Robert Bandsma

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At a Glance

• Dr. Bandsma’s clinical and basic research has focused on understanding the regulation of nutrient metabolism. Specifically, his interest has been around the regulation of carbohydrate, lipid and bile acid metabolism in health and disease. The ultimate aim of his research is to develop novel yet simple evidence-based interventions that can be taken to clinical trials to reduce mortality in malnourished children.

About Dr. Robert Bandsma

Dr. Robert Bandsma received his BSc from the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He then went on to complete a PhD in Nutrition & Metabolism at the University of Groningen. Dr. Bandsma completed his MD and subspecialty training at the University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands, and a Subspecialty Fellowship in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition at the Hospital for Sick Children. He then completed additional training in Tropical Pediatrics from Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Tropical School of Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom. He was an honorary lecturer at the University of Malawi, College of Medicine, and was a staff physician at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital, Blantyre Malawi. During his period in Malawi he performed multiple research projects, funded through a postdoctoral research grant. He completed postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Gary Lewis, Division of Advanced Diagnostics – Metabolism, Toronto General Research Institute. During his postdoctoral fellowship, he received a Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) postdoctoral fellowship award.

Recent Publications

1. Childhood Acute Illness and Nutrition (CHAIN) Network. Characterising paediatric mortality during and after acute illness in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia: a secondary analysis of the CHAIN cohort using a machine learning approach. EClinicalMedicine. 2023 Feb 6;57:101838. doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.101838. PMID: 36825237; PMCID: PMC9941052.
2. López-Domínguez L, Bassani DG, Bourdon C, Massara P, Santos IS, Matijasevich A, Barros AJD, Comelli EM, Bandsma RHJ. A novel shape-based approach to identify gestational age-adjusted growth patterns from birth to 11 years of age. Sci Rep. 2023 Jan 31;13(1):1709. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-28485-4. PMID: 36720954; PMCID: PMC9889302.
3. Horcas-Nieto JM, Versloot CJ, Langelaar-Makkinje M, Gerding A, Blokzijl T, Koster MH, Baanstra M, Martini IA, Coppes RP, Bourdon C, van Ijzendoorn SCD, Kim P, Bandsma RHJ, Bakker BM. Organoids as a model to study intestinal and liver dysfunction in severe malnutrition. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Basis Dis. 2023 Mar;1869(3):166635. doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2022.166635. Epub 2022 Dec 26. PMID: 36581145.
4. Hu G, Ling C, Chi L, Thind MK, Furse S, Koulman A, Swann JR, Lee D, Calon MM, Bourdon C, Versloot CJ, Bakker BM, Gonzales GB, Kim PK, Bandsma RHJ. The role of the tryptophan-NAD + pathway in a mouse model of severe malnutrition induced liver dysfunction. Nat Commun. 2022 Dec 8;13(1):7576. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-35317-y. PMID: 36481684; PMCID: PMC9732354.
5. Njunge JM, Tickell K, Diallo AH, Sayeem Bin Shahid ASM, Gazi MA, Saleem A, Kazi Z, Ali S, Tigoi C, Mupere E, Lancioni CL, Yoshioka E, Chisti MJ, Mburu M, Ngari M, Ngao N, Gichuki B, Omer E, Gumbi W, Singa B, Bandsma R, Ahmed T, Voskuijl W, Williams TN, Macharia A, Makale J, Mitchel A, Williams J, Gogain J, Janjic N, Mandal R, Wishart DS, Wu H, Xia L, Routledge M, Gong YY, Espinosa C, Aghaeepour N, Liu J, Houpt E, Lawley TD, Browne H, Shao Y, Rwigi D, Kariuki K, Kaburu T, Uhlig HH, Gartner L, Jones K, Koulman A, Walson J, Berkley J. The Childhood Acute Illness and Nutrition (CHAIN) network nested case-cohort study protocol: a multi-omics approach to understanding mortality among children in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Gates Open Res. 2022 Nov 3;6:77. doi: 10.12688/gatesopenres.13635.2. PMID: 36415883; PMCID: PMC9646488.
6. Arvidsson Kvissberg ME, Hu G, Chi L, Bourdon C, Ling C, ChenMi Y, Germain K, van Peppel IP, Weise L, Zhang L, Di Giovanni V, Swain N, Jonker JW, Kim P, Bandsma R. Inhibition of mTOR improves malnutrition induced hepatic metabolic dysfunction. Sci Rep. 2022 Nov 19;12(1):19948. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-24428-7. PMID: 36402829; PMCID: PMC9675758.
7. Almaatani D, Zurbau A, Khoshnevisan F, Bandsma RHJ, Khan TA, Sievenpiper JL, Van Den Heuvel M. The association between parents' stress and parental feeding practices and feeding styles: Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Matern Child Nutr. 2023 Jan;19(1):e13448. doi: 10.1111/mcn.13448. Epub 2022 Oct 25. PMID: 36284502; PMCID: PMC9749598.
8. Babikako HM, Bourdon C, Mbale E, Aber P, Birabwa A, Chimoyo J, Voskuijl W, Kazi Z, Massara P, Mukisa J, Mupere E, Nampijja M, Saleem AF, Uebelhoer LS, Bandsma R, Walson JL, Berkley JA, Lancioni C, Gladstone M, van den Heuvel M. Neurodevelopment and Recovery From Wasting. Pediatrics. 2022 Nov 1;150(5):e2021055615. doi: 10.1542/peds.2021-055615. PMID: 36193695.
9. Massara P, Spiegel-Feld C, Hamilton J, Maguire JL, Birken C, Bandsma R, Comelli EM. Association between gut MIcrobiota, GROWth and Diet in peripubertal children from the TARGet Kids! cohort (The MiGrowD) study: protocol for studying gut microbiota at a community-based primary healthcare setting. BMJ Open. 2022 May 9;12(5):e057989. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-057989. PMID: 35534076; PMCID: PMC9086606.
10. Childhood Acute Illness and Nutrition (CHAIN) Network. Childhood mortality during and after acute illness in Africa and south Asia: a prospective cohort study. Lancet Glob Health. 2022 May;10(5):e673-e684. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(22)00118-8. PMID: 35427524; PMCID: PMC9023747.

Current Lab Members (within the Department of Nutritional Sciences)

Dina Almaatani - PhD student

Farnaz Khoshnevisan - PhD student

Catriona (Cino) Ling - PhD student

Isabel Potani - PhD student

Mehakpreet Thing - PhD student

YueYing (Ella) ChenMi - MSc student