J.J. Nietfeld's Biography

J.J. Nietfeld, Associate Professor, University Medical Centre Utrecht

J.J.Nietfeld, Ph.D. received his MSc. degree in Mathematics and Natural Sciences and his Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from the University of Amsterdam. After another specialization at the Utrecht University he has been certified as a Pathobiologist.
Dr. Nietfeld has gained extensive experience in academic research in universities and university hospitals in the Netherlands and the U.S.A. He has been working in various fundamental, applied and translational research areas of the biomedical field and other life sciences fields, ranging from bioenergetics to enzymology, the role of cytokines in inflammation and connective tissue metabolism, antisense technology and early cancer detection.
Since several years Dr. Nietfeld is working in the areas of adult stem cell applications (especially umbilical cord blood stem cells), biobanking, bioinformatics and the protection of biomedical data.
Dr. Nietfeld has been awarded 4 times a fellowship of The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw, comparable to NIH in the USA) and its predecessors.
Dr. Nietfeld has been project leader of a ZonMw-project about the desirability and feasibility of a personal cell bank to store cord blood in the Netherlands and he is the lead author of the resulting report, written for the Ministry of Health.
He was also a member of the temporary Working Group Biobanking of the Forum for Biotechnology and Genetics of the same ministry and contributed to its report about a general biobank in the Netherlands as an opportunity for innovations in Health Care, Science and Economy.
Furthermore, Dr. Nietfeld has been co-organizer of a hearing in the Netherlands Parliament, for Members of Parliament and representatives of the Government, regarding a national biobank.
About cord blood, biobanking and the protection of biomedical data, Dr. Nietfeld has published various articles in international scientific journals and has given presentations in the Netherlands and at international conferences in Europe and beyond.
For inventions of Dr. Nietfeld in the areas of biobanking and bioinformatics, patents have been granted in Europe, the U.S.A. and other countries, while patents for other inventions are pending.