Principal investigator

Maarten Bijlsma received his master’s degree in Molecular Biology from the University of Amsterdam in 2002, and obtained his PhD from the same university’s Faculty of Medicine in 2008. Most of his work has focused on the mechanisms underlying developmental signaling in both embryonic tissue as well as human disease.

After his postdoctoral research at other institutes including the University of California at Berkeley, he returned to the Academic Medical Center as a junior group leader, and is currently assistant professor. His research focuses on pancreatic and esophageal cancer, from the most fundamental mechanisms that underlie aberrant signaling in these diseases, to the development of serum-borne markers in patient cohorts to predict treatment response and disease outcome. Furthermore, he was Biomarker/Imaging Program leader for the Amsterdam UMC Cancer Center Amsterdam during the first 3 years of its existence.

When not busy trying to find the cure for cancer and keeping his PhD students from blowing up the lab, he enjoys doing dad stuff, woodworking, and getting his hands dirty trying to keep his car of dubious build quality on the road.