Our lab is composed of a multidisciplinary team of international scientists with backgrounds in quantitative biology, (bio)chemistry, or (bio)physics. We are hardworking, passionate people that work efficiently together to unravel how the molecular process of replication happens in real time. If you want to know who is who in the lab, scroll down and get to meet us…
(@[TUD] must be transcribed as @tudelft.nl ; @[STU-TUD] must be transcribed as @student.tudelft.nl)
Group Leader
Prof. Dr. Nynke Dekker
Principal investigator – Physics and Biophysics
Nynke Dekker obtained her B.Sc. cum laude from Yale University (with majors in both physics and in applied mathematics), an MSc cum laude in physics from Leiden University, and a prestigious PhD in physics from Harvard University. This was followed by a postdoctoral period at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris in which she transitioned into her present passion, biological physics. She became faculty at TU Delft in 2008, where she rapidly rose from Assistant Professor to Full Professor. Her main research focus lies on understanding the dynamics of DNA and RNA replication at the molecular level by combining single-molecule biophysical and biochemical approaches. (see more)
Room F1.490
+31-(0)15-27 83219
N.H.Dekker@[TUD]
Administrative support
Tracey de Ruijter
Management Assistant
Room F1.020
+31-(0)15-27 82416
T.L.deRuijter@[TUD]
Staff and postdocs
Dr. Theo van Laar
Staff scientist
Theo’s (PhD Leiden University) background is in biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology. Before joining the Nynke Dekker lab in 2013, he had been working in fundamental cancer research in the University of Leiden, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Utrecht University Medical Center and Leiden University Medical Center. In between, he spent three years in Zambia at the Chilonga Mission Hospital(Mpika) where he was involved in training and supervision local laboratory staff.
Room E0.540
+31-(0)15-27 86489
t.vanlaar@[TUD]
Dr. Humberto Sánchez
Staff scientist
Humberto obtained his PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the ‘Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa’ in Madrid. Before joining the Nynke Dekker Lab, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the ‘National Center for Biotechnology’ in Madrid and Marie Curie fellow at the ‘Erasmus Medical Center’ in Rotterdam. (see more)
Room E0.500
+31-(0)15-27 83552
H.Sanchez@[TUD]
M.Sc. Sara Shafiee
Research associate
Sara earned her B.Sc. in microbiology from Iran and an MSc in infectious biology from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute at the University of Basel. She focused on the experimental evolution of Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug resistance. She later obtained an MSc in pharmaceutical biotechnology from ZHAW University in Zurich. Sara’s background is mostly in microbiology and molecular biology, with a focus on antimicrobial testing and antibiotic resistance.
Room E0.540
+31-(0)15-27 86489
Dr. Xiangcheng Chen
Postdoc
Xiangcheng obtained his PhD in experimental nuclear physics from Heidelberg University. He has been working at national heavy-ion accelerator facilities in Germany and China, with focus on mass and half-life measurements of unstable nuclides. He was a postdoc at University of Groningen to build up a mass spectrometer, before he joined the Nynke Dekker Lab in 2023 to focus on magnetic tweezers development.
Room E0.500
+31-(0)15-27 83552
BSc. Jackson Moore
Research associate
Jackson obtained his B.Sc. in Biological Physics and B.A. in History at Brown University (Providence, USA). There, he studied the replication of Merkel Cell Virus before shifting his focus toward developing nanopore ion source mass spectrometry as a potential method for sequencing single biopolymers. He joined the lab in 2023 to study the mechanics of chromatin replication.
Room E0.500
+31-(0)15-27 83552
Dr. Belén Solano Hermosilla
Staff scientist
Belén obtained a MSc in Physics by the University of Zaragoza, Spain, a PhD in Microsystems Engineering by the University of Durham, UK, and was a postdoctoral researcher at the French Atomic Commission, France. After holding different positions in both industry and academy, ranging from hands-on research work and lecturing to management, she became lab manager in the Nynke Dekker lab in 2015.
