dr. K (Klaske) van Norren
Biography
My passion lies in research on metabolic mechanism behind muscle wasting in aging and disease, because it is an unmet medical need with clear impact on quality of life of the patient. It matters if you can dress yourself, walk to a grocery store or climb a stair. The emphasis of my research group is on the development of multi-targeted treatment combinations of nutrition, exercise and pharmaceuticals, driven from a metabolic target finding approach. To enable this, my international research projects cover translation from cell to vertebrate to the human situation. Our current research focusses on the mechanisms behind the gut-brain crosstalk, in which intestinal permeability and hypothalamic inflammation play a key role. We developed a new peptide based method for the measurement of intestinal permeability in humans and unraveled a new role for serotonin in the amplification of the inflammatory response in the hypothalamus. Hypothalamic inflammation as a key driver and amplifier of peripheral inflammatory processes is a new field of research that changes perspectives on disease and age-induced metabolic changes and modifications to tissues and organs involved. More information on my research projects, you will find under the tab projects of my WUR page. (projects K van Norren WUR) The projects of my PhD students you can find on the following links: