P. Eline Slagboom (born January 18, 1960,

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...

, the Netherlands) is a Dutch

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

specializing in the human familial longevity and ageing.

Education

Slagboom attended Christelijk Lyceum in

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

, graduating in 1978, before continuing to

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

for her Bachelors (1979) and Masters (1985) degrees in biology, followed by a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

focusing on Genomic Instability and Aging (1993) from the same institution.

Career

After receiving her

, Slagboom joined the Department of Vascular and Connective Tissues Research at the Gaubius Laboratory (TNO-PG, the Netherlands). As a post doc she initiated a unit for genetic epidemiological studies aimed at the identification of genetic determinants of multifactorial diseases. Slagboom started between 1995 and 1997 a genetic research line on

osteoarthritis Osteoarthritis (OA) is a type of degenerative joint disease that results from breakdown of joint cartilage and underlying bone which affects 1 in 7 adults in the United States. It is believed to be the fourth leading cause of disability in the w ...

(OA) including linkage studies in families with early onset OA, genetic association studies in population cohorts and linkage studies in populations of affected sibling-pairs. From 1998 on, Slagboom, in collaboration with research groups at different universities, obtained various grants that allowed initiation of a genotyping facility for genome scanning at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). In 2000, Slagboom was appointed as

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

of molecular epidemiology at the

Leiden University Medical Center Leiden University Medical Center (Dutch: ''Leids Universitair Medisch Centrum'') or LUMC is the university hospital affiliated with Leiden University, of which it forms the medical faculty. It is located in Leiden, Netherlands. LUMC is a modern un ...

. She established a new section of Molecular Epidemiology and Genotyping Center at the department of Medical Statistics and Bioinformatics. Slagboom has initiated a masterclass for Statistical Analysis of Genetic Data and Bioinformatics in Genomic Research and is involved in various teaching activities. Focus of the research in the past 10 years is on genomic, epigenetic and biomarker studies of healthy/unhealthy

ageing Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi, whereas for example, bacteria, perennial plants and some simple animals are potentially biologically immortal. In ...

and familial

longevity The word " longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography. However, the term ''longevity'' is sometimes meant to refer only to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is always d ...

in humans. These studies include

genomics Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dim ...

, metabolomics, and

proteomics Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins. Proteins are vital parts of living organisms, with many functions such as the formation of structural fibers of muscle tissue, enzymatic digestion of food, or synthesis and replication of DNA. In ...

analysis of age-related disease. A diversity of human cohorts with unique study designs is being analysed for this purpose. Slagboom is one of two founders of the Research on Ageing at the Leiden University Medical Center, supported among other foundations by the Netherlands Genomic Initiative. She initiated and heads the Leiden Longevity Study (LLS) together with R.G.J. Westendorp and a research cohort of osteoarthritis patients. The mission of her research group is the identification of genomic factors, biomarkers, and functional mechanisms marking and contributing to complex diseases in humans with a focus on ageing, longevity, and age-related disease. Slagboom has a leading role in large consortia within ageing research such as the Netherlands Consortium on Healthy Ageing, in which she established collaborative research with industry, and

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

large scale collaborative research projects (Treat~OA, GEHA, and LIFESPAN). Currently she heads a group of 15–20 scientists and academic staff has now started to obtain grants for new research lines (functional genomic studies in osteoarthritis and studies into interaction between genetic and epigenetic variation). She is PI of a new large scale collaborative FP7 project (IDEAL: ''I''ntegrated research on ''DE''velopmental determinants of ''A''geing and ''L''ongevity) together with Bas Zwaan (

Wageningen University and Research Centre Wageningen University & Research (also known as Wageningen UR; abbreviation: WUR) is a public university in Wageningen, Netherlands, specializing in life sciences with a focus on agriculture, technical and engineering subjects. It is a globally ...

; 2011–2016).

Research

Leiden Longevity study

Slagboom has built a database of 420 families with long lived siblings (over 90 years of age) and family members in the Netherlands, which has been used for many longevity studies. The siblings and their families have undergone periodic testing over a period of decades, providing a mass of longitudinal data for statistical analysis. A large number of participants have also provided

blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the c ...

, skin fibroblast,

PBMC A peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) is any peripheral blood cell having a round nucleus. These cells consist of lymphocytes (T cells, B cells, NK cells) and monocytes, whereas erythrocytes and platelets have no nuclei, and granulocytes (neu ...

s and

urine Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder. Urination results in urine being excretion, excreted from the body through the urethra. Cel ...

samples for testing of DNA,

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule essential in various biological roles in coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. RNA and deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) are nucleic acids. Along with lipids, proteins, and carbohydra ...

, and

proteins Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

. Her research has primarily focused on better understanding the influence of heredity on complex diseases, including cardiovascular diseases. This work is in collaboration with the Gerontology and Geriatrics department of the Leiden University Medical Center.

GARP study

GARP is abbreviation for "Genetics, osteoARthritis and Progression". Slagboom has built a database of 200 sibling pair both affected with

and non affected partners in the Netherlands, which has been used for many osteoarthritis studies. The patients and their partners have undergone periodic testing over a period of decades, providing a mass of longitudinal data for statistical analysis. A large number of participants have also provided

and

samples for testing of DNA,

and

. Her research has primarily focused on better understanding the influence of heredity on complex diseases. This work is in collaboration with the Reumatology department of the Leiden University Medical Center.

Personal

Currently Slagboom lives in

Woubrugge Woubrugge is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is located about 10 km east of the city of Leiden, in the municipality of Kaag en Braassem. History The village was first mentioned in 1493 as Woubregge, and means "bridge ...

. She is married to jazz musician

Toon Roos Toon may refer to: Places * Tōon, Ehime, a Japanese city in Ehime Prefecture * Toon, the former name of Ferdows, a city in South Khorasan Province, Iran * Toon, Somaliland, a town in the Garoodi region People * Toon (name), a list of peopl ...

and together they have a daughter and a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slagboom, Eline 1960 births Living people Scientists from Dordrecht Dutch biologists Leiden University alumni Academic staff of Leiden University Longevity study projects