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The Executive Board has appointed Professor Korswagen as Professor by Special Appointment of Molecular Developmental Biology. "I hope my appointment can facilitate further cooperation between groups at Biology and the Hubrecht Institute."

In addition to his position as Senior Group Leader at the Hubrecht Institute, Korswagen was appointed as Professor by Special Appointment at the Institute of Biodynamics and Biocomplexity (IBB). In this capacity, he contributes to education and, through collaborations, also to research.

Communicating cells

"In my research group, we study how cells communicate with each other,” says Korswagen. "One of the signalling processes we are particularly interested in is so-called Wnt signalling. Wnt proteins regulate many aspects of embryonic development and are also important for maintaining stem cells in mature tissue. Furthermore, deregulation of Wnt signalling is an important cause of cancer, especially in the intestine. We study how the Wnt signal is converted into specific cellular responses using a combination of genetics, biochemistry and microscopy in the small nematode worm C. elegans.”

Focus on research

His favourite subjects in secondary school were Biology and Chemistry. Therefore, Korswagen decided to study Medical Biology in Utrecht. He was selected to study Medicine after graduation, but after a work placement at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), he wanted to fully focus on research.

"After my graduation, I did my PhD research in Ronald Plasterk's group at the NKI,” says Korswagen. I then worked as a postdoc in Hans Clevers' group at the UMC, where I started working on Wnt signalling, a subject that remained my main focus area when I became a Junior Group Leader at the Hubrecht Institute. In 2005, I obtained a permanent senior staff position at the Hubrecht Institute and since last June, I have been appointed at the IBB as a Professor by Special Appointment."