Piet Gros (born July 31, 1962 in

Dokkum Dokkum is a Dutch fortified city in the municipality of Noardeast-Fryslân in the province of Friesland. It has 12,669 inhabitants (February 8, 2020). The fortifications of Dokkum are well preserved and are known as the ''bolwerken'' (bulwarks). ...

) is a Dutch chemist and professor biomacromolecular crystallography at

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

. In 2010 he received the NWO

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 ...

for the elucidation of the three-dimensional structure of the C3 protein, which plays a central role in the complement system and contributes to

innate immunity The innate, or nonspecific, immune system is one of the two main immunity strategies (the other being the adaptive immune system) in vertebrates. The innate immune system is an older evolutionary defense strategy, relatively speaking, and is the ...

Biography

Gros was born in Dokkum,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. He studied chemistry at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is th ...

, where he graduated cum laude with a master's degree. Five years later Gros received his PhD degree cum laude at the same university, with a thesis on

protein crystallography X-ray crystallography is the experimental science determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to diffract into many specific directions. By measuring the angles ...

. Subsequently he became a postdoctoral researcher at the ETH Zurich and later at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

. In 1994 Gros was given a position at Utrecht University to conduct experimental research towards new applications for protein crystallography. In 2002 he was given the position of full professor. From 2007 until 2010 Gros was head of the department of chemistry and from 2012 to 2016 he was scientific director of the Bijvoet Centre for Biomolecular Research. Gros received an ERC Advanced grant of the European Research Council in 2008, is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) since 2010 and in April 2013, Gros became Knight in the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...

, when he received a Royal Decoration for his scientific achievements.

Research

The main expertise of Gros is in the area of protein crystallography methodology and its application to large human plasma proteins and cell-surface receptors and membrane proteins. Among his findings are the molecular mechanisms that underlie key steps in the human immune defense by the complement system, such as the mode of action of complement component 3 and component 8. Other research in his lab has focussed on the adhesion of

von Willebrand factor Von Willebrand factor (VWF) () is a blood glycoprotein involved in hemostasis, specifically, platelet adhesion. It is deficient and/or defective in von Willebrand disease and is involved in many other diseases, including thrombotic thrombocytope ...

(A1 domain) to its platelet receptor GpIb and the structures of pathogenic bacterial outer-membrane proteins and the movement of individual atoms within the defined protein structures.

Honours and awards

In 2010, Gros received the NWO

for the elucidation of the three-dimensional structure of the C3 protein. This protein is part of the oldest part of the

immune system The immune system is a network of biological processes that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to parasitic worms, as well as cancer cells and objects such as wood splint ...

that is present in the human body, the complement system. Using

structural biology Structural biology is a field that is many centuries old which, and as defined by the Journal of Structural Biology, deals with structural analysis of living material (formed, composed of, and/or maintained and refined by living cells) at every le ...

techniques such as protein crystallography, the research group of Gros studies structures and chemical interactions that are at the basis of immunological processes such as the complement system. He is the recipient of the 2018

Gregori Aminoff Prize The Gregori Aminoff Prize is an international prize awarded since 1979 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in the field of crystallography, rewarding "a documented, individual contribution in the field of crystallography, including areas conce ...

, an international prize awarded since 1979 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in the field of crystallography.

References

External links

Research group of Gros
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gros, Piet 20th-century Dutch chemists 1964 births Living people People from Dokkum Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Spinoza Prize winners Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion 21st-century Dutch chemists Academic staff of Utrecht University