Universiteit Maastricht (Maastricht University)

Maastricht University is among the youngest universities of the country and has a strong international character. Researchers work in multidisciplinary teams in close collaboration with international institutes, business and industry. Maastricht University is part of the strategic alliance Health Axis Europe. The Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life sciences is Maastricht University’s largest faculty and closely affiliated with the academic hospital, together merged into the Maastricht University Medical Centre+. The MUCM+ has 715 beds, hosts approximately 7,000 employees and 4,000 students, is part of the Netherlands Federation of University Medical Centres, and integrates research, education, public health and patient care, with a focus on health promotion and disease prevention. The hospital is unique in combining functions of an academic centre and a regional hospital, and closely collaborates with medical centres in border regions of Belgium and Germany. Diabetes research is partly embedded in the CARIM School for Cardiovascular Diseases, one of the top institutes for translational cardiovascular research in Europe, and partly in the NUTRIM School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism. With respect to diabetes research, the institute is renowned for the Maastricht study, a population-based epidemiologic study aimed at improving our knowledge on and insight into the causes and development of chronic diseases, focusing on type 2 diabetes and its complications. Furthermore, there is ample experience with clinical trials and intervention studies, both investigator-initiated and through collaboration with industry.

Role within MELISSA

Maastricht University is coordinator for the entire project, thus involved in providing leadership, guidance and overall management of the project as well as support for individual scientists, monitoring the progress of the work and coordination of research activities. As such, Maastricht University has roles in all work packages. Within work package 1 (project management and scientific coordination), Maastricht University is responsible for the scientific coordination, in close collaboration with Eurice, University of Bern and Debiotech. Maastricht University is also responsible for reporting to the European Commission and for financial management. As one of the five clinical sites, Maastricht University is involved in the clinical validation study in work package 4, has contributed to the trial design, will contribute to obtaining ethics approval and is responsible for data collection and management. Furthermore, Maastricht University closely collaborates and interacts with the Patient Advisory Committee (PAC) as organised by JDRF.

Main contacts

Photo of Bastiaan E. de Galan, MD PhD

Bastiaan E. de Galan, MD PhD
professor of medicine/clinical diabetology

Photo of Lisa den Brok

Lisa den Brok
PhD student