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, where he performed two research proteins in membrane transport and protein NMR. 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 Inorganic Chemistry, 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 then Professor in 2017. In 2021, he moved to the Leiden Institute of Chemistry at Leiden University.

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)

Contribution to teaching and supervision

• Courses for MSc and BSc programmes (Biochemistry, Biological Sciences and Biomedical Sciences) for the University of Leeds

Supervision of 8 PhD students co-supervisor of 6 PhD students since 2011.
Main supervisor of 7 Post Doctoral researchers and 2 Technicians since 2012.

Other responsibilities since 2012

• (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) Organisor 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

95 papers with >3000 citations, H-index 31 (Web of Science)

Full publication record: ResearcherID, Google Scholar

Full publication record: Leiden University

• Nakatani, Y., Shimaki, Y., Dutta, D., Muench, S., Ireton, K., Cook, G.M., Jeuken L.J.C. (2020) Unprecedented mode of action of phenothiazines as ionophores unravelled by an NDH-2 bioelectrochemical assay platform, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 142, 1311-1320. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.9b10254
• Adamson, H., Ajayi, M.O. Campbell, E., Brachi, E., Tiede, C., Tang, A.A.,  Adams, T.L., Ford, R., Davidson, A., Johnson, M., McPherson, M.J., Tomlinson, D.C., Jeuken L.J.C. (2019) Affimer−Enzyme−Inhibitor Switch Sensor for Rapid Wash-free Assays of Multimeric Proteins, ACS Sensors, 4, 3014-3022. DOI: 10.1021/acssensors.9b01574
• Stikane, A., Hwang, E.T., Ainsworth, E.V., Piper, S., Critchley, K., Butt, J.N., Reisner, E., Jeuken, L.J.C., (2019) Towards compartmentalized photocatalysis: Multiheme proteins as transmembrane molecular electron conduits, Faraday Discussions, 215, 26-38. DOI: 10.1039/C8FD00163D
• Oram, J., Jeuken, L.J.C. (2019) Tactic response of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 towards insoluble electron acceptors, mBio, 10, e02490-18. DOI: 10.1128/mBio.02490-18
• Laftsoglou, T., Jeuken, L.J.C. (2017) Supramolecular electrode assemblies for bioelectrochemistry, ChemComm, 53, 3801-3809 DOI: 10.1039/c7cc01154g
• Reuillard,B., Ly, K.H., Hildebrandt, P., Jeuken, L.J.C., Butt, J.N., Reisner, E. (2017) High Performance Reduction of H2O2 with an Electron Transport Decaheme Cytochrome on a Porous ITO Electrode. J. Am. Chem. Soc., 139, 3324-3327 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.6b12437
• Heath, G.R., Li, M., Rong, H., Radu, V., Frielingsdorf, S., Lenz, O., Butt, J.N., Jeuken, L.J.C. (2017) Multilayered lipid membrane stacks for biocatalysis using membrane enzymes. Adv. Funct. Mat., 27, Art. No. 1606265 DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201606265

Oral Presentations since 2016

• (June 2022) ESEAC 2020, 18th International Conference on Electroanalysis Vilnius, Lithuania (Invited) Delayed from 2020
• (April 2021) Biophotoelectrochemical Systems: Solar Energy Conversion and Fundamental Investigations, Cambridge, UK (Invited) Delayed from 2020
• (November 2019) Surface Modification for Chemical and Biochemical Sensing, Żelechów, Poland (Invited)
• (November 2018) MRS Fall meeting, Boston, USA (Invited)
• (September 2018) 69th Annual Meeting of the ISE International Society of Electrochemistry, Bologna, Italy
• (August 2018) EUROBIC14, Birmingham, United Kingdom (Invited)
• (August 2018) SMOBE-2018, Antwerp, Belgium (Tutorial lecture)
• (September 2017) 2017 Workshop on “Redox Films for Energy Conversion – bioelectrochemical and molecular systems”, Marseille, France (Invited)
• (August 2017) 68th Annual Meeting of the ISE International Society of Electrochemistry, Providence, USA 
• (October 2017) 2nd Gerischer-Kolb Symposium, Castle Reisensburg (near Ulm), Germany (Invited)
• (July 2017) XXIV International Symposium of Bioelectrochemistry and Bioenergetics, Lyon, France (Keynote)
• (June 2017) Gordon Conference Bioenergetics 2017, Proctor Academy, Andover, USA (Invited)
• (August 2016) 67th Annual Meeting of the ISE International Society of Electrochemistry, Den Haag, the Netherlands (Invited)
• (August 2016) Biohybrid Solar cells (Satellite meeting of “17th international congress on photosynthesis research”) (Keynote)
• (July 2016) 11th Hydrogenase conference, Marseille, France
• (March 2016) Dalton 2016 (RSC) Joint Interest Groups Meeting of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Warwick, United Kingdom
• (March 2016) 3rd Analytical Biosciences Early Career Researcher Meeting (Plenary)

Publications