Rob C. van Wijk is the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics Highlighted Trainee Author for the October 2019 issue. Mr. Van Wijk is a pre-doctoral trainee in the systems biomedicine and pharmacology program at Leiden University. His mentors are Dr. Elke HJ Krekels, Dr. Piet H. van der Graaf, and Dr. Herman P. Spaink. The Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics article that earned his selection as Highlighted Trainee Author is titled “Mechanistic and Quantitative Understanding of Pharmacokinetics in Zebrafish Larvae through Nanoscale Blood Sampling and Metabolite Modelling of Paracetamol” and is available at http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/371/1/15.
Mr. Van Wijk’s area of research is to develop a new paradigm in pharmacological research and drug development that combines experimental work with zebrafish and zebrafish larvae and computational data-analysis approaches; this involves managing collaborations on various projects with over half a dozen different research groups. The use of zebrafish in this area is increasing, but to reliably translate findings from zebrafish to higher vertebrates, including humans, an internal exposure-response relationship is essential. Both experimental innovations and advanced computational methods were required to reach this objective. His current research entails developing similar methods for two additional compounds (an antibiotic and an anticancer drug) to subsequently link this internal exposure to the observed response in bacterial burden or tumor size.
The anticipated impact of Mr. Van Wijk’s research published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics is the mechanistic and quantitative understanding of drug pharmacokinetics in zebrafish larvae, which is the result of 1) the development of a methodology to draw blood samples, 2) highly sensitive LC-MS/MS methodology to quantify drug and metabolites concentrations in very small samples, and 3) mixed-effects modelling of paracetamol and metabolite concentrations as a paradigm compound. The established drug clearance and volume of distribution values scaled well to those reported in higher vertebrates. This proof-of-concept improves confidence in the translational value of the zebrafish in drug discovery and development.
When not in the lab, Rob enjoys (molecular) cooking as well as biking along the Dutch coastline or running through the historic city center of his hometown, Leiden.