Piet Borst

Dutch biologist, molecular biologist and biochemist Piet Borst CBE (born 5 July 1934, in Amsterdam) is emeritus professor of clinical biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Amsterdam (UVA), and until 1999 director of research and chairman of the board of directors of the Netherlands Cancer Institute and the Antoni van Leeuwenhoekziekenhuis (NKI-AVL). He continued to work at the NKI-AVL as a staff member and group leader until 2016. Career Piet Borst studied medicine in Amsterdam from 1952 to 1958 and completed his internships in 1961-1962. He received his PhD for an investigation of tumor mitochondria (Supervisor Edward Slater). He then moved to New York City, where he worked with fellow post-doc Charles Weissmann on replication of bacteriophages in the lab of Nobel laureate Severo Ochoa at the New York University School of Medicine. In 1965, he became professor of Biochemistry at the University of Amsterdam and head of the section for Medical Enzymology and Molecular Biology of the Biochemistry Department. From 1972 to 1980 Borst was also part-time Director of the Institute of Animal Physiology of the University of Amsterdam where he set up the first Unit for Mole