Han de Winde is professor in Industrial Biotechnology at Leiden University. Thorough expertise in microbial molecular biotechnology and systems biology research and education at BSc, MSc, PhD and advanced level. In combination with integral management of research, development and education; including effective HRM, budget responsibility, strategy development.

More information about Han de Winde

Research

Current research focusses on important aspects of molecular and microbial industrial biotechnology, including elucidation of control of nutrient signalling in baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, novel enzyme discovery and biocatalysis for degradation of plastics and other recalcitrant polymers in fungi and bacteria, and on molecular mechanisms and cell factory approaches of stress and solvent tolerance in Pseudomonas putida as a promising host microbe for industrial biotechnology. 

Expertise

Han de Winde has thorough expertise in integral management of research, development and education at BSc, MSc, PhD and advanced level, including effective HRM, budget responsibility and strategy development. His scientific expertise is in microbial molecular genetics and metabolic engineering, specifically in the area of nutrient- and environment-induced signal transduction and control of physiology, growth and development of bacteria, yeast and fungi. He is expert in implementation and development of applied and integrated genomics and systems biology in microbial strain and process improvement. He is author of over 85 peer reviewed scientific publications and of 10 filed patent series. 

Short biography

Han de Winde obtained an MSc in organic chemistry and biochemistry at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam and obtained a PhD in molecular biology in 1992 at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He was NWO (Netherlands Science Foundation) postdoctoral research fellow at the Amsterdam BioCenter, and EU-HCM fellow and assistant professor at the Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. In 2000 he was appointed Senior Scientist Genetics & Physiology at DSM Bakery Ingredients. In 2002 he was appointed part-time full professor in Industrial Genomics, at TU Delft. In 2004 he was appointed Principal Scientist Microbial Genetics and Physiology at DSM Food Specialties RD&T, covering both business unit- and corporate R&D-strategy and responsibilities. 

In 2006 Han was appointed Scientific Director and full professor in Genetics and Genomics of Industrial Microorganisms at the Department of Biotechnology, TU Delft. He was business director of the Kluyver Center for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation (NWO-NGI Centre of Excellence), and scientific director of the Delft Research Centre for Life Science and Technology (DRC-LST), and of the Graduate Research School 'Biotechnological Sciences Delft-Leiden' (BSDL). Since 2010 he was deputy dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences of TU Delft. In 2010 Han was appointed as chairman of the Executive Board of Advanced Chemical Technologies for Sustainability (ACTS), a strategic alliance of the Dutch National Science Foundation NWO. NWO-ACTS was transformed in 2012 into a Knowledge and Innovation Consortium for New Chemical Innovations (TKI-NCI) under auspices of NWO. Han has been chairman of the Program Board of TKI-NCI from the start until 2018. In addition, from 2010-2018 he was vice-chairman of the Chemistry Board of NWO (NWO-CW). 

In 2013 Han de Winde was appointed Vice Dean at the Faculty of Sciences, Leiden University. As a vice dean he was responsible for the quality and availability of all education programs of the Faculty of Science. His main focus was on improving and maintaining education quality by evidence-based measures, through continued professionalization of all education staff and by implementing novel concepts enabled through ict-in-education methodology. After two terms as Vice Dean, in early 2019 he resumed the position of chairholder and PI of Molecular and Industrial Biotechnology and was appointed Director of Education at the Leiden Institute of Biology. Currently, Han is Director ad interim of the newly launched Leiden Learning and Innovation Centre LLInC.

Publications