Synapse Research Institute was founded in 1999 by Prof.dr. Hemker as a spin-off from the cardiovascular research institute Maastricht (CARIM) belonging to the Maastricht University. Ever since both institutes remained closely linked with numerous joined projects. Synapse Research institute is aiming to improve the detection and prediction of persons at risk for either bleeding or thrombosis. The institute is the founder of thrombin generation (calibrated automated thrombography, Hemker et al.) and has developed several new assays that are currently used in hospitals and conducted/published many studies in high ranked journals.