People

Principal Investigator

Koen H.M. Prange, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Experimental Vascular Medicine, Amsterdam UMC
Email: k.h.prange@amsterdamumc.nl
Amsterdam UMC Pure Profile →

Koen studies how transcriptional regulation shapes cell states in human cardiometabolic disease. He combines human single-cell tissue analysis with CRISPR-based functional genomics to investigate macrophage activation, atherosclerosis, and adipose–liver communication in MASLD.

Koen trained in molecular biology at Radboud University. His PhD research, supervised by Dr. Joost Martens in the department of Prof. Henk Stunnenberg, examined enhancer biology and transcriptional regulation in acute myeloid leukemia.

At Amsterdam UMC, he co-designed one of the first single-cell atlases of full human atherosclerotic plaques and performed its major bioinformatic analyses and biological interpretation as a shared first author. He later led the European Heart Journal study that connected plaque macrophage states to future cardiovascular events as first and corresponding author.

Through his NWO VENI project, Koen designed and led CRISPR and CROP-seq experiments to identify regulators of macrophage activation. His functional work also includes CRISPR-Cas9 RNP editing in primary human monocytes. His current MASLD research extends these approaches to paired human visceral adipose and liver tissues, with a focus on sex differences and inter-organ communication.

He is embedded in the Department of Experimental Vascular Medicine at Amsterdam UMC, where he integrates molecular immunology with large clinical cohorts in cardiometabolic disease. He also serves as a PI within the Horizon Europe MIRACLE Doctoral Network.

Team

Alumni