An Vermeulen
Tags: Pharmacometrics, Drug analysis
Laboratory of Medical Biochemistry and Clinical Analysis, Department of Bioanalysis, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences
Reasearch focus
Our research focuses on how dosing strategies during chronic therapy should adapt to treatment-related and physiological changes within individual patients. Such changes may result from ageing, disease progression, comedication, or lifestyle factors and can substantially alter drug exposure and response over time. We aim to translate in vitro and (pre)clinical findings into individualized, pragmatic dosing regimens through in vitro-in vivo extrapolation (IVIVE). Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modelling is our primary methodological framework, enabling mechanistic integration of knowledge of drug properties and (patho)physiology. This modelling is supported by drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK) assays, including microsomal stability and protein binding. In parallel, we perform quantification of drugs and metabolites in biological matrices (plasma, tissue) using LC-MS/MS and apply population pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PopPK-PD) modelling to longitudinal concentration-effect data. Together, these approaches allow us to study dynamic changes in drug disposition and response and to inform adaptive dosing strategies in clinical practice.