Prof. dr. C.K. van der Ent
Kors (Cornelis K) van der Ent (1962) is paediatrician, Professor in Paediatric Pulmonology and chair of the Child Health program.
After medical training in Rotterdam and Utrecht he became a research fellow at the department of Paediatric Respiratory Diseases where he graduated in 1997 on a thesis on clinical and physiological aspects of tidal breathing analysis as a measure for airway obstruction in young infants. He founded the Utrecht Cystic Fibrosis Center, being the largest in the country, focusing on multidisciplinary and long-term centralised treatment of patients with CF. He chairs the core-network on CF within the European Reference Network on Rare Lung Diseases (ERN-LUNG) and is coordinator of the EU-funded HIT-CF program which aims to provide better treatment and better lives for people with CF and rare genetic mutations in- and outside Europe.
Research Interests uitklapper, klik om te openen
Kors’ own research interests focus on the themes Cystic Fibrosis and development of other bronchusobstructive diseseases in young children. The studies crosslink basic mechanisms to clinical applications and long term developmental outcomes in children. In recent years, the prognosis of many of these disorders has greatly improved, making him especially focused on the long-term outcomes of his patients. He is convinced that improvement of long-term outcomes is based on improvement in treatment in childhood. In order to get a grip on the problems in adulthood, he initiated so-called life-course outpatient clinics in the Wilhelmina Children's Hospital, were pediatric and adult physicians closely collaborate in chronic patient care. He also conducts studies into disease development in healthy infants and children. For example, the Wheezing Illnesses Study Leidsche Rijn is a birth-cohort study in 3000 children into the development of chronic disease in relation to psychological and social well-being, in cross-collaboration with the Strategic Theme Dynamics of Youth of the Utrecht University. Starting from its own research experiences Kors stimulates interdisciplinary programs focusing on the life-long physical and mental effects of chronic diseases in childhood like ante- and perinatal damage, congenital abnormalities, severe inflammatory disorders and (post-)childhood cancer.
Key Publications uitklapper, klik om te openen
Prof. van der Ent published over 250 national and international peer reviewed scientific papers and acted as promoter in over 25 theses. Currently he supervises 3 post-docs and 14 PhD students, all working on mechanisms in the development and treatment of cystic fibrosis and other bronchusobstructive diseases. He is invited speaker on many international scientific meetings on his field.
A functional CFTR assay using primary cystic fibrosis intestinal organoids. Dekkers JF et al. Nature Med 2013; 19, 939-945.
Preterm birth, infant weight gain, and childhood asthma risk: A meta-analysis of 147,000 European children. Sonnenschein-van der Voort AMM et al. JACI 2014; 133, 1317-1329.
Tezacaftor–ivacaftor in patients with cystic fibrosis homozygous for Phe508del. Taylor-Cousar JL. NEJM 2017; 377, 2013-2023.
Characterizing responses to CFTR-modulating drugs using rectal organoids derived from subjects with cystic fibrosis. Dekkers JF et al. Sci Transl Med 2016; 8, 344ra84.