Ron M.A. Heeren (born 1965,

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

) is a Dutch scientist in

mass spectrometry imaging Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a technique used in mass spectrometry to visualize the spatial distribution of molecules, as biomarkers, metabolites, peptides or proteins by their molecular masses. After collecting a mass spectrum at one spot, ...

. He is currently a distinguished professor at

Maastricht University Maastricht University (abbreviated as UM; nl, Universiteit Maastricht) is a public research university in Maastricht, Netherlands. Founded in 1976, it is the second youngest of the thirteen Dutch universities. In 2021, 22,383 students studied at ...

and the scientific director of the Multimodal Molecular Imaging Institute (M4I), where he heads the division of Imaging Mass Spectrometry.

Scientific career

Heeren obtained a PhD degree in Technical Physics at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

in 1992 under the supervision of Aart Kleyn. He led a FOM-AMOLF research group on macromolecular ion physics and biomolecular imaging mass spectrometry (1995–2014). He was also professor at the chemistry faculty of

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 2001–2019. Between 1995 and 2015, he worked on new approaches towards high spatial resolution and high-throughput molecular imaging mass spectrometry using

secondary ion mass spectrometry Secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) is a technique used to analyze the composition of solid surfaces and thin films by sputtering the surface of the specimen with a focused primary ion beam and collecting and analyzing ejected secondary ions. ...

(SIMS) and matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization (MALDI). Heeren has coauthored over 300 peer-reviewed articles, which have been cited over 12,600 times (Google Scholar).

Research

Heeren’s academic research interests are fundamental studies of the energetics of macromolecular systems, conformational studies of non-covalently bound protein complexes, translational imaging research, high-throughput bioinformatics, and the development and validation of new mass spectrometry–based proteomic imaging techniques for the life sciences. During his postdoctoral fellowship, he worked on the development of innovative ion sources, vacuums systems, data acquisition systems and novel temperature-controlled ion cyclotron resonance cells. He used the FTICR-MS instrument for the study of collisional energy transfer and internal energy distributions. These methods were deployed to investigate their role in the determination of dissociation pathways of biomolecular systems. As a project leader (1995–1997), Heeren led the application of high-resolution MS (FTICR-MS, FTIR imaging spectroscopy and SIMS) to the field of conservation science. He discovered and identified saponified pigment particulates in so-called protrusions in Rembrandt’s “

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp ''The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp'' is a 1632 oil painting on canvas by Rembrandt housed in the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague, the Netherlands. The painting is regarded as one of Rembrandt's early masterpieces. In the work, Nicolaes Tu ...

” in collaboration with the

Mauritshuis The Mauritshuis (; en, Maurice House) is an art museum in The Hague, Netherlands. The museum houses the Royal Cabinet of Paintings which consists of 854 objects, mostly Dutch Golden Age paintings. The collection contains works by Johannes Vermeer ...

museum in The Hague. Heeren and his group have pioneered the development of active pixelated detectors for mass spectrometry imaging. One such detector, the

Medipix Medipix is a family of photon counting and particle tracking pixel detectors developed by an international collaboration, hosted by CERN. Design These are hybrid detectors as a semiconductor sensor layer is bonded to a processing electronics lay ...

detector has been adapted to enable microscope-mode imaging mass spectrometry for biomolecules to enable combined high-throughput and high-resolution molecular imaging using

MALDI In mass spectrometry, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) is an ionization technique that uses a laser energy absorbing matrix to create ions from large molecules with minimal fragmentation. It has been applied to the analysis of ...

and

SIMS Sims, sims or SIMS may refer to: Games * ''The Sims'', a life simulation video game series ** ''The Sims'' (video game), the first installment, released in 2000 ** ''The Sims 2'', the second installment, released in 2004 ** '' The Sims 3'', th ...

Professional activities

From 2008 to 2013, Heeren was the research director for emerging technologies at the

Netherlands Proteomics Centre The Netherlands Proteomics Centre (NPC) is a Dutch people, Dutch research center in the field of proteomics. The research is focused on the proteome, the entire set of proteins expressed by a genome, Cell (biology), cell, Tissue (biology), tissue ...

. In 2014, he was appointed to his current position as one of the scientific directors of M4I at Maastricht University. He was president of the Dutch Society of Mass Spectrometry between 2001–2005. He is one of the founding members of the Mass Spectrometry Imaging Society, and was elected its president in 2017.

Commercialization

Heeren holds 7 patents and has established two spin-off companies
Omics2Image/ASI
and th
Dutch Screening Group
In 2019, he was awarded the NWO Valorisation Prize in Physics.

