Lars Jeuken aims to understanding the mechanism of respiratory enzymes at the molecular level by developing novel biophysical tools. He also aims to exploit bacterial respiration using biohybrid approaches for solar fuel production.

More information about Lars Jeuken

Biography

Lars Jeuken was born in Utrecht where he studied biology. In 1995 he started his PhD project in bioinorganic chemistry at Leiden University under the supervision of Prof. Gerard Canters, studying the structure-function relationship of copper proteins, in particular the blue-copper protein Azurin.  For this he used a combination of functional characterisation, incl. bioelectrochemistry, and spectroscopic characterisation of mutant blue-copper proteins. 

After his PhD, Lars moved to the Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, University of Oxford, UK, in 1999, where he worked as a postdoc with Prof. Fraser Armstrong on the development of bioelectrochemistry and protein-film electrochemistry. Here, Lars developed novel electrochemical techniques to study the fundamental principles of biological electron transfer in metallo-proteins and -enzymes.

In 2002, Lars was awarded a BBSRC David Phillips fellowship, which, after a short Post Doc with Prof. Stephen Evans in Leeds, he took up at the School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Leeds. Using this fellowship and in collaboration of Profs. Stephen Evans and Richard Bushby, he developed lipid membrane modified electrode surfaces for the electrochemical characterisation of membrane-bound metalloproteins. After his fellowship ended in 2007, he took a position as Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Biology Sciences in Leeds, where he continued his research in bioelectrochemistry of membrane proteins and expanded his research in biohybrid systems. In biohybrid systems, light-harvesting nanoparticles are coupled to metalloenzymes with the ultimate aim to create solar fuel production.

In 2011, Lars became a Reader and received an ERC Consolidator Fellowship (2012-2016). In 2017 he became full Professor after which he moved to the Leiden Institute of Chemistry at Leiden University in 2021

Curriculum Vitae

Personal information

Nationality:   Dutch
Date of birth:   1 July 1972

Education

2001   PhD, Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, The Netherlands, 10 January 2001. Thesis title: “The role of the copper-coordinating and surface-exposed histidine in blue copper proteins”; Advisor: Prof. G.W. Canters
1995   Graduate in Biology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Current and previous research positions

2021 – now  Professor, Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Leiden University, The Netherlands
2021 – now  Visiting Professor, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
2019 Visiting Researcher, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
2017 – 2021  Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
2011 – 2017  Reader, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
2007 – 2011   Senior Lecturer, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
2002 – 2007   David Phillips Fellow (BBSRC), School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
2002  Post-doctoral research fellow, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom (prof. S.D. Evans)
1999 – 2002   Post-doctoral research fellow, Inorganic Chemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom (Prof. F.A. Armstrong)

Grants and recognition since 2012

2021    Leverhulme grant (Co-I)
2020   BBSRC Response Mode grant (£598k, Co-I)
2020   BBSRC Response Mode grant (£449k)
2019   BBSRC Response Mode grant (£345k)
2017    BBSRC Travel grant to visit University of Otago, New Zealand
2017   Molecular Foundry, Berkeley, visiting grant
2017   BBSRC Instrument grant (ALERT, £110k)
2017   Edited a book for Springer: Biophotoelectrochemistry: From Bioelectrochemistry to Biophotovoltaics Series: Advances in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology
2016   MRC MICA grant (£3.12M, Co-I)
2015   Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
2014   BBSRC Response Mode grant (£ 334k)
2013   BBSRC Response Mode grant (£301k)
2012   ERC Started grant (Consolidator; € 1.65M)

Responsibilities since 2012

• (2023-) FWN Faculty Council Member
• (2023) Organiser of the 2nd Kroese-Duijsters Symposium: Reaction mechanisms in heterogeneous, inorganic and biological electro(photo)catalysis
• (2019-2020) Organiser of the 2nd and 3rd Workshop of Membrane Proteins, a training event by the Biochemical Society (2019, Leeds; 2020, Birmingham, UK). Event in 2020 has been delayed to 2021
• (2018-2021)  ‘Academic Lead’ of the £32M refurbishment programme of estates from the Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds. 
• (2019) Scientific Organiser of the 85th Harden Conference: Dynamic Membrane Complexes: Respiration and Transport, Bonn, Germany
• (2018) Scientific Organiser of the symposium 4 “Biophotoelectrochemistry” of the 69th Annual Conference of the International Society of Electrochemistry, Bologna, Italy
• (2017) Organiser of the workshop “Biological Interfaces - Interfacing with Biology”, Leeds, United Kingdom 
• (2017) Scientific Organiser of the Division 2 (Bioelectrochemistry) symposium of the 68th Annual Conference of the International Society of Electrochemistry, Providence, USA
• (2016-2019) Management board member of the BBSRC’s Network in Biotechnology and Bioenergy (NIBB), CMBNet 
• (2015) Scientific Committee of the Lorenz Workshop, Proteins and Beyond, 12-16 October 2015, Leiden, the Netherlands
• (2014-2020) Member of the ‘pool of experts’ of the BBSRC, Committee D 
• (2012-2017) Visiting (external) examiner for the MSc in Biological Sciences Research, Royal Holloway, University of London
• (2012-2017) Member of the Blended Learning Committee, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Leeds
• (2012-2021) Committee member of the “Inorganic Biochemistry Discussion Group” (www.ibdg.org.uk), an interest group of the Royal Society of Chemistry

Publication record including seven recent representative publications

>100 papers with >3600 citations, H-index: 34 (Web of Science)

Full publication record: ResearcherID, Google Scholar

Publications