Marc Baldus new scientific director of the Bijvoet Center

Per April 1, prof. Marc Baldus has been appointed as the new scientific director of the Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research at the Faculty of Science of Utrecht University. He takes over this responsibility from prof. Piet Gros, who has been the scientific director for the past four years.

The Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research studies how biomolecules function in cells and how they behave in health and disease. The focus of the center is on the relation between the structure and function of biomolecules and their interactions inside the living cell.

Marc Baldus is the head of the NMR spectroscopy group in the Department of Chemistry who is especially known for his work in the field of structural biology using solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (ssNMR) spectroscopy. The Baldus group applies ssNMR methods to establish structure-function relationships in complex biomolecular systems including membrane and Amyloid proteins.  In addition, his group develops cellular NMR methods to study large molecular transport and insertion systems in bacteria as well as signal transduction mechanisms in eukaryotic cells. Similar principles are applied to determine supramolecular structures in intact (bio)materials including hydrogels, drug carriers and diatom biosilica.

For the Bijvoet Center, Marc Baldus aims to strengthen the interactions within the Bijvoet and with other researchers at the Utrecht Science Park the Uithof.