Biography
Group Page: http://www.gijswuite.com/
Gijs Wuite obtained his PhD in biophysics in 2000. Since 2001 he leads his own group at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and in 2009 was appointed full professor. In his research he has successfully applied quantitative physical tools to investigate fundamental problems in biology, and to search for the unification of apparently unrelated biological phenomena. Moreover, he has been at the forefront of recent new and fast developments of biophysical techniques that have enabled visualization, manipulation and control of complex biological reactions. In 2014 he co-founded LUMICKS, a fast growing company specialized in dynamic single molecule instruments and in 2018 he won the Dutch Physics Valorisation prize & in 2019 the Amsterdam Impact Award, for successfully launching this company.
Notable is his publication in 2013 (Nature Method) on STED with optical tweezers in collaboration with Prof. Hell (Nobel laureate) and his 2016 Nature paper describing the integration of a multi-beam optical trap capable of handling multiple DNA molecules with fluorescence microscopy. Another key innovation is the invention of a new class of biophysical instrumentation, Acoustic Force Spectroscopy, which is making a big impact with research groups across the world implementing this technology.
Wuite has received many awards and fellowships for his scientific work, including a NWO-VICI (2008) grant, an ERC Consolidator (2010) and ERC Advanced (2020) Grant of the European Union. The Amsterdam Impact Award (2019) for the most innovative scientific idea in Amsterdam. He obtained the NWO Physics Valorisation Prize (2017). He was one of the WEF “2013 Young Scientist”. Wuite was an elected member (2009) of the Young Academy (DJA), part of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences (KNAW). He is an elected member (2014) of the Global Young Academy; he served on the management boards of both.
Research description
The research themes of the group are currently focused on unraveling the mechanics and dynamics of biological systems using an array of experimental techniques such as AFM, AFS, optical tweezers and (single-molecule) fluorescence. By investigating increasingly complex biological processes, we aim to link single molecule research with experimental systems biology. Most of our biophysical questions are solved in collaboration with biochemists, biologists, theoretical physicists and physicians.
There are four major themes in his group:
DNA organization – DNA inside organisms is organized by multitudes of proteins in structures called chromosomes. It is extremely challenging to get data of the dynamics of these proteins which often bind non-specifically to DNA. We forged breakthroughs by developing a new instrument that was able to measure the location, binding forces and dynamics of individual proteins. From this data we could reveal the physical properties that emerged from arrays of these proteins interacting with multiple DNA strands. Recently, we expanded this research topic to whole chromosomes and have been able to investigate their mechanical structure. Moreover, we solved with a string of papers a long standing controversy about the physical nature of DNA under tension.
