Gerard Pasterkamp

Gerard Pasterkamp, MD, is professor Experimental Cardiology and quarter maker of the Circulatory Health Research Center, UMC Utrecht. His research interests are in the field of cardiovascular biology and more specifically innovation in biomarkers. His research interests are in the field of cardiovascular biology and innovation in biomarkers and drug targets. The research group houses the largest atherosclerotic plaque biobank worldwide: Athero Express including >4000 patients. This biobank has generated new insights into determinants of plaque destabilisation. The laboratory also invests in the excavation of genetic determinants of atherosclerotic plaque characteristics. He coordinates national and EU based consortia with the aim to unravel biomarkers and mechanisms of atherosclerotic disease. His translational profile is noted in the private public consortia he is involved in. He is supervising three public private grants that have been rewarded with the aim to develop novel biomarkers and imaging technology to detect cardiac ischemia and endothelial dysfunction. In 2018 he obtained a LeDucq grant together with Prof G Owens (Virginia University) on the role of smooth muscle cell plasticity in the atherosclerotic plaque.