Dept Oral Cell Biology
Academic Centre for Dentistry
Amsterdam, Netherlands
a.bakker@acta.nl
Astrid Bakker graduated in Biomediacal Health sciences in 1998 at the Radboud University Nijmegen, and obtained her PhD in 2003 at the VU University Amsterdam on a multidisciplinary project revolving around bone cell mechansensitivity, estrogen deficiency and osteoporosis. During the next 3 years Astrid Bakker set up a Bioengineering Unit within the laboratory of Skeletal Development and Joint Disorders at the KU Leuven, while working on the repair of large bone defects using novel biomaterials. She currently works as Associate Professor at the department of Oral Cell Biology of the Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam, where her primary research interests revolve around the musculoskeletal apparatus: Its function, reasons for dysfunction, and ways to restore the function, and especially its ability to sense and respond to mechanical stimuli. The main clinical problem addressed in the past years of her research is loss of bone mass related to aging, physical inactivity or inflammation (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis or periodontitis) and prevention thereof.