Symposia Speakers

My group studies how cortisol (and corticosterone) supports stress adaptation, how it also can cause/aggravate many diseases, and how cortisol signalling can be used therapeutically. My PhD (Leiden University, 1996 with Ron de Kloet) focused on corticosteroids and serotonin signalling in the rodent hippocampus. During my postdoc at UCSF with David Pearce and Mary Dallman, I studied gene transcription via mineralo- and glucocorticoid receptors. Back at Leiden University (1999) and later Leiden University Medical Center (2012), I have worked on determinants of corticosteroid action (including tissue access, hormone rhythmicity, androgen presence, transcriptional coregulators), and the effects of new Selective Glucocorticoid Receptor Modulators.