I am a professor of Psychoneuroimmunology and have been the Chair of the Department of Psychoneuroimmunology at the University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands for more than 15 years. During my career I have developed the full expertise necessary to successfully direct the research described in this project. In September 2012, I started as a Professor in the Department of Symptom Research. I became Chair of the department in April 2018. I have a vast experience with assessing biomarkers in association with psychological and psychiatric conditions. I have worked and published with psychologists on biological mechanisms and neuro-inflammatory biomarkers of fatigue, stress, depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome. During the last 6 years I have worked on biomarkers to support and study the mechanism of neurotoxicities as a result of cancer treatment in collaboration with psychologists and oncologists(Dr. Fagundes, Rice University, Drs. S. Kesler, S. Wang, J. Wefel, and many others in MDACC). My current focus on biomarkers involve cytokine profiles of leukocytes and in serum, phenotyping of changes in leukocyte populations by Flow analysis, mitochondrial functions of leukocytes and RNA sequencing of leukocytes to explore biomarkers in more depth. Apart from research on biomarkers my research focuses on the mechanism of neurotoxicities in rodent models and on the investigation of therapeutic strategies for the prevention and treatment of neurotoxicities including chemotherapy-induced neuropathy and cognitive deficits.