Thijn Brummelkamp

Biomedical genetics

Thijn Brummelkamp uses genetic approaches to identify genes that play a role in human disease. His primary interests are cancer research, infectious disease and drug action.

Brummelkamp has developed technologies to accelerate genetic analysis of cultured mammalian cells. A 'stable RNA interference' process, which he and his colleagues first described, is now widely used to manipulate and study gene function in mammalian cells. Brummelkamp has used stable RNA interference to inhibit thousands of human genes, in order to find specific genes that play a role in human disease. More recently he has developed an approach for haploid genetic screens in human cells using insertional mutagenesis. He has used this approach to identify host factors used by a variety of pathogens.

Biosketch

Thijn Brummelkamp uses genetics in human cells to pinpoint genes that play a role in human disease. His interests are cancer research, infectious disease and drug action. During his PhD studies he developed a system  for the expression of shRNA molecules, enabling gene inhibition through “stable RNA interference”. More recently he has developed an approach for haploid genetics in human cells using insertional mutagenesis. He has used this approach to identify host factors used by a variety of pathogens, which led to the identification of the lysosomal cholesterol transporter NPC1 as the long-sought intracellular receptor for the Ebola virus. He received his MS in biology from the Free University, Amsterdam in 1998 and did his graduate research at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in the laboratory of Prof. René Bernards. In 2004, he was appointed as a Whitehead Fellow to initiate his independent research program in Cambridge, USA, and in 2011, his laboratory moved to the Netherlands Cancer Institute and he became an Adjunct Principal Investigator at CeMM. For his studies, he received the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Award (2003), the Annual NVBMB Award (2004, Dutch Association for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology), he was chosen as one of the world’s top 35 Young Innovators by MIT’s Technology Review magazine (2005) and received EMBO’s gold medal in 2013.

Selected Papers

Nieuwenhuis J, Adamopoulos A, Bleijerveld OB, Mazouzi A, Stickel E, Celie P, Altelaar M, Knipscheer P, Perrakis A, Blomen VA, Brummelkamp TR. Vasohibins encode tubulin detyrosinating activity. Science. 2017 Dec 15;358(6369):1453-1456. (abstract)

Brockmann M, et al. Genetic wiring maps of single-cell protein states reveal an off-switch for GPCR signaling. Nature. 2017; 546:307-311. (abstract)

Staring J, von Castelmur E, Blomen VA, van den Hengel LG, Brockmann M, Baggen J, Thibaut HJ, Nieuwenhuis J, Janssen H, van Kuppeveld FJ, Perrakis A, Carette JE, Brummelkamp TR. PLA2G16 represents a switch between entry and clearance of Picornaviridae. Nature. 2017 Jan 19;541(7637):412-416. (abstract)

Blomen VA, Májek P, Jae LT, Bigenzahn JW, Nieuwenhuis J, Staring J, Sacco R, van Diemen FR, Olk N, Stukalov A, Marceau C, Janssen H, Carette JE, Bennett KL, Colinge J, Superti-Furga G, Brummelkamp TR. Gene essentiality and synthetic lethality in haploid human cells. Science. 2015 Nov 27;350(6264):1092-6. (abstract)

Blomen VA, Májek P, Jae LT, Bigenzahn JW, Nieuwenhuis J, Staring J, Sacco R, van Diemen FR, Olk N, Stukalov A, Marceau C, Janssen H, Carette JE, Bennett KL, Colinge J, Superti-Furga G, Brummelkamp TR. Gene essentiality and synthetic lethality in haploid human cells. Science. 2015 Nov 27;350(6264):1092-6. (abstract)