Founders
Jan Hoeijmakers | Bert van der Horst | Wim Vermeulen | Roland Kanaar | Rein StrijkerJan Hoeijmakers studied biology at Nijmegen University, the Netherlands. His Ph.D. work on trypanosomes at the University of Amsterdam (supervisor P. Borst), resolved the molecular basis for antigenic variation by which trypanosomes escape from immune surveillance and cause sleeping sickness. In 1981, he joined the Institute of Genetics of the Erasmus University (head D. Bootsma) to work on DNA repair in mammals. His team cloned the first of many subsequent human DNA-repair genes, discovered the strong evolutionary conservation of DNA repair systems, elucidated the basis of several human repair (and basal transcription) syndromes, generated a large number of DNA-repair mouse mutants that provided insight into the etiology of human repair syndromes and discovered a link between repair, transcription and ageing. Recently, his group generated the first mouse mutant with intrinsic defects in the biological clock. His team filed several patent applications in the field of genome stability. In 1993, he became the Professor of Molecular Genetics, and since 1999 he has been the head of the Institute of Genetics at the Erasmus University. His scientific work was recognized with several honours and awards including:
'Harold Quintus Bosz' Prize (1983, for the discovery of the molecular mechanism of antigenic variation in trypanosomes, PhD thesis)
'Snoo van t' Hoogerhuys' Prize (1986, for isolation of the first human DNA repair gene)
'Louis Jeantet' Prize for Medical Research in Europe (1995, for the work on DNA repair, shared with D. Bootsma).
‘EMBO’ member, elected 1995
‘Spinoza’ Premium for research by the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (1999)
‘Descartes-Huygens’ award for French-Dutch scientific collaborations (2000)
‘Van Gogh’ award from the Dutch Science Organization (2000)
‘EC-Descartes” award for European collaboration on DNA repair syndromes (shared with: Egly, Lehmann and Stefanini) (2000)
‘Josephine Nefkens’ award for cancer research (2001) back to top
Gijsbertus (Bert) van der Horst studied biology at the University of Amsterdam and received his PhD in Medicine at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, where he studied the lysosomal enzyme sialidase (supervisor H.Galjaard). In 1993 he joined the group of Jan Hoeijmakers (Dept. of Genetics, Erasmus MC) as a postdoctoral fellow, and has generated and characterized animal models for the DNA repair disorder Cockayne syndrome (Csa and Csb mice) and was involved in the characterization of the mouse model for thothiodystrophy (XpdTTD mice). Other mouse models generated include knockouts for the mammalian homologues of the yeast DNA repair gene Rad23 (mHR23A and mHR23B mice), the base excision repair gene mNTH1, as well as the photolyase-like genes mCry1 and mCry2. The latter genes were shown to encode indispensable components of the biological clock, a major breakthrough in the field of chronobiology, awarded with a prestigious NWO-VICI grant. In 2001, he became associate professor and is now supervising the majority of the mouse projects in the Department of Genetics. The main research interests of the mouse genetics group include UV- and chemically induced carcinogenesis (photolyase transgenic mice, new mouse models for NER disorders), the role of DNA repair and transcription in ageing (including the role of endogenous and environmental cyto- and genotoxic agents), and the biological clock. back to top
Wim Vermeulen studied chemistry in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He received his Ph.D. in 1995 at the department of Genetics of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam (supervisor J. Hoeijmakers) on the study of the connection between DNA repair and transcription. His Ph.D. work established the requirement of transcription factor II H (TFIIH) in DNA repair and formed the basis of the new concept of DNA repair-transcription syndromes. During his post-doctoral training he discovered that fragility of TFIIH formed the molecular basis of the progeroid syndrome trichothiodystrophy (TTD). As a senior scientist (1998) at the same department he developed a novel line of biological research that allows determining dynamic properties of enzymes and reaction kinetics of complex processes inside living cells, using fluorescently labeled proteins and photobleaching. This research revealed new insights into the regulation mechanism and dynamic organization of DNA repair, transcription and replication processes. The latest highlight in his scientific career was the cloning of the TTD group A gene, that will further help in the understanding the molecular basis of the ageing syndrome. In January 2004 he became associate professor at the department of genetics and leads of group of 10 scientists with research focus on nucleotide excision repair. back to top
Roland Kanaar studied chemistry at Leiden University, the Netherlands. During his graduate research at Leiden Unviersity (with Piet van de Putte) and the University of California at Berkeley (with Nick Cozzarelli) he unravelled the mechanism of site-specific DNA recombination in bacteriophage Mu. His work showed how nucleoprotein complexes assembled at distant sites along a DNA chain communicate with each other to provide selectivity during recombination. His post-doctoral work (with Don Rio at UC Berkeley) aimed at understanding how proteins and RNA interact to achieve accurate recognition of splice sites, while providing enough flexibility to allow alternative splice site selection. His current research (at the Erasmus MC, Rotterdam) addresses the mechanisms and biological relevance of genome surveillance processes with particular emphasis on homologous DNA recombination and DNA double-strand break repair. His group showed that DNA double-strands breaks in mammalian cells can be repaired through homologous recombination. Furthermore, they demonstrated that homologous recombination and an alternative DNA double-strand break repair pathway, non-homologous end joining, have overlapping, as well as specialized roles and that the relative contribution of these pathways towards repair of certain DNA lesions changes during development of the animal. In 2000 he was appointed Professor of Molecular radiation Genetics. back to top
Rein Strijker, received a PhD degree in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology from the University of Groningen, NL, in 1986. He then worked for Genentech, Inc. as a postdoctoral fellow for about 2½ years. In 1989 he joined GenPharm to become manageing scientist and helped build its proprietary technology platform. In 1993 he became responsible for Intellectual Property within the company and further shaped GenPharm’s strategy in the field of patents and licenses. In 1995 he assumed responsibility for Business Development of Pharming in which capacity he closed several licensing and co-development deals with biotech and pharma companies. In 1997 he became managing director of Pharming’s business unit in Belgium responsible for developing two product programs and for building a pilot plant. In 2000 he returned to The Netherlands as Chief Business Officer and formed part of the team that successfully restructured the company after a financial crisis in 2001. Restructuring was completed in early 2004 after a major financing round and by initiation of phase III clinical studies for its lead product. Since the acquisition of DNage by Pharming in 2006 he served as a member of the Board of Management of Pharming. back to top