Narrative CV

Having both an interest in chemistry and cellular biology, I started my Bachelors in Biopharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Leiden in 2011. Three years later, I obtained my Bachelor's degree cum laude (ave. score > 85%), and continued with a Master’s program in Medicinal chemistry, also at Leiden University. This program consisted of two internships: a 9-month internship in academia, and a 6-month internship in industry, with the remaining months spend following lectures.

The first internship, which ended up lasting 12 months, was in the group of prof. dr. Mario van der Stelt, where I developed an in vivo active, nanomolar potent inhibitor for ABHD16a, an enzyme whose function at the time was still poorly understood. Where the desire was clear to continue a career in academia, rather than doing the obligatory second internship in an industrial/pharmaceutical setting, I designed and executed my own research project. Under the supervision of dr. Dmitri Filippov, I synthesized the small crown ether 8C4, and investigated its binding to lithium ions using both NMR spectroscopy, as well as computationally, in collaboration with Thomas Hansen. This research would result in my first paper, published in the journal ChemPhysChem. The Master’s degree, too, was obtained cum laude, in 2016. 

After that, I joined the group of dr. Grégory Schneider, with joined supervision by dr. Dmitri Filippov, with the goal of synthesizing and studying polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In the five years that followed I synthesized various aromatic molecules, including on a multigram scale. I studied these molecules with a wide range of analytical techniques, ranging from spectroscopic techniques like IR, Raman, UV-Vis and NMR, to microscopic techniques like SEM, TEM and AFM. Moreover, the computational skills I acquired during my masters would prove invaluable for my Thesis as well.

For my post-doctoral career I decided to complete my scientific toolkit with NMR spectroscopy. Where I do not have formal training in the subject, I made up for by reading books, including those by C.P. Slichter, and Emsley, Feeney and Sutcliff, as well as more modern books, like those by Keeler, Levitt, and Hore. With a spot of luck I ended up in the group of prof. Gareth Morris at the University of Manchester, where I learned how to be a proper NMR spectroscopist. The skills I acquired there I am now using in the group of prof. Marina Bennati, where I use them in the context of DNP. Here, I work on the liquid-state Overhauser DNP (ODNP) setup recently developed in our group, which joins a 400 MHz NMR magnet with a 263 GHz gyrotron.

My current research focuses on resolving some of the issues associated with liquid-state ODNP, to allow experiments more complicated than simple 1D pulse-acquire spectra to be recorded with ODNP enhancement. This has resulted in my first independent research paper in the Special Issue on hyperpolarization in the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Open. In this paper I show how, in select cases, discontinuous microwave radiation can yield ODNP spectra in a significantly shorter time, when compared to spectra recorded with continuous microwave irradiation. Moreover, I address the issue of unequal signal enhancements, which normally makes integration of ODNP spectra uninformative.

In my work, I like to combine theory and practice and present my findings in a fashion that is not only intuitive, but also allows for easy implementation by others, as well as being aesthetically pleasing.

My current goal is to finish my post-doctoral phase and work towards starting my own research group.