Room E0.540
+31-(0)15-27 86489
b.p.solanohermosilla@[TUD]
M.Sc. Francisco Palmero Moya
Staff scientist
Francisco obtained his B.Sc. in Physics at the University of Córdoba (Spain) studying the mathematical formalism of spinors. He complements his physics studies with a B.Sc. in Mathematics with a strong focus on subjects closely related to physics. He later completed an M.Sc. in Research in Artificial Intelligence and collaborated as a research assistant where he focused on stellar dating using Bayesian hierarchical models. He worked for one year in the industry, before joining the Nynke Dekker Lab as a scientific programmer in 2023.
Room E0.520
+31-(0)15-27 86489
Dr. Zhaowei Liu
Postdoc
Zhaowei received his PhD in chemistry from the University of Basel, Switzerland, where he used single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) to study mechanostable protein-ligand interactions. He joined the Nynke Dekker lab in 2021 as a postdoctoral researcher, focusing on the dynamics of eukaryotic DNA replication. His research is funded by a postdoctoral fellowship from EMBO.
Room E0.520
+31-(0)15-27 86489
Z.Liu-10@[TUD]
Dr. Saurabh Talele
Postdoc
Saurabh received his PhD from Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea, where he used single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy to probe nonequilibrium thermodynamics of proteins. He joined the Nynke Dekker Lab in 2023 as a postdoctoral researcher aiming to uncover the biophysical mechanisms associated with eukaryotic DNA replication.
Room E0.520
+31-(0)15-27 86489
Dr. Maria Kharlamova
Postdoc
Starting Jan. 1, 2024.
Room E0.520
+31-(0)15-27 86489
PhD candidates
M.Sc. Daniel Ramírez Montero
PhD candidate
Daniel completed his B.Sc in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Brown University (Providence, USA). He then worked for AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals (Waltham, USA) for two years before doing his M.Sc. in Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, USA), where he discovered his passion for single-molecule biophysics. At the Nynke Dekker Lab, Daniel combines ensemble biochemical approaches, correlative single-molecule force and fluorescence spectroscopy and single-molecule TIRF microscopy to study eukaryotic DNA replication. Outside the lab, Daniel is a classical singer and pianist, and loves to explore the natural wonders of his native Mexico.
Room E0.500
+31-(0)15-27 83552
d.f.ramirezMontero@[TUD]
M.Sc. Louis Kuijpers
PhD candidate
Louis obtained a B.Sc. in Life Science and Technology studying the chromosomal organization of E. coli. After that he graduated with an M.Sc. in Life Science & Technology, which included an honours programme, a double specialization in Cell Factory and Biocatalysis, and the winning design in the LST Design competition (2016). During his M.Sc. thesis project in the Nynke Dekker Lab in TU Delft, he performed biophysical characterization of an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). The latter sparked his interest in the field of virology from both a biophysical and a biochemical point of view. The main goal of his PhD project, realized jointly with the Institute for Translational Vaccinology (Intravacc), is to develop and biophysically characterize poliovirus-like particles for vaccine purposes.
Room E0.520
+31-(0)15-27 85394
L.C.Kuijpers@[TUD]
M.Sc. Pang Yen Wang
PhD candidate
Pang Yen obtained his B.Sc in Agricultural chemistry and M.Sc in Chemistry at National Taiwan University. During his time in single-molecule labs there, he first focused on the DNA-RecA interaction in the early stage of DNA recombination using tethered particle motion. Later on, he switched to investigate the fork reversal protein SMARCAL1 rewinding activity with optical tweezers. In the Nynke Dekker lab, he will concentrate on understanding eukaryotic DNA replication, in parituclar the interaction between the replisome and nucleosomes, using single-molecule techniques.
Room E0.520
+31-(0)15-27 85394
P.Y.W.Wang@[TUD]
BEP and MEP students
Annice van Hemmen
Nanobiology BEP Student
A.M.vanHemmen@[STU-TUD]
Li Jing Hu
Nanobiology BEP Student
L.J.Hu@[STU-TUD]