Bio Gert Jan C. Veenstra

Education

• Utrecht University, M.Sc. Medical Biology, 1987-1992 (Cum Laude)
• Graduate School of Developmental Biology, Utrecht University, Ph.D. Biology, 1992-1996

Training, experience and academic positions

• 1996-1997, Post-doc, Hubrecht Institute w. Dr. Olivier H.J. Destrée
• 1997-2000, Post-doc, National Institutes of Health (NICHD) with Dr. Alan P. Wolffe †
• 2000-2002: Post-doc, National Institutes of Health (NICHD) with Dr. Igor B. Dawid
• 2002-2009, Assistant Professor, Radboud University (Dept. Molecular Biology)
• 2009-2012, Associate Professor, Radboud University (Dept. Molecular Biology)
• 2017-2019, Director of Education, Institute of Biosciences (Ba Biol., Ma Biol., Ma Med.Biol.)
• 2023-present, Director of the Radboud Institute of Molecular Life Sciences, Faculty of Science
• 2012-present, Professor, Radboud University (Dept. Molecular Developmental Biology)

Highlights of honors and awards

• Fellowship Award for Research Excellence (NIH), 2000
• Royal Academy Investigator Award (KNAW) – 2002
• NWO, VIDI Career Development Award, 2003
• National Institutes of Health (USA), R01 grant, ranked top 6%, 2007
• National Institutes of Health (USA), R01grant, ranked top 1%, 2011
• Coordinator DevCom, EU FP7 initial training network, 2013-2017
• Senior Education prize, Institute of Biosciences, Radboud University, 2019

Key discoveries and research achievements

• Discovery of the mechanism of transcriptional repression by DNA methylation (Nature Genetics, 1998; Genome Research, 2011)
• Discovery of TBP-independent mechanisms of transcription (Science, 2002; PNAS, 2004; Development, 2016)
• First epigenome maps of vertebrate embryos (Dev. Cell, 2009; Nature Communications, 2015)
• Discovery of DNA binding by the Polycomb PRC2 complex (Genome Research, 2014; Nature Genetics, 2018; Stem Cell Reports, 2020)

Scientific publications ...