My main focus of research is Acute Respiratory Disease and Support in Critically ill Children.

Within this theme I have special interest in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), severe viral (e.g. RSV) infections and the effects of (pediatric) intensive care supportive care such as invasive and non-invasive mechanical ventilation, hyperoxia and fluid therapy.

Previous and ongoing research studies include clinical studies, translational animal studies (mice, rats, lambs and calves) and laboratory in vitro studies using complex co-cultures with immune (eg, neutrophils) and airway epithelial cells.

Ongoing projects:

- Hyperoxia-induced lung injury

- Personalization of pediatric NIV masks by 3D scanning and printing

- Practice of ventilation in children

- Mucus biophysical properties (rheology) and aerosol dynamics

Previous successfully initiated and established collaboration with multiple (inter)national partners:

- National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA

- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

- Bioveterinary Research University of Wageningen, Lelystad, The Netherlands

- Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital, Utrecht, The Netherlands

- Department of Pediatric Pulmonology, Children’s Hospital Richmond, VG, USA

- Department of Lung Development and Remodeling, Max Planck Institute, Bad Nauheim, Germany

- Technical medicine from the TU Twente and Industrial Engineers from the TU Delft

- Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, Institute of Physics, University of Amsterdam