At the department of chemical food safety, I am working on the application of PBK models in human and animal health risk assessment.

For different projects, I have developed an interactive PBPK modeling tool that allows the prediction of blood, urine and tissue concentrations of drugs and chemicals based on their physicochemical properties. By linking the PBPK model to exposure models, such as ART, a risk assessment can be performed for potential exposure (oral, dermal, inhalation) to chemicals and nanomaterials currently on the market or still in development. The PBPK model is also applied during drug development to predict… Show more For different projects, I have developed an interactive PBPK modeling tool that allows the prediction of blood, urine and tissue concentrations of drugs and chemicals based on their physicochemical properties. By linking the PBPK model to exposure models, such as ART, a risk assessment can be performed for potential exposure (oral, dermal, inhalation) to chemicals and nanomaterials currently on the market or still in development. The PBPK model is also applied during drug development to predict the absolute human oral bioavailability on the basis of in vitro absorption data, using porcine intestinal tissue mounted in TNO's newly developed InTESTine system, and in vitro metabolism data. I am also involved in projects that investigate the clinical sensitivity of the food allergic population. Using text-mining techniques, new publications and websites are screened for potential useful information. By improving our knowledge on the clinical thresholds in the allergic population, we aim to help the food allergic consumers in finding safe foods by developing quantitative guidance to food producers on labeling prepacked foods correctly for the unintended presence of allergens. Show less

In this project the concentration-time profiles of neurotensin degrading enzyme inhibitors and cannabinoid receptor antagonists will be measured in the rat, in plasma, brain extracellular fluid (ECF), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and total brain tissue, including in vivo microdialysis as an imperative tool combined with serial plasma and sparse brain sampling. The microdialysis probes in brain ECF and CSF will be continuously perfused with a physiological solution, allowing small-enough molecules… Show more In this project the concentration-time profiles of neurotensin degrading enzyme inhibitors and cannabinoid receptor antagonists will be measured in the rat, in plasma, brain extracellular fluid (ECF), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and total brain tissue, including in vivo microdialysis as an imperative tool combined with serial plasma and sparse brain sampling. The microdialysis probes in brain ECF and CSF will be continuously perfused with a physiological solution, allowing small-enough molecules (including the drug) to diffuse across the semi-permeable membrane of the probe into the dialysate. The dialysate samples will be collected and analysed ex vivo. Thus, detailed pharmacokinetic (PK) information will be obtained from a relatively small number of individual rats. The kinetic relationships between the concentrations in plasma, ECF and CSF will be determined. This mechanistic information will be used to interpret human CSF data that will become available in future studies. Show less