P05 LUMC

Email: Louis Havekes

with a strong emphasis on the pathology associated with the Metabolic Syndrome, including both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Extended population and clinic based cohorts have been collected to address various aspects of the Metabolic Syndrome in humans. Mouse model research is fully embedded in the department, which allows for a direct translation of basic findings back to the clinic. The department houses a state of the art facility to measure all aspects of energy metabolism in mouse models, including hyperinsulinemic-eugycemic clamp analysis to address glucose metabolism, production and clearance of lipoprotein particles to address fatty acid metabolism and fully computerised metabolic cages to address whole body energy metabolism. The group of prof. Havekes has a long lasting and extensive experience in dissecting the role of apolipoproteins and lipoprotein receptors in metabolic disorders. There is a strong emphasis on the use of genetically modified mouse models (including viral gene transfer) for hyperlipidemia, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and atherosclerosis with strong focus on metabolic relationships between these various models. Employing the full array of metabolic analyses (metabolic cages, clamps and lipoprotein turn over studies), current focus is on finding key biochemical pathways, biomarkers and intervention targets that are relevant for hyperlipidemia, diabetes and atherosclerosis. The research is embedded in two large programs funded by the Netherlands Genomics Initiative, the Center for Medical Systems Biology (CMSB) (www.cmsb.nl) and the NutriGenomics Consortium (www.nutrigenomics.nl/ngc). An array of