Antoine van Oijen appointed as Professor of Molecular Microscopy and Spectroscopy

Prof. A.M. van Oijen has been appointed as Professor of Molecular Microscopy and Spectroscopy at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences as of 1 January 2010. Prof. Van Oijen’s research is aimed at obtaining a better understanding of the dynamic properties of complex enzyme systems by employing single-molecule imaging. Antoine van Oijen studied at Universiteit Leiden where he also obtained his doctorate. After gaining his PhD, he worked as a postdoc at Harvard University and as an assistant professor at HarvardMedical School.

Prof. van Oijen uses single-molecule techniques to research molecular mechanisms of the enzymes that make up the DNA replication machinery. He starts out by observing interactions between separate elements of this complex biological system with the intention of later fitting the pieces of this puzzle together to find out how the larger complex works. Van Oijen uses the same techniques to study fusion processes of biological membranes that are involved in viral penetration of cells.

Van Oijen’s research group will participate in the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, a top research school in which physicists, chemists and biologists cooperate in researching fundamental materials. Molecular organic and bioorganic materials are one of the three main research areas of this institute.