Douwe van Sinderen
QUALIFICATIONS:
1988 BSc Biochemistry, RijksUniversiteit Groningen (RUG), The Netherlands
1990 MSc Molecular Biology, RUG, The Netherlands
1994 PhD degree in Molecular Genetics, (RUG), The Netherlands
Present and previous positions:
2016-present Full Professor, Personal Chair of Molecular Microbiology, School of Microbiology, UCC
2007-2016 Professor, School of Microbiology, UCC
2004-2007 Senior Lecturer, Department of Microbiology, UCC
1998-2004 College Lecturer, Department of Microbiology, UCC
1996-1998 EMBO long-term Fellow, Department of Microbiology, UCC
1994-1996 Senior Research Scientist, National Food Biotechnology Centre, UCC
1994 Postdoctoral scientist, Department of Molecular Genetics, RUG.
Research outputs: Co-authored over 350 peer-reviewed publications (of which two co-authorships in Nature, eight in PNAS USA and two in ISME Journal), contributed to 17 book chapters, was co-editor of 2 books, and am listed as inventor on 12 patents/patent filings.
h-index, according to Web of Science: 61 (using ‘core data bases’, and ‘van sinderen d or vansinderen d’ as author search terms); according to Google Scholar: 69.
RESEARCH INTERESTS: Broadly speaking my interests in research are:
- Bacteriophage-host interactions, in particular virion structure-function and its relevance to host recognition and DNA injection
- Bacteriophages and their impact on gut microbiota (in particular the infant gut)
- Molecular details of microbe-host interactions in the human gut, and their impact on health, with specific emphasis on bifidobacteria
- Carbohydrate metabolism of bifidobacteria and its relevance to the development of novel functional foods
- OF GRADUATE STUDENTS COMPLETED: 31 PhD and 12 MSc students have graduated under my (co-)supervision, while I am currently listed as a (co-)supervisor for 12 registered PhD students.
PERSONAL AWARDS/HONOURS:
PhD thesis was awarded the distinction “cum laude” (in the Dutch system only ~2% of these receive this distinction); PhD thesis was awarded the SNS-bank/RUG dissertation prize.
Awarded long term EMBO fellowship
Science Foundation Ireland (Principal) Investigator Award (since 2004, renewed in 2008 and again in 2014).
MEMBERSHIP of RELEVANT COMMITTEES/ EDITORIAL BOARDS:
- Former member of the Novel Foods Subcommittee which was established by the Irish Food Safety Authority to advise on matters relating to the use of novel food products.
- Former member of the Health and Life Science panel of the Technology Foresight Committee, Irish Council for Science, Technology and Innovation
- Associate Editor of the scientific journal Microbiology 2000-2005
- Member of the editorial board of the scientific journal Microbial Biotechnology 2007-2016
- Former member of the editorial board of the scientific journal PeerJ 2012-2015
- Have acted as member of over 20 PhD examination committees (in a variety of countries: The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Sweden, Norway, South-Africa, and Spain).
- Member of the Executive Management Group of the APC Microbiome Institute (overall research budget in excess of €75M) [which meets (nearly) every week]
GRANT INCOME and FUNDING DIVERSIFICATION
Since 1996 a total grant income (to directly fund my research group) of over €20M has been secured from a wide range of funding sources (national, EU, industry, philantropic) over 80 different grants/awards).
DISSEMINATION AND OUTREACH
I have given over 80 research seminars at international conferences and symposia in various capacities (invited speaker, key note, plenary speaker), acted as a chairperson at several scientific meetings/conferences, while my scientific work has been represented through a large number of posters/abstracts (>200). I have recently acted as the organizer and Chair of the 4th Propiobifido Symposium (Cork, Sep 20-23, 2016; www.propiobifido2016.com).
Contact details: E-mail: d.vansinderen@ucc.ie; Tel: +353 21 4901365