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Clemens W. G. M. Löwik (1957), Ph.D.
Prof.  and head Optical Molecular Imaging group.
Department of Radiology, Erasmus Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands

Clemens Löwik has been appointed May 2015 as a full Professor in Optical Molecular Imaging at the department of Radiology of the Erasmus medical Center. From 2006 he was a full Professor in Experimental Molecular Imaging at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) in the Netherlands. Much of his work revolves around the theme of translational medicine where the use of molecular imaging is playing an important role in understanding the mechanisms diseases and therapeutic interventions. The early studies of Prof. Löwik and his colleagues have led to the clinical development of new generation bisphoshonates which are now widely used and are the choice of treatment in metabolic bone diseases like osteoporosis and metastatic bone disease to stop bone loss. Löwik was also involved in the discovery and unraveling of the mechanism of action of Sclerostin, a natural inhibitor of bone formation, which has led to the development of a new anti-body based drug (Romosozumab) that can restore the bone that have been lost. After making these major contributions to the treatment of bone diseases he moved into the field of whole body optical imaging where his group developed new tools and animal models based on whole body bioluminescent and fluorescent imaging to study regenerative medicine (stem cell migration, differentiation and fate) and cancer (tumor progression, metastasis, regression and mechanisms involved in these). Prof. Lowik and his group, in collaboration with the surgical oncology group of Prof. van de Velde, has managed to translate optical imaging technologies into the clinic where fluorescence is now used for monitoring tumour margins and sentinel lymph node mapping. The group of Prof Löwik is now also involved in applying nanoparticles (FDA approved liposomes or PLGA nanoparticles) for imaging and drug delivery. He also applying new immunotherapeutic approaches (oncolytic viruses, vaccines and checkpoint blockers) and combining these with a new photodynamic therapy.  Recently he discovered new  Near Infra-Red Fluorescent (NIRF) small molecules that specifically bind to necrotic cells and tissue and can be used for diagnostic imaging, to determine therapy efficacy and to deliver drugs to necrotic tissue in all solid tumors, traumatic injury and to ischemic diseases like stroke and myocardial infarction. In case of solid tumors we can deliver any anti-cancer drug to the necrotic core of almost all solid tumors and if there is very little or no necrosis this can first be induced by local damaging the tumor by therapies like irradiation, photodynamic therapy, radio-frequency ablation, focused ultrasound, heating or freezing. In case of infarcts or tissue injury we can deliver tissue regenerating drugs like stem cell recruitment factors and/or growth factors. Finally, Löwik played an important role in setting up a state-of-the-art facility for preclinical imaging studies at LUMC.

His current research involves four major research lines:
1. Molecular mechanisms involved in mesenchymal stem cell differentiation into bone, cartilage,     fat and neuronal cells.
2. New therapeutic approaches for the treatment of breast cancer, head and neck cancer and gliomas  
3. Intra-operative optical imaging guided surgery of tumors and sentinel lymph nodes.
4. Development and applications of new necrosis specific probes for diagnostic imaging and drug delivery using nanoparticles.

In these research lines, new in vitro and in vivo imaging based models have been developed. Within his research, Prof Löwik and his group is implementing non-invasive molecular imaging technologies in mice and rats based on bioluminescence and fluorescence, CT and MRI. He is one of the pioneers and expert on whole body optical imaging technologies based on bioluminescence and fluorescence. He was one of the sub-coordinators of the FP6 EU Network of Excellence EMIL: European Molecular Imaging Laboratories and also member of the FP6 EU Network of Excellence DIMI and the FP7 project ENCITE: European Network for Cell Imaging and Tracking Expertise. Prof Löwik is also a member of the CTMM project called DECODE on colorectal cancer and the CTMM project Cancer Vaccine Tracking. He is the principal investigator of the prestigious CTMM project MUSIS in which he and his colleagues at LUMC have translated optical imaging technologies into the clinic by using them in intra-operative optical guided surgery to better resect tumors and their local (lymph node) metastases.
Furthermore, he also is the PI of the IOP Photonics project called IMPACT (image guided and/or targeted photo-dynamic therapy using a combination of a new photo-synthesizer with upconverting nanoparticles) in collaboration with the University of Amsterdam. Prof Löwik is also co-PI of the Marie Curie EU project Brainpath in which new imaging technologies like opto-acoustic imaging and mass spectrometry imaging are integrated with other more traditional technologies like MRI and CT to study brain diseases.
He is also one of the 30 founders of the European Society for Molecular Imaging (ESMI) and has been the president from 2010-2012. He has published 245 original papers. Prof. Löwik is also a (co)inventor of 7 patents.