s.a.k.jongkees(at)vu.nl
Jongkees Research Group
Group members
PI
Seino Jongkees
I did my bachelors degrees in chemistry, biochemistry and philosophy at the University of Otago, in my homeland of New Zealand. From there I threw myself across the pacific to carry out my PhD with prof. Stephen Withers at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Next I crossed the pacific again to pursue a JSPS post-doctoral position at the University of Tokyo, Japan, under the guidance of prof. Hiroaki Suga. Heading back to my roots, I then took up an assistant professorship position at Utrecht University before moving the group to our current home at VU Amsterdam. My research interests are guided by a desire to understand how living systems work on a chemical level. I am fascinated by the idea of a collection of intricate and complex reactions coming together to create something like a cell, or even a whole organism.
Post-doctoral researcher
Minglong Liu
I was born in Chongqing China, hometown of hot-pot. I got my bachelor and master degree in Peking University. Prof. Ye xin-shan was my advisor. I focused on the synthesis of carbohydrate and transition-mental catalyzed reaction. Then I flew across Eurasia to pursue further study at the Utrecht University, Netherlands. My primary interest is in the area of application of carbon-hydrogen activation on carbohydrate synthesis. Now I am turning my interest to the challenging synthesis of peptides and how these peptides have bioactivity in living systems.
PhD student
Vito Thijssen
I obtained my bachelor degree in Biomedical engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology. During my bachelor I worked in the group of Prof. Dr. Maarten Merkx on antibody detection using Bioluminescent sensor proteins. After this I obtained my Master degree in Biomedical engineering also at Eindhoven University of Technology. During my master I worked in the lab of Prof. Luc Brunsveld on backbone modified peptide inhibitors for specific protein-protein interactions. At the end of my master I did an internship in this group at Utrecht University which led to my start as a PhD. Currently I am working on finding new peptide inhibitors using the so-called RaPID system for Heparanase, an enzyme that plays an important role in cancer. My interest mainly lies in the use of peptides and peptidomimetics to modulate protein activity or interactions.
PhD student (co-supervised)
Helena Ehren
I was born in the most beautiful city on the planet, Cologne, where I also received my bachelor’s and master’s degree in Chemistry. I have always been a whole-hearted organic chemist and completed both of my theses in the group of Prof. Dr. Schmalz dealing with natural product synthesis. For a change I then went to Utrecht to join the groups of Dr. Seino Jongkees and Dr. Tom Wennekes, thereby combining two very powerful disciplines: classic organic synthesis and in vitro translation in order to find bioactive hybrid molecules. Currently I am working on designing enzyme specific covalent inhibitors for different glycosidases of interest for labelling purposes. I am intrigued by changing colors, yellow oils, crystals and pretty foams.
PhD student
Ryoji Yoshisada
My broad interest is to understand molecular interactions from a chemical point of view and apply the knowledge for biological purposes. I graduated from Kyoto University with a Bachelor in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Kyoto University. During the 4th year of the bachelor's, I visited Utrecht University for a year-long research internship under the guidance of Dr. Seino A.K. Jongkees. This experience led me to stay in the Netherlands for my further career and I got into a chemistry master's programme at Leiden University. As a major internship, I worked on computational simulations of chemical reactions under the supervision of Prof. Jeroen D.C. Codée. Also, I investigated the computational aromatic property in the group of Prof. Célia F. Guerra at Vrije Universiteit. Now, I am back to the Jongkees group as a Ph.D. candidate, for a research project about functional glycopeptides to understand the immune system.
PhD student
Twan Hopstaken
I perfomed my Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology. During this Bachelor's I specialized in chemical biology and tissue engineering. Furthermore, I worked in the group of Prof. Luc Brunsveld on branched, light-cleavable peptides for the modulation of supramolecular interactions. During my Master's Biomedical Engineering, which I also perfomed in Eindhoven, I further specialized in chemical biology. I again worked in the lab of Prof. Brunsveld, this time focusing on protein engineering and assay development in order to engineer an allosteric pocket in the nuclear receptor RORalfa. I finished my degree with an intership at the Netherlands Translational Research Center. Here I worked on the characterization of the interaction between drug candidates and two proteins involved in cancer, using X-ray crystallography and various biochemical and biophysical assays. At the moment I am persuing my PhD in the group of Seino Jongkees at VU Amsterdam. I am working on genetically reprogramming proteins in lysate-based cell-free expression systems using flexizymes. Additionally, I am working on the characterization and discovery of cyclic peptide inhibitors of several viral and membrane proteins. My ambition is to further develop some of these cyclic peptides into compounds that can be used for the targeted degradation of membrane proteins.
