dr. JJE (Jolien) van Hooff
Assistant ProfessorFollow me:
I am intrigued by eukaryotic cells' origins, complexity and diversity, particularly microbial eukaryotes. Eukaryotes share many intracellular features, but their cells and underlying regulatory systems also exhibit an enormous diversity. This complexity and diversity result from diverse mechanisms of molecular and genome evolution, which I aim to elucidate and explain. Such mechanisms include gene divergence, loss, duplication, and lateral gene transfer. My approach predominantly comprises tracing the evolution of proteins using bioinformatics. I am trained both in small-scale, tailored analysis of individual protein families as well as in large-scale comparative genomics and phylogenetics.
2023-current Mining the gap: Investigating the role of gene fusion and de novo genes during the prokaryote-to-eukaryote transition (NWO-Veni, Wageningen University & Research)
2020-2022 Tempo, targets and traits of lateral gene transfer in eukaryotes (Université Paris- Saclay, Postdoc advisor: Laura Eme)
2018-2019 Policy researcher at Court of Audit Rotterdam (non-academic job, Rekenkamer Rotterdam)
2013-2018 Origins and divergence of the eukaryotic kinetochore (PhD project, Utrecht University and KNAW-Hubrecht Institute, promotors: Berend Snel and Geert Kops)
2017 Timing of large-scale gene duplications during eukaryogenesis (EMBO Short-Term Fellowship during PhD, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona, host: Toni Gabaldón)