Specialization
Specialized techniques: transmission electron microscopy, cryofixation, correlative light electron microscopy (CLEM), electron tomography, super-resolution imaging, live cell imaging
Focus of research
My research group aims to uncover the molecular mechanisms involved in membrane trafficking and recycling in synapses at nanometer resolution. We study of the transport, docking and fusion of secretory vesicles and the sorting of critical synaptic proteins through endosomes. Endosome recycling is important for the maintenance of basic neurotransmission, but it is also highly dysregulated in neurogenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. We aim to understand the causal relation between disease progression and the disruption of the endolysosomal pathway.
Our group also runs the VU campus Electron Microscopy Facility, where we make advanced electron microscopy techniques available for all researchers at the VU campus and beyond. We specialize in cryofixation and quantitative morphometric analysis of ultrastructural elements. By this, we contribute to multiple high impact publications from the center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research (CNCR), Cancer Center Amsterdam (CCA) and other institutes based at the VU campus including Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc. More recently, we combine electron microscopy with a wide variety of (super-resolution) fluorescence microscopy techniques to investigate these dynamic processes in living cells as well as observing specific pathological hallmarks in patient brain material.