Technician
Wren de Kock
​I received my bachelors degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences at Utrecht University, during which I did an mRNA display selection at the Jongkees lab on sialvltransferase ST6Gal1, an enzyme overexpressed in many types of cancer. I then pursued a masters degree, further deepening my knowledge of Pharmaceutical Sciences, again at Utrecht University. During my masters I investigated non-canonical amino acids for the bio-orthogonal modification of peptides at the Jongkees lab and I investigated a modular nanoparticle system at the Radboud University in Nijmegen under the supervision of Dr. Kim Bonget. I received my masters degree in mid-2022 and not long after took up the position of Lab Technician at the Jongkees lab. I want to further develop my understanding of a wide range of Biochemical research topics and techniques. I'm fascinated by the chemistry of life, how so many brainless things can form such intricate and complex systems. And how one can manipulate this chemistry of life to a host of potential uses, from developing therapeutics to understanding the fundamentals behind disease.
Master's student
Cameron Forkes
Profile goes here
Master's student
Juliette Engelberts
I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Life Science & Technology from the University of Leiden and the TU Delft. During my bachelor I gained knowledge regarding the chemical and biological aspects of cell biology (Leiden) as well as the technical aspects (Delft). At the end of my bachelor, I joined Ulf Hanefelds lab (TU Delft) and did research on protein expression systems comparing the efficiency of purified enzymes compared to whole cell utilization to produce Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). I continued studying Life Science & Technology at the University of Leiden for my masters. In my masters I specialized in both the chemical and biological aspects of cell and protein research leaving the technical aspect behind. This choice was easily made as my enthusiasm for science is mainly driven by a curiosity to find out what kind of protein cascades occur in the human body and how to manipulate this knowledge for our advantage. I have already completed my thesis internship at the Sharp lab at the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC). During this internship I developed an assay to detect the activation of the classical complement pathway and worked with nanopatterned DNA structures designed to activate the classical complement pathway. To complete my masters I am doing 4-month internship at the Jongkees group, this internship is a collaboration between the Sharp (LUMC) and Jongkees (VU) lab. During this internship I will attempt to produce a macrocyclic peptide (at the Jongkees group) which strongly binds to C-reactive protein (a protein of interest for the Sharp lab).
Master's student
Raya Hana
I obtained my bachelor’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences at the VU Amsterdam. My bachelor internship was performed in the group of Prof. Dr. Tom N. Grossmann and focused on synthetic peptide chemistry, specifically on the synthesis of TCF-4 derived tracers. This internship was the first time I came into contact with the field of chemical biology. During my undergraduate internship, I not only synthesized my peptide but also tested it for its intended application, which was something I had missed during my previous experiences with medical chemistry. This convinced me to pursue the field of chemical biology as it was the perfect fit for my interests. Currently, I am following the master drug discovery and safety, with a major in synthesis of drugs. Next to this, I have followed several courses from the Health & Life Sciences-based Management and Entrepreneurship master to not only expand my knowledge of the scientific aspects of drugs development but also of the intricated and expansive business side. My research project at the Jongkees group is focused on combining chemical modifications with mRNA display techniques.
Master's student (joint with bioinformatics)
Isabel Houtkamp
I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Natural and Social Sciences at the University of Amsterdam, during which I specialized in biomedical sciences. Currently, I am a MSc student in Bioinformatics & Systems Biology at the University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. I completed my first research internship at VU Amsterdam and ARTIS Micropia under the supervision of prof. Remco Kort, studying the gut microbiome of western lowland gorillas through metagenomics and metatranscriptomics. I am fascinated by the complexity of biological systems at both large and small scales, and the application of computer science principles to the most fundamental biological questions. During my internship at the Jongkees group, which is a collaboration with the VU bioinformatics group, I will study the applicability of machine learning principles on mRNA display sequencing data.
Past members
Tom Vis - Bachelor's student - 2022
Paddy Melsen - Master's student - 2022
Rasmus Klintrot - Technician (shared) - 2022
Lisa Brandenburg - Project technician - 2021
David van Dongen - Master's student - 2021
Stein Vermier - Master's student - 2021
Lin Rietveld - Master's student - 2021
Wren de Kock - Master's student - 2020
Cerissa van Walstijn - Bachelor's student - 2020
Lisa Brandenburg - Bachelor's student - 2020
Stein Vermeir - Bachelor's student - 2020
Lin Rietveld - Bachelor's student - 2020
Wren de Kock - Bachelor's student - 2019
Miha Sovrovic - Master's student - 2019
David van Dongen - Bachelor's student - 2019
Julia Egido-Egido - Master's student - 2019
Hao Shen - Bachelor's student - 2019
Lloyd Geway - Bachelor's student - 2018
Marinda Westerveld - Bachelor's student - 2018
Najoua el Boujnouni - Master's student - 2018
Dolapo Onabule - Master's student - 2018
Ryoji Yoshisada - Bachelor's student - 2018
Danique Ammerlaan - Bachelor's student - 2017
Avand Amedi - Bachelor's student - 2017
Vito Thijssen - Master's student - 2017
Lieke van Gijzel - Bachelor's student - 2017