2019-present: Wageningen Food & Biobased Research succesfully invested in:
(i) proprietary yeast (Pichia) strains & vectors, free of external licensing obligations, for expression and production of gelatin, silk- & elastin-inspired proteins, stimulus-responsive gel- & fibre-forming protein polymers, peptides and enzymes,
(ii) extending its knowledge base of the Pichia yeast expression platform. (In 2021, my close collaborator Marc Werten and myself led Expertscape's list of Pichia expert's for the Netherlands. He is on position 13 for Europe and 21 worldwide).

2017-present:  Senior scientist & project leader at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, BU Biobased Products. Our contract research projects concern the development of production, by microbial fermentation, of structure-forming proteins (e.g. gelatin, elastin, silk), stimulus-responsive protein polymers, enzymes, peptides and  natural biopolyesters (polyhydroxyalkanoates / PHA).  

2008-2017:  Manager bioconversion, at Wageningen Food & Biobased Research, BU Biobased Products

1999-2008:  Scientist & project leader recombinant protein-based polymers, at Wageningen UR

1993-1999:  Junior scientist industrial proteins and recombinant gelatin at ATO-DLO, Wageningen.

1988-1999:  Post-doc biochemistry of membranes, at Utrecht University / Dutch Cancer Fund KWF-Kankerbestrijding.

1983-1987:  PhD photosynthetic electron transfer & energy transduction, at Free University Amsterdam

1982:  Teaching degree sixth form / high school biology

1979-1982:  MSc biology (genetics, cellular immunology, medical physics)

1978-1980:  Teaching assistant, at University of Amsterdam

1975-1978:  BSc Biology with physics, at University of Amsterdam

2021-2025: Participation in a National Science Agenda project on production of caseins (milk proteins) by microbial fermentation. The project, led by the Wageningen University chair group Food Quality & Design, comprises several PhD’s and post-docs. One PhD is supervised by Marc Werten and myself.

2019 – 2022: TKI-Agrifood 18030 - PROSPEC (~1 M€). Funded by TKI & six industries(NL, UK, DE, NO). Enzymatic modification of pectin & chitosan from side streams into home / personal care and other ingredients.

2017 – 2021: EU-BBI demo project 745785 – URBIOFIN (WFBR: ~1 M€). Conversion of organic municipal solid waste (OMSW) into poly(hydroxyalkanoate) (PHA), bioethylene and fertilizers. WFBR tasks: (1) conversion of volatile fatty acids to PHA with medium chain length fatty acids, and (2) development of PHA-containing materials.

2017-2020: NWO ECHO project POLICE; PhD, with prof. I. K. Voets (Eindhoven University of Technology). Development of novel antifreeze proteins.

2012-2016: NanoNextNL project 07A.03 Self-assembling materials from biosynthetic stimulus-responsive protein polymers; PhD, with dr. R. J. de Vries (Wageningen University & Research). Development of protein polymers with heterodimer-forming blocks.

2015: Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI) project on antimicrobial peptides; PhD, with dr. R. J. de Vries (Wageningen University & Research) and prof. O. Franco (Catholic University of Brasilia).

2011-2016: ERC Advanced Grant 267254 “BioMate” (WFBR: ~0.7 M€), several PhD’s, with prof. M. A. Cohen Stuart (Wageningen University & Research). Development and characterization of stimulus-responsive block copolymer proteins self-organizing into supramolecular nanostructures.

2010-2014: NWO-Top project, several PhDs, with prof. M. A. Cohen Stuart (Wageningen University & Research). Nucleation and growth of nanofibrils from silk-inspired triblock copolymeric proteins.

2009-2013: FOM-BRM project; PhD, with prof. M. A. Cohen Stuart (Wageningen University & Research). Dual-responsive supramolecular networks from asymmetric triblock copolymeric proteins.

2005-2010: B-BASIC projects OPTICOL, EXPANDS and PROPOLY (~3 M€); among else, three PhD’s, with prof. G. Eggink (Wageningen University & Research). Development of novel stimulus-responsive, self-assembling block copolymeric proteins.

2005-2009: EU FP6 project 516961 BASE (WFBR: ~0.7 M€). Pilot scale production system for self-assembling small peptides.

2004-2012: Two POAC projects; two PhD’s, with prof. J. C. M. van Hest (Radboud University Nijmegen) & prof. H. Zuilhof (Wageningen University & Research). Elastin-inspired protein polymers.

2003-2014: DPI Projects 414 (FITAPEP), 602 (COLLASOM) and 698 (SYNPROT); three PhD’s, with prof. M. A. Cohen Stuart (Wageningen University & Research). Development of DNA-binding proteins, rheology of recombinant gelatin, development of silk-inspired nanofibril-forming proteins.

2002-2004: EET Pepticoat project (WFBR: ~0.6 M€) Development of putative antifouling proteins.

2002: Project with FibroGen (~0.3 M€) Recombinant gelatin production.

1998-2002: SEO project (~0.8 M); PhD, with prof. C. Laane (Wageningen University & Research). Recombinant collagen production.

1995-2001: Several projects (~2 M€) with FUJI Photo Film, Recombinant gelatin development.