People

Group Leader

• Patrick van der Wel  p.c.a.van.der.wel@rug.nl @p_vanderwel@mastodon.social
  • Associate Professor, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen
  • Building/room: 5115.0308
  • Solid-state NMR research group
  • Downloadable CV (PDF)
  • More contact information.
  • Prev: Associate Professor of Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (Currently on adjunct status)
    • Pittsburgh Adjunct Affiliation:  
    • Department of Structural Biology profile
  • More info:
    • Google Scholar Profile
    • ResearchGate Profile

Support Staff

• Alessia Lasorsa (University of Groningen)
  • University of Groningen, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials
  • Solid-state NMR technical support 
  • More information: RUG profile ; ResearchGate Profile

• Anja Onstwedder-Reiling (University of Groningen)
  • University of Groningen, Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials
  • Administrative support
  • More information: RUG profile

 

Postdoctoral Researchers

• Irina Matlahov, PhD
  • Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, RuG
  • Structural biology by magic-angle-spinning solid-state NMR, specifically applied to protein aggregation in Huntington’s disease
  • Previously: PhD from Bar-Ilan University, Israel
  • More Info: ResearchGate Profile

PhD researchers & graduate students

• Mustapha El Hariri El Nokab
  • Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen
  • ResearchGate Profile
  • RUG Profile
  • Solid-state NMR studies of polysaccharide hydrogels and other responsive (bio)materials.

• Pushpa Rampratap
  • Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen
  • RUG Profile
  • Cancer as a Materials Science Problem. (PhyCan website)
  • SSNMR studies of molecular underpinnings of tumor physical properties.

• Greeshma Jain
  • Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen
  • Structural Biology of Huntington’s Disease, using ssNMR and interdisciplinary experiments.
  • Funded by Campagneteam Huntington.
  • RUG Profile

• Raffaella Parlato
  • Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen 
  • RUG Profile

MSc students

• Jelle Molenkamp
  • Research Master BCN, University of Groningen
• Josep Bellés Roca
  • Master Biology, University of Groningen

Undergraduate Researchers

• Talia Piretra (University of Pittsburgh)
  • Dept. Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
  • Protein aggregation in Huntington’s Disease.
  • Undergraduate researcher (formerly started in Pitt’s First Experiences in Research program)

Alumni

Former postdoctoral researchers

• • Sivanandam Veeramuthu, PhD
    • Structural studies of polyglutamine amyloid and the caveolin membrane protein.
    • Now: CNB (Spanish National Centre for Biotechnology), Madrid
    • More info: ResearchGate Profile
  • Jun Li, PhD
    • Solid-state NMR studies of role of domain-swapping in protein amyloid formation.
    • Now: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Wuhan University, China
  • Hsiang-Kai (Kyle) Lin, PhD
    • Solid-state NMR studies of polyglutamine aggregation in Huntington’s Disease
    • Now: SGS, New Jersey, USA
  • Mingyue Li, PhD
    • Structural biology magic-angle-spinning solid-state NMR of mitochondrial protein-lipid interactions
    • Previously: PhD from Univ. of Delaware, USA
    • Now: Merck
    • More Info: ResearchGate Profile

Former graduate students

• • Cody Hoop, PhD
    • Gained her PhD from the MBSB Graduate Program
    • Used ssNMR to study structure of protein aggregates and membrane-binding protein motifs.
    • More info: ResearchGate Profile
    • Now a Research Associate in the lab of Jean Baum at Rutger’s University.

• • Abhishek Mandal, PhD
    • Gained his PhD from the  MBSB Graduate Program
    • Studied protein structure, protein-lipid interactions and membrane dynamics by ssNMR.
    • More Info: ResearchGate Profile
    • Now works at Highmark Inc., in Pittsburgh, PA.

• • Jennifer Boatz, PhD
    • Gained her PhD from the MBSB Graduate Program
    • Protein-protein interactions, protein misfolding, amyloid formation and aggregation in human disease.
    • Now works as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pittsburgh

Former undergraduate researchers

• Sara Lewandowski
  • Summer researcher in the SURP program
  • More info: ResearchGate Profile
  • Now: postdoc at Boston University in Ikonomou lab
• George Alvarez
  • Summer researcher in the SURP program.
  • Protein-lipid interactions.
  • Now: Medical student at Stony Brook Medicine
• Marissa Di
  • Summer researcher in the SURP program.
  • Mitochondrial protein-lipid interactions in apoptosis.
  • University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
• James Nassur
  • Summer researcher, worked on Huntington’s Disease research
  • Now: student at University of Pennsylvania
• Audrey Valentine
  • Undergraduate researcher in Pitt’s First Experiences in Research program
  • University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
• Lexi Wivell
  • Summer research in the Pitt SURP program.
  • Carlow University, Pittsburgh, PA
  • Cataract-associated protein aggregation. 
• Talia Piretra (University of Pittsburgh)
  • Dept. Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
  • Protein aggregation in Huntington’s Disease.
  • Undergraduate researcher (formerly started in Pitt’s First Experiences in Research program)