Draft:Esther Aarts

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  • Comment: Submission reads like a WP:RESUME. Also need more secondary sources. CNMall41 (talk) 20:03, 23 April 2024 (UTC)
Esther Aarts
Born
Esther Aarts
NationalityDutch
Alma materRadboud University, Donders Institute
Scientific career
Fields
  • Biology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Gut-brain axis
  • Microbiome
  • Nutrition
Institutions
Thesis“Resisting temptation: The role of the anterior cingulate cortex in adjusting cognitive control” (2008)
Doctoral advisorDr. Ardi Roelofs, Dr. Miranda van Turennout
Websitehttp://www.esther-aarts.com/

Esther Aarts (born in Eindhoven, 1980)[1] is a cognitive neuroscientist working as a principal investigator at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour. She is the head of the Food & Cognition research group at the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging (DCCN).[2] Aarts focuses mainly on the gut-brain axis and nutritional neuroscience to investigate how food affects brain function, for example, via the immune system or via intestinal bacteria. To examine body-brain connections, Aarts uses brain scans (functional MRI), biological measurements, and interventions with food supplements, medication, or lifestyle coaching. Aarts is also the project leader of the public-private project “Maintaining Optimal Cognitive Functioning In Aging” (MOCIA)[3] as part of the Crossover program from NWO, which unites industry, academia, and government.

Education and early life[edit]

Aarts’ academic journey started in 1999 at Radboud University in Nijmegen, then completed a MSc in Neurobiology in 2004. She obtained her PhD in Cognitive Neurosciences at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour in 2009 under supervision of Dr. Ardi Roelofs (Donders Centre for Cognition) and Dr. Miranda van Turennout (Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging).[4][5] Her PhD thesis, titled “Resisting temptation: The role of the anterior cingulate cortex in adjusting cognitive control”, focused on the regulation of resisting temptations in order to act in a goal-oriented manner.[6] Specially, she investigated attentional processes in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) - a region located in the medial frontal cortex.[7]

Career and research[edit]

Between 2008 and 2010, Aarts held a postdoctoral psychiatry position with Roshan Cools at Radboud UMC. Afterwards, she got a Niels Stensen postdoctoral fellow position at UC Berkeley with Mark D’Esposito until 2012. Her project centered around the interaction between motivation and cognition, and understanding the role of dopamine in it.[8] In 2012, awarded with an AXA[9] and a NWO-Veni grant, Aarts returned to the Cools lab, and as a senior researcher, she became the leader of the lab’s food-related projects, specializing in the effects of food reward on cognition.[7]

Aarts has held her role as an associate principal investigator and coordinator of the Food & Cognition research group at the Donders Institute since 2017..[10] In 2022, she was appointed as a full professor of Nutritional Neuroscience at the Faculty of Sciences of Radboud University.[2]. In the meantime, she was awarded an ERC starting grant in 2019[11]

Together with her team, the group aims to investigate the behavior of people towards food from a decisional and motivational perspective, and to understand the effects that food decisions and emotions have on brain and behavious in obesity, in aging and in psychiatric conditions, such as ADHD.[12] In studying these effects of food on brain functioning the Food & Cognition lab also takes the gut microbiome and the immune system into account. Previously, Aarts has investigated what kind of motivational control is associated with poor eating habits, such as when people eat beyond satiety. She explored whether this could be explained by automatic (habitual) responses and/or goal-directed and consequence-based control. To this end, Aarts studies how variations in the activation of certain brain regions that are dopamine-rich predict whether someone will put effort into getting a sugary reward when they are no longer hungry. Her research aims to further the knowledge in the field of obesity.[9]

Aarts is also the project leader and coordinator of the public-private project “Maintaining Optimal Cognitive Functioning In Aging” (MOCIA). The project proposed by Aarts is one of the first five in the Crossover program, which consists of several public-private partnerships (PPP) involving the government, industry, and universities, with the research being financed by the NWO.[13] MOCIA is aimed at helping older citizens in achieving and maintaining a healthy brain through a healthy lifestyle. This project proposes lifestyle interventions in older Dutch adults at risk for cognitive decline based on individual differences, behavioral changes, biological mechanisms, predictive factors, and e-Health technology. The project was assigned €9.17 million, of which €6.25 million is funded by NWO. Other co-financing partners include Danone Nutricia Research, IMEC (OnePlanet Research Center), DSM Nutritional Products, VGZ Salut, Hersenstichting, Reckitt Benckiser/Mead Johnson Nutrition, Alzheimer Nederland, and Wageningen Food & Biobased Research. [14][15]

Awards and Grants[edit]

Aarts has been the recipient of several grants and awards. Below are three noteworthy grant examples.

