Prof. dr. Gerrit van Meer

Emeritus Professor 
Hugo R. Kruytgebouw
Padualaan 8
Kamer O1.01
3584 CH Utrecht

Prof. dr. Gerrit van Meer

Emeritus Professor
Science
g.vanmeer@uu.nl

CURRICULUM VITAE, Gerrit van Meer, November 2023

Academic Degree: Ph.D.

Current Position: Professor emeritus at the Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH Utrecht, NL; g.vanmeer@uu.nl

Date of Birth: 1953, The Netherlands

Nationality: Dutch

Marital Status: married with children

Academic Record
2018–2019 Faculty professor, Faculty of Science, UU

2011­–2017 Dean of the Faculty of Science, UU

2010 Head of the Dept. of Chemistry, UU

2001–2010 Professor of Membrane Enzymology, Science Faculty, UU

1997–2001        Professor of Cell Biology and Histology, Academic Medical Center (AMC), University of Amsterdam

1993–1997        Associate professor, UU

1988–1993        Senior Investigator of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, at UU

1987–1988        Assistant professor at the Dept. of Cell Biology, Medical School, UU

1983–1986        Staff Scientist at EMBL in the Cell Biology Program

1981–1983        Postdoc at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, Germany, with Kai Simons, Cell Biology Program (EMBO Fellowship)

1977–1981        PhD studies, Dept. of Biochemistry, UU; Thesis: Transbilayer distribution and mobility of phospholipid in mammalian plasma membranes

              Thesis advisors: Jos A.F. Op den Kamp and Laurens L.M. van Deenen.     

1971–1977        Study Biology with Chemistry, UU

Honors and qualifications

2017 Elected member of Academia Europaea

2016 Honorary van Deenen medal, Institute of Biomembranes, UU

2011 "Manager 2011" by the personnel representation of UU

2008 Elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)

2005 Stimulation Award Faculty of Chemistry for Contributions to Teaching Innovation, UU

2004 Elected Chair for 2008 Gordon Conference Sphingolipid and Glycolipid Biology

2003 Elected EMBO member

2003 Senior qualification in teaching, Faculty of Chemistry, UU.

Research

Scientific Boards:

- Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the X-Omics initiative, 2019–(2029)

- Member of the Advisory Table Life Sciences, NWO-ENW, 2018–2019

- Scientific representative of the Netherlands in EMBL Council, 2011–2020

           and in EMBC, 2011- 2020; vice-president, 2013; president, 2014–2019

- Supervisory Board MCEC, Netherlands Center for Multiscale Catalytic Energy Conversion, 2014–2017

- Board Nikhef, 2011–2017

- Chair Supervisory Board Catchbio, 2011–2016

- Board Kluyver Centre, 2011–2013

- Supervisory Board Utrecht Sustainability Institute (USI), 2011–2013

- Board of Netherlands Center for Electron Nanoscopy (NeCEN), 2011–2012

- Executive Board of the Bijvoet Center, UU, 2005–2008

- Chairman European Lipidomics Initiative, 2005–2007

- Scientific Director of the Centre of Biomembranes and Lipid Enzymology, UU, 2003–2004

- Coordinator EC Research Training Network 'Sphingolipids'; 2000–2004

 

Editorial Boards:

- "Biochimica Biophysica Acta", 1996 – 2002

- "Developmental Cell", associate editor, 2003 – 2011; editorial board, 2012 – 2013

- "EMBO Journal", Advisory Editorial Board, 2005 – 2020

- "EMBO Reports", Advisory Editorial Board, 2005 – 2011

- "European Journal of Cell Biology", 1993 – 2010

- "F1000", faculty member, 2001 – 2008

- "FEBS Letters", editor, 2004; guest editor 2006 for special issues "ABC Transporters", and "Lipidome and Disease".

- "Glycobiology", 2001 – 2010

- "Journal of Biological Chemistry", editor, 2004 – 2009

- "Progress in Lipid Research", executive editor, 2008 – 2010

- "Traffic", 2000 – 2001; associate editor, 2002 – 2008; co-editor, 2009 - 2010

 

Other scientific activities:

2023 Vice-chair scientific review committee Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen

2023 Member EMBO Solidarity Grants committee

2020 Chair EMBC Working Group on Increasing Participation

2015–2022 EMBO Science Policy Advisory Group

2013–2019 FEBS/EMBO Woman in Science award committee

2012 Review committee Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit (MMPU), Heidelberg, DE

2010–2011 ASBMB Awards Committee (awards 2011, 2012)

2008–2011 FEBS advanced course committee

2004–2011 Advisory Committee on Lipid Classification of LIPID Metabolites And Pathways Strategy (LIPID MAPS), National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), USA

2007–2009 VENI review committee, NWO-CW (2009: Chair)

2007 EC FP7 Review committee FP7-HEALTH-2007-B, Brussels

2007 Main proposer of the ESF Eurocore Theme proposal EuroMEMBRANE, selected for funding in 2008

2006–2007 Chair of the European Science Foundation Expert group on Structural Medicine, the Impact of Lipidomics

2005 Review Committee of the Cell Biology and Biophysics Programme at EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany

2004 "Begutachtungs" committee of the SFB 1996 "Regulation and manipulation of information flow within dynamic protein and lipid environments" of the DFG at the University of Bonn, Germany

2001–2004 Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Section Biological Chemistry of NWO–CW

2003 Program Committee "From Molecule to Cell", NWO, The Netherlands

2003 "Begutachtungs" committee of the SFB 1984 "Dynamics of macromolecular complexes in biosynthetic Transport" of the DFG at the University of Heidelberg, Germany

