Willem van den Brink

Research area

Accessible health measurement technologies are prevalent in today's society through wearables, smartphones, medical patches, and other devices. These technologies allow for non-invasive and continuous health monitoring, providing valuable insights into an individual's health, known as digital biomarkers. This transformational technology is revolutionizing healthcare by enabling remote care, decentralized clinical trials, and self-management, ultimately supporting disease management, prevention, and health promotion. My objective is to develop digital biomarkers that are meaningful, reliable, and usable ensuring the scalable adoption of these technologies. I joined TNO in 2018 as scientist, where I connect various disciplines, such as sensor technology, data science, social innovation, and clinical innovation in digital biomarker projects targeting chronic diseases, such as metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Projects

ENGAGE: public-private partnership aimed at developing meaningful digital biomarkers for individuals with type 2 diabetes, with an emphasis on macro- and microvascular complications. ENGAGE incorporates social innovation to integrate the perspectives of individuals with type 2 diabetes and other stakeholders regarding what to measure, how to measure it, and how to use it for self-management, clinical decision-making, and real-world evidence collection.

2DIAREM: public private partnership in developing a digital biomarker for TNO's diabetes subtyping technology. This technology can recognize insulin resistance that is specific to certain organs, allowing for personalized lifestyle recommendations that are more effective in preventing and managing type 2 diabetes. However, because it requires an oral glucose tolerance test and multiple blood samples, it may be difficult to implement on a large scale. Therefore, digital biomarker alternatives that rely on continuous glucose monitoring data are being considered to enhance the usability and scalability of diabetes subtyping.

BioCurity: aims to detect and monitor metabolic syndrome in a secure digital ecosystem. Specifically, I'm responsible for developing and integrating blood pressure variability as a promising digital biomarker for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular risk.

Prevntion2.0: TNO's Prevention program in collaboration with healthcare key opinion leaders, to create digital biomarkers of inflammation utilizing continuous vital sign monitoring through TNO's Health Patch. The program's focus is on inflammation in cardiometabolic disorder, inflammatory bowel disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Recent publications

• Willem van den Brink, Tim van den Broek, Salvator Palmisano, Suzan Wopereis, Iris de Hoogh (2022). Digital biomarkers for personalized nutrition: predicting meal moments and interstitial glucose with non-invasive wearable technologies. (pdf)
• Willem van den Brink, Robbert Bloem, Adithya Ananth, Thiru Kanagasabapathi, Arjen Amelink, Jildau Bouwman, Gerwin Gelinck, Sjaak van Veen, Andre Boorsma, Suzan Wopereis (2021) Digital Resilience Biomarkers for Personalized Health Maintenance and Disease Prevention. (pdf)
• Jolanda H. M. van Bilsen, Willem van den Brink, Anita M. van den Hoek, Remon Dulos, Martien P. M. Caspers, Robert Kleemann, Suzan Wopereis, Lars Verschuren (2021) Mechanism-Based Biomarker Prediction for Low-Grade Inflammation in Liver and Adipose Tissue. Front. (pdf)
• Sandra van der Haar, Femke P M Hoevenaars, Willem J van den Brink, Tim van den Broek, Mariëlle Timmer, André Boorsma, Esmée L Doets (2021). Exploring the Potential of Personalized Dietary Advice for Health Improvement in Motivated Individuals With Premetabolic Syndrome: Pretest-Posttest Study. (pdf)
• Willem van den Brink, Jolanda van Bilsen, Kanita Salic, Femke P M Hoevenaars, Lars Verschuren, Robert Kleemann, Jildau Bouwman, Gabriele V Ronnett, Ben van Ommen, Suzan Wopereis (2019). Current and Future Nutritional Strategies to Modulate Inflammatory Dynamics in Metabolic Disorders. (pdf)