Martien Kas
Position: Assistant Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience
E-mail: m.j.h.kas@umcutrecht.nl
Phone: (+31) (0)88 75 68179
Phone secretariat: (+31) (0)88 75 68810
I am interested in the determinants of behavior, especially of behavioral strategies that are relevant across species (e.g., feeding behavior, social interaction, avoidance and approach behavior) and that are affected in various psychiatric disorders. My research focuses on interspecies genetics of neurobehavioral traits relevant to eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD).
RESEARCH
Aims:
Eating disorders are complex psychiatric disorders in which patients display a variety of behavioral traits, including obsessionality, increased anxiety, and hyperactivity. These traits are also seen in other psychiatric disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorders and depression, which are often co-morbid with eating disorders. We aim to identify novel genetic loci and associated genetic pathways regulating neurobehavioral traits relevant to these psychiatric disorders
Experimental strategy:
The identification of molecular genetic mechanisms of eating disorder traits is established by combining three different experimental strategies:
1. Fine-grained analysis of behavior using both well-established animal models for eating disorders as well as novel automated behavioral phenotyping methods for related endophenotypes
2. Applying mouse genetic strategies to determine the genes underlying these neurobehavioral traits
3. Integration of mouse and human genetic findings
These studies are carried out in close collaboration with other members of the section Neurobiology of Behavior and the section Neurodevelopment, the Department of Psychiatry (UMC Utrecht), the Department of Biomedical Genetics (UMC Utrecht), the Department of Psychopharmacology (Utrecht University), Rintveld, Center for Eating Disorders (UMC Utrecht & Altrecht GGZ, Zeist), and the Institute of Psychiatry (London, UK).
RECENT KEY PUBLICATIONS:
1: de Mooij - van Malsen JG, van Lith HA, Oppelaar H, Hendriks J, de Wit M, Kostrzewa E, Breen G, Collier DA, Olivier B and Kas MJ. (2009) Interspecies trait genetics reveals association of Adcy8 with mouse avoidance behavior and a human mood disorder, Biol. Psychiatry, in press
2: Gelegen C, van den Heuvel J, Collier DA, Campbell IC, Oppelaar H, Hessel E, Kas MJ. (2009) Dopaminergic and BDNF signalling in inbred mice exposed to a restricted feeding schedule. Genes Brain Behav. 7, 552-559.
3: Kas MJ, Fernandes C, Schalkwyk LC, Collier DA (2007) Genetics of behavioural domains across the neuropsychiatric spectrum; of mice and men. Mol Psychiatry. 12, 324-330.
4: Kas MJ, Tiesjema B, van Dijk G, Garner KM, Barsh GS, ter Brake O, Verhaagen J, Adan RA (2004) Induction of brain-region-specific forms of obesity by agouti. J Neurosci. 24, 10176-10181.
5: Kas MJ, Van Ree JM (2004) Dissecting complex behaviours in the post-genomic era. Trends Neurosci. 27, 366-369.
