Professor Nynke Dekker has been appointed to the Professorship of Biophysics in the Department of Physics with effect from 1 January 2024. Professor Dekker joins the University of Oxford from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands where she was Professor of Molecular Biophysics. She graduated with a BSc cum Laude from Yale (with majors in both physics and in applied mathematics), an MSc cum laude in physics from Leiden University, and a PhD in physics from Harvard University. This was followed by a postdoctoral period at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris in which she transitioned into biological physics before becoming faculty at TU Delft in 2002.
Professor Dekker’s research focuses on fundamental biological topics such as transcription, replication, and topology that also have a strong link to biomedical research. In order to understand these critical biological processes, she quantitatively probes the dynamics of single molecules of DNA, enzymes, and molecular motors, thus generating a precise and mechanistic biophysical perspective. Her research at the single-molecule level also extends to the context of live bacterial cells, allowing her to quantitatively compare the behaviour of individual biological molecules both in vitro and in vivo.
More recently, Professor Dekker has concentrated her research efforts in the study of the dynamics of the complete eukaryotic replication fork at the single-molecule level. Her group has been able to purify all the proteins involved in DNA replication in yeast and studies the dynamic composition and motion of the yeast replisome using high-end single-molecule equipment. Understanding the mechanisms that underlie eukaryotic replication provides a key that will link to our understanding of disease development such as genetic disorders and cancer. Alongside, her group also maintains an interest in RNA replication which underpins the growth and proliferation of many different types of viruses.
Professor Dekker’s laboratory has played a major role in technique development in the field of single molecules and it is her ability to develop novel and insightful methodological advances that makes it possible for her to discover the kinetic details of enzymatic activity at the single-molecule level. Coupled with cutting-edge biological knowledge, this provides her with key technology to allow her to explore the biomedically relevant field of eukaryotic DNA replication.
Professor Dekker will be a fellow of St Peter’s College and as Professor of Biophysics, her laboratory will be housed in the Kavli Institute for Nanoscience Discovery, in the Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Building.
Professor Dekker comments: ‘I am delighted to be joining both the Department of Physics and the Kavli Institute for NanoScience Discovery where I expect that our integrated biophysical and biochemical approach to the study of DNA and RNA replication will find a great collaborative environment in which to flourish.’
‘We are thrilled to welcome Professor Nynke Dekker to Oxford,’ comments Professor Ian Shipsey FRS, Head of the Department of Physics. ‘Biophysics is a critical area of research for our Department, for the University and for society and Professor Dekker’s work is leading the way.’