Maarten Van Lohuizen

Maarten van Lohuizen studied Biology at the University of Amsterdam and received his Ph.D. in 1992 (cum laude, supervisors Dr. A. Berns and Prof dr. P. Borst) from the same University. During his thesis work, he demonstrated the power of using retroviruses in genetic screens to identify cooperating oncogenes in cancer-predisposed mice. After staying on for one year as a postdoc, he joined the group of Prof. Dr. Ira Herskowitz, University of California at San Francisco, USA, for his postdoctoral training.

Here, he was involved in analysis of a novel cell cycle checkpoint mechanism and in studying regulation of the Yeast MAP-kinase signaling pathway. In 1995 he returned to The Netherlands Cancer Institute as an assistant professor in the division of Molecular Carcinogenesis, to take up studying his old favorite: mechanisms of epigenetic silencing by mammalian Polycomb-group protein complexes and their role in cancer, when deregulated.