Personal Page | René Pool

I am a researcher in the field of metabolomics. As such I manage the metabolomics data hosted by the Netherlands Twin Register (NTR).
We try linking individual differences in other omics layers (e.g., genomics, epigenomics) or higher-level phenotypes (e.g., behavioral traits) to metabolic fingerprints of participants. In doing so we aim to gain insights into how omics levels are interconnected but also how such connections ultimately lead to biological (dys)function.
Apart from metabolomics, I am also involved in the growing NTR polygenic scores archive that comprises polygenic scores in our study for over 200 phenotypes.
Much of the work at the department of Biological Psychology heavily relies on computational resources. We frequently use the (national) high performance computing facilities. At the department I am the contact person for accessing and using such infrastructures.
I teach and coordinate the courses “Introduction to omics” (Research Master Genes in Behaviour and Health) and “Molecular Genetics“ (BA, VU Psychology).

T +31 20 59 838 52 | r.pool@vu.nl | Van der Boechorststraat 7-9, 1081BT Amsterdam, the Netherlands
René Pool

Researcher, Lecturer, Data manager, Department of Biological Psychology / Technical Support for Teaching and Research (TO3) Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences – VU Amsterdam

Tasks & Responsibilities

      Researcher and data manager (mainly in the field of metabolomics and polygenic risk scoring), scientific computing support and lecturer molecular biology/omics

        Key publications

          1. Pool R, Hagenbeek FA, Hendriks AM, van Dongen J, Willemsen G, de Geus E, BBMRI Metabolomics Consortium, Willems van Dijk K, Verhoeven A, Suchiman HE, Beekman M, Slagboom PE, Harms AC, Hankemeier T, Boomsma DI (2020). Genetics and Not Shared Environment Explains Familial Resemblance in Adult Metabolomics Data. Twin Res Hum Genet, 23(3), 145-155. 10.1017/thg.2020.53.
          2. Hagenbeek FA, Pool R, van Dongen J, Draisma HHM, Jan Hottenga J, Willemsen G, Abdellaoui A, Fedko IO, den Braber A, Visser PJ, de Geus EJCN, Willems van Dijk K, Verhoeven A, Suchiman HE, Beekman M, Slagboom PE, van Duijn CM, BBMRI Metabolomics Consortium, Harms AC, Hankemeier T, Bartels M, Nivard MG, Boomsma DI (2020). Heritability estimates for 361 blood metabolites across 40 genome-wide association studies. Nat Commun, 11(1), 39.10.1038/s41467-019-13770-6.
          3. Draisma, H. H. M., Pool, R., Kobl, M., Jansen, R., Petersen, A. K., Vaarhorst, A. A. M., Yet, I., Haller, T., Demirkan, A., Esko, T., Zhu, G., Böhringer, S., Beekman, M., van Klinken, J. B., Römisch-Margl, W., Prehn, C., Adamski, J., de Craen, A. J. M., van Leeuwen, E. M., Amin, N., … Boomsma, D. I. (2015). Genome-wide association study identifies novel genetic variants contributing to variation in blood metabolite levels. Nature communications, 6, 7208. 10.1038/ncomms8208.
          4. May A, Pool R, van Dijk E, Bijlard J, Abeln S, Heringa J, Feenstra KA (2014). Coarse-grained versus atomistic simulations: realistic interaction free energies for real proteins. Bioinformatics, 30(3), 326-334. 10.1093/bioinformatics/btt675.
          5. Pool R, Bolhuis PG (2006). Prediction of an autocatalytic replication mechanism for micelle formation. Phys Rev Lett, 97(1), 018302. 10.1103/physrevlett.97.018302.

          All publications

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