Personal profile
Biography
Kitty Verhoeckx received her Bachelor’s degree in Analytical Chemistry in 1992. In 1991 she started her career at the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research TNO, where she had various research positions and was involved in various research topics (pesticides, hormones and animal pharmaceuticals, analytics (targeted and untargeted proteomics, metabolomics), systems biology, bioactive lipids etc.
In November 2005 she gained her PhD degree at the University of Leiden on the topic: ”Systems biology based studies on anti-inflammatory compounds”.
Since January 2011, Kitty Verhoeckx is involved in food allergy projects (predicting allergenicity of novel proteins for instance insects, effect of protein digestion, transport and processing on allergenicity and biomarkers for food allergy to improve diagnosis). She was a management committee member of the COST Action INFOGEST (food digestion), management committee member of COMFA, a European network for the development of a core outcome set for measuring the effectiveness of immunotherapy for food allergy, participated in the ILSI Europe task force ‘Allergenicity and processing’. She was the chair of the COST Action ImpARAS, a European network to improve the current risk assessment strategy of novel proteins a member of the EFSA focus groups on food allergy and digestion, and EFSA Focus group on allergenicity assessment. Currently, Kitty Verhoeckx is working as Assistant Professor at the Dermatology and allergology department of the University Medical Center Utrecht, she participates in the ILSI Europe FA Expert Group “Allergenicity’’, is expert for Food Standard Agency (FSA), is coordinator of the Marie Curie training network “ALLPreT” where 10 PhD student work on an allergenicity prediction toolbox and coordinator of KIC-NWO MoSIN project “Monitoring the introduction of Novel foods”.
Education/Academic qualification
PhD: Systems Biology based studies on anti-inflammatory compounds, Leiden University
1 May 2000 → 14 Nov 2005
Award Date: 14 Nov 2005
BSC Food and dietician
2018 → 2021
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Continuous monitoring may predict an allergic reaction during an oral food challenge: an exploratory study
Kallen, E. J. J., Krone, T., Verhoeckx, K. C. M., Versluis, A., Houben, G. F., Bijlsma, S., Blom, W. M., Ligeon, M. R. O., Blom, N. A., Van Ree, R., Knulst, A. C., Welsing, P. M. J. & Le, T. M., Apr 2026, In: The journal of allergy and clinical immunology. In practice. 14, 4, p. 967-969.e2Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
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Ranking primary food allergens by specific IgE-binding and clinical relevance in Dutch adults to identify reference protein sets for allergenicity assessment
Yue, S. R., Chou, M. C. L., Kallen, E. J. J., Knulst, A. C., Houben, G. F., Bøgh, K. L., Le, T. M. & Verhoeckx, K. C. M., Jul 2026, In: Food and Chemical Toxicology. 213, 116094.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Analysis of trends and allergenicity risk assessments in novel food approvals within the European Union between 2018 and 2023
Yue, S. R., Verhoeckx, K. C. M., Houben, G. F. & Bøgh, K. L., Mar 2025, In: Food and Chemical Toxicology. 197, 115249.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Open AccessFile4 Downloads (Pure) -
Exploring Siglecs: Potential Modulators of Immune Cells in Food Allergy and Therapeutic Applications
Schaapherder, J. S. H., Verhoeckx, K. C. M., Ehlers, A. M., Knol, E. F., Knulst, A. C. & Meulenbroek, L. A. P. M., Oct 2025, In: Clinical and Experimental Allergy. 55, 10, p. 889-900 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Open AccessFile13 Downloads (Pure) -
Allergenicity assessment of new or modified protein-containing food sources and ingredients
Crevel, R. W. R., Verhoeckx, K., Bøgh, K. L., Buck, N., Chentouf, A., Flanagan, S., Galano, M., Garthoff, J. A., Hazebrouck, S., Yarham, R., Borja, G. & Houben, G., Jul 2024, In: Food and Chemical Toxicology. 189, 114766.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Open AccessFile5 Downloads (Pure)