Halfway by his profession, Cees Dekker reinvented himself. Immediately after a long time of hardcore physics, he shifted his aim to ‘nanobiology’ on the transform of the millennium. A phrase he coined himself, to be a make a difference of actuality.

Human Rad51 filaments on double- and solitary-stranded DNA: correlating common and irregular forms with recombination operate.

‘It was only a matter of finding up a book on cell biology and beginning to read. I had originate from a world of ultra-significant vacuums, cryostats and quantum phenomena, and now I had been Functioning at home temperature with molecular biology kits.

Non-equilibrium folding of unique DNA molecules recaptured nearly a thousand periods in a very stable point out nanopore

That may be a dream of mine and we set to operate with a delightful dose of naivety. This is often something that will most likely generate magnificent ends in the for a longer period phrase, but that does not make any difference. You should not only want to work about the thoughts of tomorrow, but additionally to the queries with the working day following tomorrow.’

The coiled-coil of the human Rad50 DNA repair service protein includes specific segments of greater versatility

We form microorganisms into types that deviate from their all-natural phenotype. Particularly, I'll clearly show our capacity to form Reside E. coli bacteria into novel shapes which include rectangles, squares, triangles and circles.

Dynamic ParB–DNA interactions initiate and retain a partition condensate for bacterial chromosome segregation

The rotors harness Power from the nanoscale drinking water and ion movement that is created by a static chemical or electrochemical prospective gradient in the nanopore, which happen to be proven through a salt gradient or used voltage, respectively. These artificial nanoengines self-Manage and function autonomously in physiological conditions, suggesting solutions to constructing Electrical power-transducing motors at nanoscale interfaces.

Extremely amazing, but that wasn’t truly wherever my desire lay. I planned to pioneer And that i experienced the sensation which was no more probable, as the most interesting fundamental insights had already been uncovered. But my area had created numerous fascinating new applications to evaluate person molecules. I decided that I planned to utilize this to biology, to look at it from a Actual physical standpoint.’

Since 2000 he moved to solitary-molecule biophysics and nanobiology, with investigate from scientific studies of DNA loop extrusion and supercoiling to DNA translocation as a result of nanopores. Much more not long ago his research has focused on finding out chromatin composition and cell division with microorganisms on chip, though he can also be attempting to in the long run Develop artificial cells from The underside up.

Cees Dekker is Distinguished College Professor at TU Delft. Qualified like a physicist, he pioneered nanotechnology with numerous discoveries on carbon nanotubes in the nineteen nineties. Considering that 2000, he moved to single-molecule biophysics and nanobiology. His current investigate focuses on (i) nanopores for protein sequencing; (ii) chromosome structure, especially SMC motor protein; and (iii) creating a living artificial cell from lifeless molecules. Dekker is definitely an elected member of your KNAW and fellow on the APS as well as the IOP.

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2013, managed shaping of Reside bacterial cells into arbitrary designs; and discovery of spontaneous fluctuations in the handedness of histone tetrasomes