hans Peter Brunner-La Rocca, Julie Staals, Majon Muller, Geert Jan Biessels, L. Jaap Kappelle,
Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 2024, vol. 461
Amyloid pathology and vascular risk are associated with distinct patterns of cerebral white matter hyperintensities J. Matthijs Biesbroek, Mirthe Coenen, Charles DeCarli, Evan M. Fletcher, Pauline M. Maillard, Frederik Barkhof, Josephine Barnes, Thomas Benke, Christopher P.L.H. Chen, Peter Dal-Bianco, Anna Dewenter, Marco Duering, Christian Enzinger, Michael Ewers, Lieza G. Exalto, Nicolai Franzmeier, Saima Hilal, Edith Hofer, Huiberdina L. Koek, Andrea B. Maier, Cheryl R. McCreary, Janne M. Papma, Ross W. Paterson, Yolande A.L. Pijnenburg, Anna Rubinski, Reinhold Schmidt, Jonathan M. Schott, Catherine F. Slattery, Eric E. Smith, Carole H. Sudre, Rebecca M.E. Steketee, Charlotte E. Teunissen, Esther van den Berg, Wiesje M. van der Flier, Narayanaswamy Venketasubramanian, Vikram Venkatraghavan, Meike W. Vernooij, Frank J. Wolters, Xu Xin, Hugo J. Kuijf, Geert Jan Biessels,
Alzheimer's and Dementia, 2024, vol. 20, p.2980-2989
Blood Pressure Variability and Plasma Biomarkers of Neuronal Injury and Alzheimer's Disease Naomi Louisa Paula Starmans, Laurens Jaap Kappelle, Majon Muller, Julie Staals, Charlotte Elisabeth Teunissen, Geert Jan Biessels, Wiesje Maria van der Flier, Frank Johannes Wolters,
Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD, 2024, vol. 99, p.1207-1215
Cortical microinfarcts in adults with Down syndrome assessed with 3T-MRI Mateus Rozalem Aranha, Victor Montal, Hilde van den Brink, Jordi Pegueroles, Maria Carmona-Iragui, Laura Videla, Lucia Maure Blesa, Bessy Benejam, Javier Arranz, Sílvia Valldeneu, Isabel Barroeta, Susana Fernández, Laia Ribas, Daniel Alcolea, Sofía González-Ortiz, Núria Bargalló, Geert Jan Biessels, Rafael Blesa, Alberto Lleó, Artur Martins Coutinho, Cláudia Costa Leite, Alexandre Bejanin, Juan Fortea
Alzheimer's & Dementia , 2024, vol. 20, p.3906-3917
Assessment of Small Vessel Function Using 7T MRI in Patients With Sporadic Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Hilde Van Den Brink, Stanley Pham, Jeroen C. Siero, Tine Arts, Laurien Onkenhout, Hugo Kuijf, Jeroen Hendrikse, Joanna M. Wardlaw, Martin Dichgans, Jaco J. Zwanenburg, Geert Jan Biessels
Neurology, 2024, vol. 102

Fellowships & Awards

2015: Senior Investigator Award European Stroke Organisation (ESO)

2011: Discovering declarative memory: A multimodal imaging approach in patients with ischemic stroke”,

External positions

Consultant, Chair of Steering Committe COGNIKET trial - Advies over opzet en uitvoer RCT ketogeen voedingssupplement bij MCI; vergoeding gaat naar UMCU - Nestlé Health Science