Martien J.H. Kas

Background

Martien J. H. Kas was born on November 27, 1966, in Uithoorn, Netherlands. His professional work has remained closely connected with Dutch universities and research hospitals, while also incorporating international training and scientific collaborations in the United States and United Kingdom.

Kas developed a research profile at the intersection of neurobiology, genetics, behavior, and psychiatry. His later work has addressed schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, major depressive disorder, and Alzheimer's disease through quantitative measures of behavior and biological function.

Education

Kas received a Bachelor of Arts in Medical Microbiology from the Leidse Hoge School. He then studied biology at the Free University of Amsterdam, specializing in neurobiology, psychopharmacology, and ethology, and received a Master of Science degree in 1994. The Free University, founded in Amsterdam in 1880, developed as a research university with a strong tradition in the natural and biomedical sciences.

He completed doctoral research in behavioral neuroscience through Stanford University and the University of Groningen. Stanford University, founded in 1885 in California, became a major international center for biological and medical research, while the University of Groningen, established in 1614, is one of the Netherlands' oldest universities. Kas subsequently completed postdoctoral research at the University Medical Center Utrecht and worked as a visiting scientist at the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre of the Institute of Psychiatry in London.

Career

Kas began his academic research career with postdoctoral work at the University Medical Center Utrecht and later became an associate professor and principal investigator in its Department of Translational Neuroscience at the Brain Center Rudolf Magnus. The medical center combines clinical care, biomedical research, and professional education, while the Brain Center Rudolf Magnus has served as a major Dutch setting for neuroscience research. Kas led work on translational behavioral genetics, examining behavioral traits across mice and humans to investigate genotype–phenotype relationships relevant to psychiatric disease.

In 2004 he was a visiting scientist at the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre at the Institute of Psychiatry in London. The center brought together psychiatric genetics, developmental science, and clinical research in the study of mental disorders. This international work complemented Kas's research in Utrecht and helped extend his cross-species and genetic approach to neurobehavioral traits.

In 2016 Kas was appointed Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience at the Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, part of the University of Groningen. His research there has focused on adaptive and maladaptive social behavior, behavioral flexibility, neurobiology, and the development of quantitative and transdiagnostic approaches to psychiatric disorders. He has coordinated the Innovative Medicines Initiative projects PRISM and PRISM2, which investigated biological mechanisms underlying shared symptoms such as social withdrawal across psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Kas has also coordinated or contributed to European initiatives on autism and dementia, including EU-AIMS, AIMS-2-TRIALS, and ZonMw-supported dementia research. His work has incorporated smartphone-based measurement of everyday social behavior through Behapp and has supported the development of precision psychiatry, which seeks to combine symptomatic, behavioral, and biological information in diagnosis and treatment.

From 2022 to 2025, Kas served as president of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. During his presidency he initiated the Precision Psychiatry Roadmap, a collaborative effort to develop a more biology-informed framework for mental disorders. He subsequently served as past-president and remained involved in European neuropsychopharmacology, psychiatric biomarker research, and international scientific coordination.

Achievements

• Kas received a Marie Curie Fellowship as principal investigator, supporting his work in behavioral genetics and translational neuroscience.

• He received a VIDI grant as principal investigator for research on interspecies genetics of neurobehavioral traits in mice and humans.

• As project coordinator, Kas led the Innovative Medicines Initiative PRISM and PRISM2 projects, which developed quantitative biological measures for shared social and cognitive symptoms across brain disorders.

• He was a principal investigator or coordinator in major European initiatives addressing autism, including EU-AIMS and AIMS-2-TRIALS, which connected basic neuroscience, translational research, and therapeutic development.

• Kas contributed to the development of the Precision Psychiatry Roadmap, an international framework for integrating biological, behavioral, and symptomatic information into research and future diagnosis of mental disorders.

• His research has helped establish smartphone-based and other quantitative methods for measuring social behavior in everyday life, supporting the study of neuropsychiatric symptoms outside laboratory settings.

Works

More photos

• perspective article

  • Precision psychiatry roadmap: towards a biology-informed framework for mental disorders

    (Lead-authored perspective proposing an international fram...)

    2025

• research article

  • Behavioral signatures related to genetic disorders in autism

    (Co-authored article examining behavioral signatures assoc...)

    2014

• review article

  • Assessing behavioural and cognitive domains of autism spectrum disorders in rodents: current status and future perspectives

    (Co-authored review examining behavioral and cognitive dom...)

    2014
  • Advancing the discovery of medications for autism spectrum disorder using new technologies to reveal social brain circuitry in rodents

    (Co-authored review discussing technologies for studying s...)

    2014

Views

Kas advocates a quantitative, transdiagnostic, and biology-informed approach to mental disorders. His published work argues that psychiatric symptoms should be studied together with measurable biological and behavioral processes, while recognizing the interaction between brain biology and the environment.

His research philosophy emphasizes translation between human and animal studies. By linking quantitative human findings with experimental models, he seeks to clarify causal mechanisms and improve the development of targeted treatments and biomarkers.

Membership

Kas has held leadership and professional roles in organizations concerned with neuroscience, neuropsychopharmacology, psychiatric diagnosis, and scientific communication. His participation has included presidency of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, service on the future DSM strategic committee, editorial work for Mammalian Genome, and scientific membership of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities.

• Served as President from 2022 to 2025 and as Past-President from 2025.

  European College of Neuropsychopharmacology , Europe

  2022 - 2028

• Editorial board member.

  Mammalian Genome editorial board , United States

  2012 - present

• Voting member contributing to discussions about future psychiatric diagnostic frameworks.

  Future Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Strategic Committee , United States

  2024 - present

• Scientific member.

  Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities , Netherlands

  2026 - present

Interests

• Digital phenotyping, social behavior, behavioral flexibility, precision psychiatry, and the development of research tools for measuring everyday behavior.

References

• University of Groningen Research Portal: Martien Kas Institutional profile documenting Kas's professorship, research interests, teaching, projects, publications, and external positions.
• University of Groningen Staff Profile: Martien Kas Institutional staff profile documenting Kas's expertise in behavioral neuroscience, translational neuroscience, and behavioral genetics, together with his professional roles.
• University of Groningen: Newly appointed GELIFES professor, Martien Kas, announces start of major EU project on brain disorders University news article documenting Kas's appointment as Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience and his coordination of the PRISM project.
  2016
• University of Groningen: Martien Kas elected president of European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Institutional announcement documenting Kas's election as ECNP president for the 2022–2025 term.
  2022
• European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Roadmap Initiative Institutional reference describing the Precision Psychiatry Roadmap initiative associated with Kas's work in European neuropsychopharmacology.