2001–2002 Grant review Committee Section Biological Chemistry of NWO–CW

2001 Site-visit panel, Centers of Excellence, Finnish Academy, Finland

1989–2010 Group leader of Working Group 330-026, "Lipid polarity and sorting in epithelial cells", of the study group "Lipids and Biomembranes" of NWO-CW, the Netherlands Organization for Chemical Research

1985–1986 Standing Advisory Committee (Chair) of the Director General of the EMBL, Heidelberg

 

Education
Educational Boards:

- Chair of the board of studies of the Graduate School of Life Sciences, UU, 2006-2009

- Director of the PhD Program "The Institute of Biomembranes", UU, 2004-2010

           Board member, 1995-1996; Chair, 2002-2004

- Advisory Curriculum Committee Chemical Sciences, UU, 2001-2009

- Chair of the board of studies of the Master Curriculum Biomedical Sciences, UU, 2004-2005; board, 2001-2003

- Program leader Master Programme Biomolecular Sciences, UU, 2004-2005

- Advisory Committee of the Curriculum Chemical Sciences, UU, 2004-2005

 

Meeting organization:

Co-organizer FEBS Advanced Lecture Course "Molecular Organisation, Dynamics and Function of Biomembranes", Cargèse, Corsica, France, 6/19

Chair Joint FEBS/EMBO Lecture Course "Molecular Architecture, Dynamics and Function of Biomembranes", Cargèse, Corsica, France, 6/17

Chair Joint FEBS/EMBO Lecture Course "Biomembranes: Molecular Architecture, Dynamics and Function", Cargèse, Corsica, France, 6/15

Chair Joint FEBS/EMBO Lecture Course "Biomembranes: Molecular Architecture, Dynamics and Function", Cargèse, Corsica, France, 6/13

Chair Joint FEBS/EMBO Lecture Course "Biomembrane Dynamics: from Molecules to Cells", Cargèse, Corsica, France, 6/11

Chair FEBS Workshop, "Eukaryotic lipids; treasure of regulatory information", Spetses, Greece, 6/10

Chair Joint FEBS/EMBO Lecture Course "Molecular And Cellular Membrane Biology", Cargèse, Corsica, France, 7/09

Vice-chair Flippase meeting, Monte Verita, Switzerland, 11/08

Chair Gordon Research Conference on "Glycolipid and Sphingolipid Biology", Il Ciocco, Italy, 2/08

Organizing Committee FEBS/EMBO Biomembranes Summer School, Cargèse, Corsica, France, 7/07

Chair special FEBS/EC Meeting: "New concepts in lipidology: from lipidomics to disease", Noordwijkerhout, NL, 10/06

Member Scientific Advisory Committee of the International Conference on the Bioscience of Lipids (ICBL), Pécs, Hungary, 9/06

Vice-chair Gordon Research Conference on "Glycolipids and Sphingolipids", Ventura, USA, 1/06

Coordinator EC Specific Support Action "Lipidomics", workshops and meetings 05-06

Chair of FEBS lecture course "Modern Developments in Membrane Biology", Tbilisi, Georgia, 6/03

Chair of Euresco/EMBO Conference 'Lipid Rafts and Caveolae', Tomar, Portugal, 5/03

Advisory Board for the 4th European Endocytosis Meeting, Barcelona, Spain, 9/97

Chair of the Conférence Jacques Monod, 'Cell Lipids: Topology, Transport and Signalling Functions', Aussois, France, 5/97

Advisory Board for the 3rd European Endocytosis Meeting, Blarney, Ireland, 9/95

Scientific Board for the International Conference on Atherosclerosis, Utrecht, NL, 6/95

Co-chair of EMBO Workshop 'Intracellular Lipid Traffic', Asti, Italy, 9/94

Co-organizer of the European Research Conference 'Membrane Dynamics in Endocytosis', Il Ciocco, Italy, 5/93

 

Publications;     

Citation metrics, November 2023

Web of Science: Citations 20,050; h-index = 64

Google Scholar: Citations 31,780; h-index = 71

Ranking in science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators (October 2023): 8,467

https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/6

Ioannidis, John P.A. (2022), “October 2023 data-update for "Updated science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators"”, DOI: 10.17632/btchxktzyw.6

Selected papers              

- van Meer, G., Stelzer, E.H.K., Wijnaendts-van-Resandt, R.W. and Simons, K. (1987) Sorting of sphingolipids in epithelial (Madin-Darby canine kidney) cells. J. Cell Biol. 105, 1623-1635.
- Simons, K. and van Meer, G. (1988) Lipid sorting in epithelial cells. Biochemistry 27, 6197-6202.
- van Helvoort, A., Smith, A.J., Sprong, H., Fritzsche, I., Schinkel, A.H., Borst, P., and van Meer, G. (1996) MDR1 P-glycoprotein is a lipid translocase of broad specificity, while MDR3 P-glycoprotein specifically translocates phosphatidylcholine. Cell 87, 507-517.
- van Meer, G., Voelker, D.R., and Feigenson, G.W. (2008) Membrane lipids: where they are and how they behave. Nature Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 9, 112-124.
- van der Poel, S., Wolthoorn, J., van den Heuvel, D., Egmond, M., Groux-Degroote, S., Neumann, S., Gerritsen, H., van Meer, G., Sprong, H. (2011) Hyperacidification of trans-Golgi network and endo/lysosomes in melanocytes by glucosylceramide-dependent V-ATPase activity. Traffic 12, 1634-1647.