Bert Janssen studied Molecular Sciences at Wageningen University (MSc 2002), followed by a PhD (2007) in structural biology at Utrecht University that was awarded cum laude. During his PhD he addressed questions central to human immunology by solving crystal structures of the large complement component C3 and its activation products C3b and C3c. This revealed in detail the intricate architecture of C3 consisting of 13 domains that act in unison to protect a highly reactive group from activation and marked conformational changes of 12 domains that fully expose the reactive group upon activation of C3 into C3b. From 2008 until 2011 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oxford in the lab of Prof. Yvonne Jones, funded by a HFSP fellowship. In Oxford he elucidated the molecular mechanism underlying semaphorin-plexin function in neuronal connectivity. In July 2011 he returned to Utrecht University to start his own group to work on molecular signalling processes that are critical for the homeostasis and functioning of the central nervous system. In 2012 he was awarded a starting independent researcher grant (VIDI) from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and he became a team leader in the Marie Curie Initial Training Network "ManiFold". In 2015 he was awarded a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) to further strengthen his research team and he was one of the UU Young Investigators Forum founders.

chemistry