Team:TU Eindhoven/Team/Supervisors
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Our iGEM adventure began in January 2015. From this moment till the very end of our iGEM Project, we were guided by our advisors Luc Brunsveld, Maarten Merkx and Tom de Greef. They helped us with brainstorming, by asking the right questions at the right moment and by advising us on problem solving. We wouldn't be able to pull this project off without them. Please find below a short profile for each of our advisors.
Prof.dr.ir. L. (Luc) Brunsveld
Prof. dr. ir. Luc Brunsveld is professor at our university. He lectured our team in courses concerning chemical biology, for example 'pharmacology' and 'molecular biology of the cell'. Besides lecturing students, he conducts research at our university concerning protein-protein interactions. Him being a busy man, we are more than happy that he took the time to advise us during the project.
For a more extensive (and professional) biography, hit the button.
For a more extensive (and professional) biography, hit the button.
Luc (Lucas) Brunsveld (1975) received his PhD degree in 2001 under supervision of prof. Bert Meijer at the Eindhoven University of Technology. Topic of the thesis was the self-assembly of designed molecules into helical architectures in water. Subsequently, he moved as a Humboldt fellow to the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiologie, Dortmund, to work on the protein semi-synthesis and evaluation of lipidated Ras GTPases in the group of prof. Herbert Waldmann. From 2003-2004 he worked as a group leader in the medicinal chemistry department of Organon (now Schering-Plough) in Oss, on nuclear receptor medicinal chemistry.
End of 2004 Luc Brunsveld received the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, with which he established his own research group at the MPI of Molecular Physiologie, Dortmund, beginning 2005. He worked on the combination of supramolecular chemistry with protein biochemistry and cellular biology, generating new approaches to modulate biological processes. In 2006 he became group leader at the Chemical Genomics Centre of the Max Planck Society, Dortmund. Here he was working on the chemical biology of nuclear receptors to understand and modulate the nuclear receptor-cofactor interaction, in close collaboration with Bayer-Schering Pharma, Merck-Serono, and Schering-Plough.
In the middle of 2008 Luc Brunsveld received an ERC starting grant and became full professor in chemical biology in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology. In his research Luc Brunsveld uses chemical biology approaches to study protein-protein interactions. Two general themes are: 1) Supramolecular Architectures are being pursued as instruments to modulate protein-protein interactions and 2) the Nuclear Receptor – Cofactor interaction is being investigated as a specific protein-protein interaction with many unsolved questions, possibly amendable via chemical biology
End of 2004 Luc Brunsveld received the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, with which he established his own research group at the MPI of Molecular Physiologie, Dortmund, beginning 2005. He worked on the combination of supramolecular chemistry with protein biochemistry and cellular biology, generating new approaches to modulate biological processes. In 2006 he became group leader at the Chemical Genomics Centre of the Max Planck Society, Dortmund. Here he was working on the chemical biology of nuclear receptors to understand and modulate the nuclear receptor-cofactor interaction, in close collaboration with Bayer-Schering Pharma, Merck-Serono, and Schering-Plough.
In the middle of 2008 Luc Brunsveld received an ERC starting grant and became full professor in chemical biology in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology. In his research Luc Brunsveld uses chemical biology approaches to study protein-protein interactions. Two general themes are: 1) Supramolecular Architectures are being pursued as instruments to modulate protein-protein interactions and 2) the Nuclear Receptor – Cofactor interaction is being investigated as a specific protein-protein interaction with many unsolved questions, possibly amendable via chemical biology
Dr. Ir. T.F.A. (Tom) de Greef
Dr. Ir. Tom de Greef is the person you need to talk to when it comes to modeling. He knows all about it and is very well informed about the current developments in the field of synthetic (and computational) biology. Tom is closely associated with our project and provided us with more than enough reading material.
For a more extensive (and professional) biography, hit the button.
For a more extensive (and professional) biography, hit the button.
Dr. Ir. Tom de Greef (1980) was born in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and studied at the University of Eindhoven (TU/e), where he received his MSc degree in Biomedical Engineering cum laude in 2004. He completed his PhD at the Department of Chemistry at the same university in 2008 with professors E. W. Meijer and R. P. Sijbesma, working on novel polymeric materials based on quadruple hydrogen bonding motifs. Subsequently, he moved to the Biomodeling and Bioinformatics group headed by prof. P. A. J. Hilbers at the Department of Biomedical Engineering (TU/e), studying self-assembling systems from a computational perspective. He also became assistant professor at this department in 2010. In 2013, Tom de Greef was a visiting scholar in the group of Prof. D. Weitz (Harvard) working on protein affinity screening using droplet microfluidics. Current research themes are centered on the engineering of artificial cellular systems (bottom-up synthetic biology) with the aim to rationalize physicochemical design principles of biological systems and to develop novel biotechnological applications. In this multidisciplinary work he combines his fascination for (bio)chemistry, mathematical modeling, microfluidics and complex systems. In 2012 and 2013 he was awarded a VENI and an ECHO-STIP grant respectively by the Netherlands Organization of Scientific Research (NWO). He is also core member of the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems (ICMS).
Prof dr. M. (Maarten) Merkx
Prof dr. Maarten Merkx is probably the most busy person on the planet. He is invited to speak about his projects all over the world, for example at the World Economic Forum 2015. He is also taking the time to lecture students at our university and conducts interesting research about protein sensors. In his spare time he was shining on national television. Logically, we are very honored that he is advising us during our project.
For a more extensive (and professional) biography, hit the button.
For a more extensive (and professional) biography, hit the button.
Maarten Merkx (1970) studied physical organic chemistry and biochemistry at the Radboud University Nijmegen (cum laude).
He did his PhD with Prof. Averill (University of Amsterdam) working on purple acid phosphatases, and subsequently was a Human Frontier of Science Program post-doctoral fellow with Prof. Lippard (MIT) studying methane monooxgenases. Currently he is professor in protein engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology. An important
research theme is to develop generic engineering concepts for the development of protein-based switches, which include
fluorescent sensors for intracellular imaging of metal ions, photo-switchable proteins, and protein-based sensors for antibody detection. He obtained young investigator grants from the HFSP and NWO (VIDI, 2006) and an ERC consolidator grant in 2011. In 2012 he received the award for the best TU/e teacher at the master level.
