Alexander van Oudenaarden (19 March 1970) is a Dutch

biophysicist Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...

and systems biologist. He is a leading researcher in stem cell biology, specialising in single cell techniques. In 2012 he started as director of the

Hubrecht Institute The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

and was awarded two times an ERC Advanced Grant, in 2012 and in 2017. He was awarded the

Spinoza Prize The Spinoza Prize ( nl, Spinozapremie) is an annual award of 2.5 million euro, to be spent on new research given by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The award is the highest scientific award in the Netherlands. It is named after the philosopher ...

in 2017.

Biography

Van Oudenaarden was born 19 March 1970, in Zuidland, a small town in the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

province of South Holland. He studied at the

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

, where he obtained an MSc degree in Materials Science and Engineering ('' cum laude'') and an MSc degree in Physics, both in 1993, and subsequently a PhD degree in Physics (''cum laude'') in 1998 in experimental condensed matter physics, under the supervision of professor J.E. Mooij. He received the Andries Miedema Award (best doctoral research in the field of condensed matter physics in the Netherlands) for his thesis on "Quantum vortices and quantum interference effects in circuits of small tunnel junctions". In 1998, he moved to Stanford University, where he was a postdoctoral researcher in the departments of Biochemistry and of Microbiology & Immunology, working on force generation of polymerising actin filaments in the Theriot lab and a postdoctoral researcher in the department of Chemistry, working on

Micropatterning Micropatterning is the art of miniaturisation of patterns. Especially used for electronics, it has recently become a standard in biomaterials engineering and for fundamental research on cellular biology by mean of soft lithography. It generally ...

of supported phospholipid bi-layers in the

Boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

lab. In 2000 he joined the department of Physics at MIT as an assistant professor, was tenured in 2004 and became a full professor. In 2001 he received the NSF CAREER award, and was both an Alfred Sloan Research Fellow and the Keck Career Development Career Development Professor in Biomedical Engineering. In 2012 Alexander became the director of the Hubrecht Institute as the successor of

Hans Clevers Johannes (Hans) Carolus Clevers (born 27 March 1957) is a Dutch molecular geneticist, cell biologist and stem cell researcher. He became the Head of Pharma, Research and Early Development, and a member of the Corporate Executive Committee, of ...

. In 2017 he received his second ''ERC Advanced Grant'', for his study titled "a single-cell genomics approach integrating gene expression, lineage, and physical interactions". In 2014 van Oudenaarden became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2017 he was one of four winners of the

. He is married and has three children.

Work

During his time at MIT his lab started with parallel lines of research in

actin Actin is a family of globular multi-functional proteins that form microfilaments in the cytoskeleton, and the thin filaments in muscle fibrils. It is found in essentially all eukaryotic cells, where it may be present at a concentration of ov ...

dynamics and noise in gene networks, and then focused on stochasticity in gene networks biological networks as control systems, and the evolution of small networks. Today, Van Oudenaardens work at the Hubrecht Institute focuses on stochastic gene expression, developing new tools for quantifying gene expression in single cells and MicroRNAs

References

External links

Alexander van Oudenaarden's Lab at the Hubrecht Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oudenaarden, Alexander Van 1970 births Delft University of Technology alumni Dutch academics Dutch biophysicists Living people Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science faculty Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Bernisse Probability theorists Synthetic biologists Systems biologists Spinoza Prize winners European Research Council grantees