Maarten Naesens (°1977) is nephrologist, and Clinical Director of the Nephrology and Renal Transplantation
unit of the University Hospitals Leuven. He is co-directing the kidney transplant program, with special focus on
renal allograft histology, antibody-mediated rejection, HLA sensitization, living donation and ABO-incompatible
transplantation.
He directs the protocol biopsy program of the University Hospitals Leuven and the well-established “Biobank
Renal Transplantation” at this same institution (Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01331668). He is appointed Associate
Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Leuven.
In his translational research performed at the KU Leuven, he integrates clinical, histological, pharmacokinetic,
pharmacogenetic and omics data, to get an integrated view on the determinants of histological damage
progression of renal allografts and on the causes of late graft loss. He is one of the 6 principal investigators
and executive council member of the BIOMARGIN FP7 project on biomarkers for kidney transplant injuries
(grant n° 305499), and the single principal investigator of the IWT/FWO-TBM study (“TEMPLATE” grant n°
150199) on epitope mismatching in kidney transplantation, a collaboration between the Laboratory of
Nephrology, the Red Cross Flanders and The Center for Human Genetics of KU Leuven.
Maarten Naesens is member of the “Nederlandstalige Belgische Vereniging voor Nefrologie” (NBVN), the
Belgian Society of Nephrology (BSN), the Belgian Transplantation Society (BTS), the European Society of
Organ Transplantation (ESOT), the Transplantation Society (TTS), the Eurotransplant International
Foundation, and of the European Renal Association – European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERAEDTA).
Research Expertise: Biobanking, biomarker research, transcriptomics (microarray), tissue imaging
(histology, immunohistochemistry, (double staining) immunofluorescence), next-generation DNA sequencing
(HLA genomen), HLA antibody profiling (Luminex, ELISA), telomere length measurement, biostatistics (data
warehousing, data management, survival analysis, linear and non-linear mixed models, reclassification),
project leadership
Institutional responsabilities:
– Member of the KUL “Opleidingsgebonden Begeleidingscommissie” (OBC) for evaluation of MD
specialists’ master-after-master thesis (2016 – )
– Board member of the Clinical Research Foundation of the University Hospitals Leuven (2015 -)
– Permanent board member of the doctoral supervisory committee of the Leuven International Doctoral
School of Biomedical Sciences
– Teaching activities (Wetenschappelijke vorming E07Y1A, LO nefrologie)
External responsabilities:
– Editorial board member of Transplant International (2016- )
– Expert for FWO (Research Foundation – Flanders) for Med6: Cardiovascular System, Respiratory System,
Nephrology and Hematology (2016 – )
– Expert for IWT (Agentschap voor Innovatie door Wetenschap en Technologie) (2015-2016)
– Elected Councillor of the European Society of Organ Transplantation (ESOT) (2015 – )
– Appointed Expert Reviewer for the Centre for Evidence in Transplantation –Royal College of Surgeons of
England (2015 – )
– Member of several Banff working groups on kidney transplant pathology (2013 – )
– Member of the Scientific Program Committee and Organizing Executive for the European Society of
Transplantation (ESOT) meeting (Barcelona 2017) (2015-2017)
– Associate Editor of Transplantation, the official journal of The Transplantation Society (2015 – )
– Expert at the European Medicines Agency (EMA) (2012 – )
– Member of the Scientific Program Committee and Organizing Executive for the European Society of
Transplantation (ESOT) meeting (Brussels 2015) (2013 – 2015)
– Member of the Organizing Executive of the European Society of Transplantation (ESOT) meeting
(Brussels 2015) (2014 – 2015)
– Chair of the Risk Stratification of Acute Rejection in kidney Transplantation Study Group (2014 – 2015)
– Member of the Advisory Committee for the MOSAIC (Mabthera Off-label Sampling program in Auto-
Immune Conditions) program for off-label use of rituximab (Roche) (2011- )