Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Netherlands
fellow
Betty Tijms
2022-2023
Home institution
Amsterdam UMC
Country of origin (home institution)
Netherlands
Discipline(s)
Health Sciences
Medicine
Theme(s)
Aging
Health
Inequalities, inclusion & Social Innovation
Fellowship dates
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Biography
Betty is a L'Oréal-Unesco For Women in Science Fellow at NIAS during 2022-2023.
"My background is in Psychology (Bsc. and MSc. by research, University of Amsterdam) and NeuroInformatics (Msc by Research and PhD, University of Edinburgh). I am an original thinker and like to combine knowledge from different fields to come to new insights."
Research Project
Personalized treatment for Alzheimer’s disease based on molecular subtypes
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia. It is pathologically defined by amyloid plaques and tau tangles in the brain. The underlying pathophysiology of AD is, however, heterogeneous, and this hampers the search for a cure. Recently, I discovered three distinct molecular AD subtypes using cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteomics (Tijms et al., 2020, Brain). These subtypes showed distinct underlying pathways: one subtype was characterised by inflammation, another showed disrupted blood-brain barrier function and the third showed abnormal amyloid metabolism. This means that each subtype probably requires specific treatment.
My goal is to advance personalized treatments in AD by tailoring treatments to a patient’s molecular subtype. As a first step towards this goal, I aim to write two papers on analyses I have already largely performed:
1. Study within each subtype how CSF proteomic markers change over time.
2. Identify blood markers to diagnose AD subtypes, because blood is easier to obtain than CSF, which requires a lumbar puncture.
Research Interests:
Neurodegenerative disease subtypes; Biomarker development; Personalized medicine