  • Crossover grant by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) for Maintaining Optimal Cognitive function in Ageing (MOCIA)[16]
  • Veni grant by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) for “Breaking the habit: the neural correlates of mindful eating”[17]
  • ERC Starting Grant in 2019 for “The obesity spiral: Inflammation and effortless fast food choices”[11]

Teaching[edit]

On the 1st of April of 2022, Aarts was appointed professor of Nutritional Neuroscience at the Faculty of Science of Radboud University, where she teaches Food and Brain Health.[18]

Books[edit]

  • The Paradoxical Brain, published online by Cambridge University Press 2011[19]
  • Doctoral Thesis: Resisting temptation The role of the anterior cingulate cortex in adjusting cognitive control”[6]

Other affiliations[edit]

Select publications[edit]

  • Kohn, N.; Szopinska-Tokov, J.; Llera Arenas, A.; Beckmann, C.F.; Arias-Vasquez, A.; Aarts, E (2021-01-01). "Multivariate associative patterns between the gut microbiota and large-scale brain network connectivity". Gut Microbes. 13 (1). doi:10.1080/19490976.2021.2006586. ISSN 1949-0976. PMC 8726725. PMID 34856861.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Esther Aarts". www.procyclingstats.com. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  2. ^ a b "Esther Aarts appointed as professor of Nutritional Neuroscience | Radboud University". www.ru.nl. 2022-07-21. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  3. ^ "Mocia - Healthy Lifestyle, Healthy Brain". Mocia. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  4. ^ "About Esther Aarts – Esther Aarts, PhD". Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  5. ^ "Esther Aarts | LinkedIn". Retrieved 2023-03-18.
  6. ^ a b "Resisting temptation: The role of the anterior cingulate cortex in adjusting cognitive control" (PDF). Retrieved 2023-03-18.
  7. ^ a b "Esther Aarts". Motivational & Cognitive Control. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  8. ^ White, Robert; Aarts, Esther; D'Esposito, Mark (2013-02-12). "Interactions of Resting State Brain Networks, Dopamine, and Working Memory Behavior: A Resting State Functional MRI Study (S54.003)". Neurology. 80 (7_supplement). doi:10.1212/WNL.80.7_supplement.S54.003. ISSN 0028-3878.
  9. ^ a b "Food, brain, and distractibility: Goal-directed versus habitual control of food intake". axa-research.org. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  10. ^ "Food & Cognition - For healthy nutrition, lifestyle and behaviour". Food and Cognition. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  11. ^ a b "Radboud Center for Decision Science". radbouddc (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  12. ^ "publications". Food and Cognition. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  13. ^ "Crossover programma | NWO". www.nwo.nl (in Dutch). 2019-12-10. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  14. ^ "9 million euros made available - For lifestyle research". www.radboudumc.nl. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  15. ^ "Radboud University: 9 million euros made available for lifestyle research Esther Aarts. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  16. ^ "MOCIA: Maintaining Optimal Cognitive function in Ageing – a personalised lifestyle prevention approach". Food and Cognition. 2020-11-26. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  17. ^ "Breaking the habit: the neural correlates of mindful eating | NWO". www.nwo.nl. 2013-04-01. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  18. ^ "OSIRIS - Course offerings SOW-DGCN25 2022". www.ru.nl. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  19. ^ Kapur, Narinder, ed. (2011), "Author affiliations", The Paradoxical Brain, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. xvi–xix, ISBN 978-0-511-97809-8, retrieved 2024-03-18
  20. ^ "Frontiers in Nutrition | Nutrition, Psychology and Brain Health". www.frontiersin.org. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  21. ^ "Loop | Esther Aarts". loop.frontiersin.org. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  22. ^ Darcey, Valerie L.; McQuaid, Goldie A.; Fishbein, Diana H.; VanMeter, John W. (2019). "Dietary Long-Chain Omega-3 Fatty Acids Are Related to Impulse Control and Anterior Cingulate Function in Adolescents". Frontiers in Neuroscience. 12: 1012. doi:10.3389/fnins.2018.01012. ISSN 1662-453X. PMC 6333752. PMID 30686978.
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