Biography

Freek obtained his doctorate degree at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam in March 2005 being supervised by Prof. Chris De Zeeuw. The title of his thesis was ‘Electrophysiological responses of floccular Purkinje cells during compensatory eye movements in mutant mice’. The subsequent post-doc appointment in the laboratories of Prof. Ype Elgersma and Prof. Chris De Zeeuw at the Erasmus Department Neuroscience from 2005 to 2008 focused on the impact of CaMKII isoforms on cerebellar plasticity and motor behavior. From 2009-2011 Freek’s research focused on the physiology and connectivity of the cerebellar nuclei in health and disease, which paved the way for starting his own research group. As an assistant and associate professor Freek focused on thalamic studies on cerebello-cerebral interactions. During this time his students came from various research disciplines (Biomedical Sciences, BioElectrical Engineering, Medicine, Nanobiology and Psychology), which provided a mixture of disciplines and expertise enabling several multidisciplinary studies. Freek’s network extends from the (bio)medical and engineering faculties of several Dutch universities to expert centers in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Japan and the USA.

Since January 2018 Freek has been appointed as the Chair of ‘Translation Research of Early Life Events’ at UMC Utrecht, which allows him to achieve his ambitions in connecting bench- and bed-side research. His current position is Full Professor, head of the Department for Developmental Origins of Disease in the division Woman & Child (Vrouw en Baby) at the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital of the UMC Utrecht. The main focus of his current scientific research is how adverse early life events affect the development of the connections between cerebellum and cerebrum.

Freek has supervised >15 PhD-students, numerous postdoctoral fellows and junior PIs. He contributed >60 articles and performs peer-review for a wide range of journals (Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Nature Neuroscience, Nature Communications, Neuron, PNAS, Cell Reports, Pediatrics, Annals of Neurology, etc) and is a member of the Dutch Neurofederation, the Dutch League against epilepsy, the society of anatomists, the Dutch-Flemish brain innovations consortium, Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) and Society for Neuroscience (SFN, USA). Freek presented the work of his team and hosted sessions at various international meetings, such as Gordon Research Conference, FENS and SFN. His research has been supported by several local and national grants (VENI, VIDI, TOP, Gravitation).

Since 2017 Freek is certified for academic teaching (BKO certificate; CAT course for honors teaching) and is currently the manager education for the division Woman & Child. Since 2021 Freek has been appointed the chair of the Harmen Tiddens Society for dedicated educators in the UMC Utrecht, which focusses on building the education community.

MOST RECENT KEY PUBLICATIONS

1. Augmented Reticular Thalamic Bursting and Seizures in Scn1a-Dravet Syndrome
Ritter-Makinson, S., Clemente-Perez, A., Higashikubo, B., Cho, F. S., Holden, S. S., Bennett, E., Chkaidze, A., Eelkman Rooda, O. H. J., Cornet, M. C., Hoebeek, F. E., Yamakawa, K., Cilio, M. R., Delord, B. & Paz, J. T., 2 Jan 2019, In : Cell Reports. 26, 1, p. 54-64.

2.Differentiating Cerebellar Impact on Thalamic Nuclei
Gornati, S. V., Schäfer, C. B., Eelkman Rooda, O. H. J., Nigg, A. L., De Zeeuw, C. I. & Hoebeek, F. E., 2018, In : Cell Reports. 23, 9, p. 2690-2704.

3. Neurodevelopmental consequences of preterm isolated cerebellar hemorrhage: A systematic review
Hortensius, L. M., Dijkshoorn, A. B. C., Ecury-Goossen, G. M., Steggerda, S. J., Hoebeek, F. E., Benders, M. J. N. L. & Dudink, J., 1 Nov 2018, In : Pediatrics. 142, 5, e20180609.

4.Convergence of Primary Sensory Cortex and Cerebellar Nuclei Pathways in the Whisker System    Schafer, C. B. & Hoebeek, F. E., 1 Jan 2018, In : Neuroscience. 368, p. 229-239

5.Cerebello-cerebral connectivity in the developing brain                                                          Pieterman, K., Batalle, D., Dudink, J., Tournier, J. D., Hughes, E. J., Barnett, M., Benders, M. J., Edwards, A. D., Hoebeek, F. E. & Counsell, S. J., 29 Aug 2016. In : Brain Structure and Function. p. 1-10 10 p.

6.Dysfunctional cerebellar Purkinje cells contribute to autism-like behaviour in Shank2-deficient mice Peter, S., Ten Brinke, M. M., Stedehouder, J., Reinelt, C. M., Wu, B., Zhou, H., Zhou, K., Boele, H-J., Kushner, S. A., Lee, M. G., Schmeisser, M. J., Boeckers, T. M., Schonewille, M., Hoebeek, F. E. & De Zeeuw, C. I., 1 Sep 2016, In : Nature Communications. 7, p. 12627