J.M. Vink

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CONTACT

Name: Dr. Jacqueline M. Vink 
Department: Biological Psychology 
Position: Associate Professor 
Email: jm.vink@psy.vu.nl
Telephone:  020-5988787       
Address: Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam
Website: www.jacquelinemvink.com

CURRICULUM VITAE

Education/training 
1991-1996:  BA + MA Biology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam 
1999-2004:  PhD Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam. Title thesis: “A twin-family study of smoking behavior”.  
  
Positions and Employment 
1996-1999:  Research Assistant - IVF-centre, VU-hospital, Amsterdam. 
1999 -2004:  PhD-student - Dept. of Biological Psychology and Netherlands Twin Registry, VU-university, Amsterdam 
2004-2005:  Post-doc - Dept. of Biological Psychology and Netherlands Twin Registry, VU-university, Amsterdam. 
2005-2011:  Assistant professor / lecturer - Dept. of Biological Psychology and Netherlands Twin Registry, VU-university, Amsterdam.
2011-present: Associate professor / lecturer - Dept. of Biological Psychology and Netherlands Twin Registry, VU-university, Amsterdam.

Awards and honors 
2011: ERC Starting Grant “Beyond the Genetics of Addiction”.
2007: Veni (awarded by NWO: Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research). Causes and consequences of smoking behavior: a twin-family study (ongoing research support 2007-2010).

CURRENT PROJECTS

ERC Starting Grant Project “Beyond the Genetics of Addiction

The project seeks to explain the complex interplay between genetic and environmental causes of individual variation in substance use and the risk for abuse. Substance use is common. Substances like nicotine and cannabis have well-known negative health consequences, while alcohol and caffeine use may be both beneficial and detrimental, depending on the quantity and frequency of use. Twin studies (including our own) demonstrated that both heritable and environmental factors play a role in substance use and in the risk for abuse. Understanding the balance between genetic and environmental causes may hold the key to further reductions in the disease burden and mortality due to substance use.

The proposal on substance use (nicotine, alcohol, cannabis and caffeine) is organized around several key objectives:

1. To unravel the interplay between genetic and environmental influences on substance use by using extended twin family designs; 
2. To identify and confirm genes and gene networks involved in substance use by using DNA-variant data; 
3. To explore differential gene expression patterns associated with substance use;
4. To test the added value of biomarkers for substance use (measured in blood or urine) in understanding the individual variation in substance use; 
5. To unravel relation between substance use and health by linking twin-family data to national medical databases.

To realize these aims we will use the extensive resources of the Netherlands Twin Register (NTR); including both the longitudinal phenotype database and the biological samples collected in the NTR biobank. Additional phenotype data crucial for the project will be collected. Large samples will be available for this study and state-of-the art methods will be used to analyze the data. All together, the project will offer powerful approaches to unravel the complex interaction between genetic and environmental causes of individual differences in substance use and the risk for abuse and will give new opportunities for health promotion, prevention and intervention.
Jacqueline Vink is also involved in other projects of the NTR and teaches the course Molecular Genetics and ‘Methodologie 3’for bachelor students of the Biological Psychology Department.

KEY PUBLICATIONS

• Vink, J.M., Smit, A.B., De Geus, E.J.C., Sullivan, P., Willemsen, G., Hottenga, J.J., Smit, J., Hoogendijk, W.J., Zitman, F.G., Peltonen, L., Kaprio, J., Pedersen, N.L., Magnusson, P., Spector, T.D., Kyvik, K.O., Morley, K.I., Heath, A.C., Martin, N.G., Westendorp, R.G.J., Slagboom, P.E., Tiemeier, H., Hofman, A., Uitterlinden, A., Aulchenko, Y., Amin, N., van Duijn, C., Penninx, B.W. and Boomsma, D.I., Genome-wide association study of smoking initiation and current smoking. The American Journal of Human Genetics, 2009. 84: p. 1-13. 
• Vink, J.M., Willemsen, G., Beem, A.L. and Boomsma, D.I., The Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence in a Dutch sample of daily smokers and ex-smokers. Addictive Behaviors, 2005. 30(3): p. 575-579. 
• Vink, J.M., Willemsen, G. and Boomsma, D.I., Heritability of smoking initiation and nicotine dependence. Behavior Genetics, 2005. 35(4): p. 397-406. 
• Vink, J.M., Beem, A.L., Posthuma, D., Neale, M.C., Willemsen, G., Kendler, K.S., Slagboom, P.E. and Boomsma, D.I., Linkage analysis of smoking initiation and quantity in Dutch sibling pairs. The Pharmacogenomics Journal, 2004. 4: p. 274-282. 
• Vink, J.M., Willemsen, G., Engels, R.C.M.E. and Boomsma, D.I., Smoking status of parents, siblings and friends: predictors of regular smoking? Findings from a longitudinal twin-family study. Twin Research, 2003. 6(3):