J.C.N. de Geus

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Name             : Eco de Geus
Department   : Biological Psychology
Position         : Professor
Email             : eco@psy.vu.nl ; JCN.de.Geus@psy.vu.nl
Telephone     :  0031205988813
Address         :  van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT, AMSTERDAM

CURRICULUM VITAE
Training:
1973- 79 Gymnasium β       St Gertrudis Lyceum, Roosendaal
1979- 80  BA Human Movement Sciences      VU University Amsterdam
1980- 82 Backpacking North and Middle America
1982- 85  BA Human Movement Sciences       VU University Amsterdam
1985– 87 MA Human Movement Sciences (jan ‘87 cum laude)  VU University Amsterdam
1987- 92 PhD Psychophysiology (oct ‘92 cum laude)       Vu University Amsterdam 

Work experience:
1987- 88: Junior Researcher VROM (Ministry of Public Health)
1988- 92: PhD student  NWO (Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research)
1992- 96: Post-doc  Dept of Psychonomics, VU University
1996- 98: Assistant prof (UD) Dept of Psychonomics, VU 1998- 02: Associate prof (UHD) Dept of Biological Psychology, VU
2002- 09:  Full professor  Dept of Biological Psychology, VU

De Geus is currently full professor at the department of Biological Psychology, co-director of the Netherlands Twin Registry, member of the management teams of the Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam and the VU/VUmc EMGO+ institute, and associate editor for Psychosomatic Medicine and Biological Psychology. He has published over 180 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters, with an H-index of 36.

CURRENT PROJECTS
De Geus supervises the behavioral and molecular genetic neuroscience research on endophenotypes of individual differences in affective and cognitive function. He is further engaged in genetic epidemiological research on lifestyle (e.g. exercise), stress and cardiovascular risk factors and their co-morbidity to anxiety and depression. A recurrent theme is the ambulatory measurement of the psychophysiological responses in naturalistic “real life” settings for wich he developed the Vrije Universiteit Ambulatory Monitoring System (VU-AMS).
Some ongoing projects
- determine the role of (genetic variation in) pro-inflammatory cytokine markers in metabolic syndrome and anxiety and depression (NWO-ZonMW Middelgroot).
- use existing linkage/GWA/expression data from large scale molecular epidemiology projects to advance understanding of the etiology of anxiety and depression (NWO-CMSB2, NIMH) and cardiovascular disease (ESF-FP7).
- use the Discordant/Concordant twin design in MRI and MEG based brain imaging studies (NWO-MAGW).
- innovation in the assessment of within and between subject variation in autonomic nervous system activity in relation to psychopathology (FPP).

KEY PUBLICATIONS
Licht CM, de Geus EJ, Zitman FG, Hoogendijk WJ, van Dyck R, Penninx BW. Association between major depressive disorder and heart rate variability in the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA). Arch Gen Psychiatry (2008) 65(12):1358-67.

Van't Ent D, van Beijsterveldt TC, Derks EM, Hudziak JJ, Veltman DJ, Todd RD, Boomsma DI, De Geus EJ. Neuroimaging of response nterference in twins concordant or discordant for inattention and hyperactivity symptoms. Neuroscience (2009) Epub

Sullivan PF, de Geus EJ, Willemsen G, James MR, Smit JH, Zandbelt T, Arolt V, Baune BT, Blackwood D, Cichon S, Coventry WL, Domschke K, Farmer A, Fava M, Gordon SD, He Q, Heath AC, Heutink P, Holsboer F, Hoogendijk WJ, Hottenga JJ, Hu Y, Kohli M, Lin D, Lucae S, Macintyre DJ, Maier W, McGhee KA, McGuffin P, Montgomery GW, Muir WJ, Nolen WA, Nöthen MM, Perlis RH, Pirlo K, Posthuma D, Rietschel M, Rizzu P, Schosser A, Smit AB, Smoller JW, Tzeng JY, van Dyck R, Verhage M, Zitman FG, Martin NG, Wray NR, Boomsma DI, Penninx BW. Genome-wide association for major depressive disorder: a possible role for the presynaptic protein piccolo. Mol Psychiatry (2009) 14(4):359-75.

De Moor MH, Boomsma DI, Stubbe JH, Willemsen G, de Geus EJ. Testing causality in the association between regular exercise and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry (2008) 65(8):897-905.

Wolfensberger SP, Veltman DJ, Hoogendijk WJ, Boomsma DI, de Geus EJ. Amygdala responses to emotional faces in twins discordant or concordant for the risk for anxiety and depression. Neuroimage (2008) 41(2):544-52.