Chris Reutelingsperger
Professor
Prof. Chris Reutelingsperger studied Biochemistry at the University of Utrecht. As a PhD student, he discovered and patented the anticoagulant annexin A5 (VAscular Anticoagulant) and defended the thesis 'Vascular anticoagulant, a novel anticoagulant mechanism' at Maastricht University in 1987. He was awarded the five-year Senior Fellowship of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW) and spent part of his post-doc time at the Boehringer Ingelheim Institute für Arzneimittelforschung in Vienna, to work on elucidating the genetic code of annexin A5.
In 1994, he discovered and patented the power of annexin A5 to detect apoptotic cells. In 1992, he received a tenure track at the Department of Biochemistry of Maastricht University, resulting in a tenured position as Associate Professor in 1997. In 2009, he was appointed Professor of Biochemistry of Apoptosis at Maastricht University. He (co-)authored over 200 peer reviewed papers (H-index 68, source Scholar Google). He is (co-)inventor of 12 granted patents and CSO of PharmaTarget, a biotech company which he co-founded in 2006. He was President of the 8th International Conference on Annexins in 2015. Currently, he chairs the Scientific Advisory Board of Matisse Pharmaceuticals (Netherlands), a biotech company developing therapeutic drugs to treat sepsis.
Chris Reutelingsperger's research activities address molecular and cellular mechanisms of vascular remodeling, vasculitis, atherosclerosis and vascular calcification. His interests focus on vascular calcification, cell death programs, phagocytosis, complement, vitamin K-dependent proteins and annexins, with emphasis on annexins A1 and A5. His major experimental approach utilises in vitrocell biology an in-house developed integrated in vitro assay platform (The BioHybrid, 'organ on-a-chip') covering all major vascular cell types and processes in the pathophysiology of vascular diseases. His strategy encompasses linking basic research to clinical application by establishing collaborations with clinical research and with industry.