Awards

* 2020 Hans Fisher Senior Fellowship, Institute of Advanced Studies, Technical University of Munich Hans Fisher senior fellowship * 2020 Thomson medal, International Mass Spectrometry Foundation for distinguished contribution to international MS * 2019 NWO-Physics Valorisation prize (see above) * 2019 Brightlands Convention Award * 2014 Robert Feulgen lecturer, Society for Histochemistry * 2013 Winner, 10th Venture Challenge, Netherlands Genomics Initiative * 2012 Award, Exploratory Measurement Science Group (EMSG), University of Edinburgh, UK * 2010 Distinguished Wiley Visiting Scientist award, Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, Department of Energy, US * 2008 RCM Beynon Prize, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry * 2002 Bert L. Schram Award, Dutch Society for Mass Spectrometry (NVMS)

Most cited publications

# Ščupáková, Klára; Dewez, Frédéric; Walch, Axel K.; Heeren, Ron M. A.; Balluff, Benjamin (2020-08-17). "Morphometric Cell Classification for Single‐Cell MALDI‐Mass Spectrometry Imaging". ''Angewandte Chemie International Edition''. 59 (40): 17447–17450. # Ellis, Shane R.; Paine, Martin R. L.; Eijkel, Gert B.; Pauling, Josch K.; Husen, Peter; Jervelund, Mark W.; Hermansson, Martin; Ejsing, Christer S.; Heeren, Ron M. A. (2018-05-21). "Automated, parallel mass spectrometry imaging and structural identification of lipids". ''Nature Methods''. 15 (7): 515–518. # Bruinen, Anne L.; Fisher, Gregory L.; Balez, Rachelle; van der Sar, Astrid M.; Ooi, Lezanne; Heeren, Ron M. A. (2018-06-12). "Identification and High-Resolution Imaging of α-Tocopherol from Human Cells to Whole Animals by TOF-SIMS Tandem Mass Spectrometry". ''Journal of The American Society for Mass Spectrometry''. 29 (8): 1571–1581. # Ščupáková, Klára; Soons, Zita; Ertaylan, Gökhan; Pierzchalski, Keely A.; Eijkel, Gert B.; Ellis, Shane R.; Greve, Jan W.; Driessen, Ann; Verheij, Joanne; De Kok, Theo M.; Olde Damink, Steven W. M. (17 April 2018). "Spatial Systems Lipidomics Reveals Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Heterogeneity". ''Analytical Chemistry''. 90 (8): 5130–5138. # Ellis, S. R.; Soltwisch, J.; Paine, M. R. L.; Dreisewerd, K.; Heeren, R. M. A. (2017). "Laser post-ionisation combined with a high resolving power orbitrap mass spectrometer for enhanced MALDI-MS imaging of lipids". ''Chemical Communications''. 53 (53): 7246–7249. # Ogrinc Potočnik, Nina; Porta, Tiffany; Becker, Michael; Heeren, Ron M. A.; Ellis, Shane R. (2015-10-28). "Use of advantageous, volatile matrices enabled by next-generation high-speed matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight imaging employing a scanning laser beam". ''Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry''. 29 (23): 2195–2203. # Ellis, Shane R.; Jungmann, Julia H.; Smith, Donald F.; Soltwisch, Jens; Heeren, Ron M. A. (2013-10-18). "Enhanced detection of high-mass proteins by using an active pixel detector". ''Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English ''. 52 (43): 11261–11264. # Jungmann, Julia H.; Smith, Donald F.; MacAleese, Luke; Klinkert, Ivo; Visser, Jan; Heeren, Ron M. A. (2012-07-27). "Biological Tissue Imaging with a Position and Time Sensitive Pixelated Detector". ''Journal of The American Society for Mass Spectrometry''. 23 (10): 1679–1688. # Jungmann, Julia H.; MacAleese, Luke; Visser, Jan; Vrakking, Marc J. J.; Heeren, Ron M. A. (2011-10-15). "High Dynamic Range Bio-Molecular Ion Microscopy with the Timepix Detector". ''Analytical Chemistry''. 83 (20): 7888–7894. # Chughtai, Kamila; Heeren, Ron M. A. (2010-05-12). "Mass Spectrometric Imaging for Biomedical Tissue Analysis". ''Chemical Reviews''. 110 (5): 3237–3277.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heeren, Ron 1965 births People from Tilburg 21st-century Dutch chemists Academic staff of Maastricht University Living people Thomson Medal recipients Mass spectrometrists