WEHI ACRF Chemical Biology Seminar hosted by Professor Ethan Goddard
 

Professor Herman Overkleeft

Scientific Director – Bioorganic Chemistry, Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, The Netherlands

 

Activity-based profiling of retaining glycosidases

 

Davis Auditorium

Join via TEAMS

Including Q&A session

Prof Dr Herman S. Overkleeft (12-04-1969) studied chemistry at the University of Amsterdam and received his PhD degree in 1997 on his Thesis ‘Azasugars. Synthesis and evaluation as glycosidase inhibitors’ (promotor Professor Dr. Upendra Pandit). He performed postdoctoral research with Professor Dr. Jacques van Boom (Leiden University, 1997-1999) and Professor Dr. Hidde Ploegh (Harvard Medical School, 1999-2001). Since 2001 he is Professor and head of the Bioorganic Synthesis (BIOSYN) group at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University. The research of the BIOSYN group focuses on the design and synthesis of peptides, nucleic acids and carbohydrates, their hybrid structures and their structural analogues. These compounds are applied in-house and through numerous collaborations in biological and biomedical research. Specific focus is on the development of activity-based probes for chemical biology research, predominantly on proteasomes and glycosidases. His work on modulators of glycosphingolipid metabolism has yielded a large and comprehensive glycomimetics library and resulted in the creation of the biotech start-up company, Azafaros, whose aim is to develop new therapeutics for neuropathic Gaucher disease (www.azafaros.com). Overkleeft is recipient of a VICI (2003) and ERC AdG (2011) grant. He was awarded the KNCV Gold Medal (2008), a Wilhelm Friedrich Bessel Forschungspreis (2012), the Jeremy Knowles Award (2015), and the Roy Whistler Award in carbohydrate chemistry and biochemistry (2024). In 2018 he was elected member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). He is author of over 600 research papers, reviews, book chapters and patents.

All welcome!