MICHAEL H.J. MAES

MICHAEL H.J. MAES
Department of Neuropsychiatry
Ghent University, Belgium

Biography

Prof. Dr. Michael Maes is a highly cited international scientist and author (H-index=97) who published more than 600 scientific papers in peer-reviewed international journals. He gave more than 300 lectures at different international symposia. He works at different Universities all over the world in Thailand, Brazil and Australia. The work of Dr. Maes covers phenomenological and epidemiological aspects of mood comorbid disorders (including cardio-vascular disorder), the supra-multi-disciplinary field of “pathway and drug discovery processes” in stress-related disorders and more particularly the immune-inflammatory pathways and its connections and sequels. Dr. Maes is a clinician and translational scientist whose works ranges from epidemiological and clinical research projects, case-control studies and pharmacological trials, to rodent and molecular experiments. Dr. Maes discovered that “clinical depression” is a systemic illness characterized by peripheral a) increases in pro-inflammatory cytokine levels, an acute phase response; b) cell-mediated immune (CMI) activation; c) lowered omega-3 PUFA levels; d) lower plasma tryptophan in depression, which determines brain serotonin contents, is an inflammatory sequel and IFNα-induced depression is associated with IDO activation which is accompanied by increased synthesis of neurotoxic tryptophan catabolites. Dr. Maes discovered that stress-related disorders are associated with nitrosative stress, leaky gut (increased gut permeability) and autoimmunity due to oxidative and nitrosative stress. Dr.Maes also develops new treatments and biomarker tools for mood and comorbid disorders based on his new theories.