Our research utilizes the largest biobank of well-characterized atherosclerotic plaques with more than 4000 included patients – the Athero-Express study. We generate various types of complex “-omics” datasets, including genotyping, transcriptomics (bulk, single-cell and spatially resolved), DNA methylation (bulk and single-cell) and proteomics. These datasets are integrated with histological and clinical data to unravel mechanisms in plaque pathogenesis and allow us to identify specific processes that lead to the severe manifestation of atherosclerotic disease like stroke and myocardial infarction. Next to computational tools, we use primary in vitro model systems derived from vascular and plaque cells and molecular biology techniques for validation and mechanistic studies.