Gerry Nicolaes

Associate professor

Dr Gerry Nicolaes received a Masters’ degree in Chemistry from the Utrecht University with majors in clinical chemistry, biochemistry and protein engineering and enzymology. He obtained a PhD from the Maastricht University on the regulation of thrombin formation in normal and hypercoagulable plasma (with Prof. H.C. Hemker) and later spent several years at the laboratory of Prof. B. Dahlbäck at the Lund University (Sweden), focussing on the use of molecular biological technologies in blood coagulation research.

Dr Nicolaes received a Vidi grant by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) to establish a research line that uses structural bioinformatics to rationally approach the structure-function study of proteins involved in coagulation and inflammation. In addition to protein structure-function research, since more than 10 years, in silico drug design and optimisation of biologically active molecules (small molecules, peptides or engineered proteins) for use in therapy or diagnosis has become one of the major research focusses. This research meanwhile includes also the use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

His research interests are within the fields of thrombosis and haemostasis, and in particular on the overlap with the fields of inflammation and atherosclerosis. In this respect, extracellular histones, neutrophil extracellular traps, protein citrullination, the innate immune system and their roles in systemic inflammatory disease and sepsis have evolved into the major research focus.

He is the president of the Netherlands Society on Biomolecular Modelling. He is co-founder of a UM spin-off active in the field of in silico discovery and design called Hillmark B.V. He is coordinator of an EU granted doctoral network focusing on novel diagnostics and therapeutics in the systemic inflammation and sepsis field. He is (co)-author of over 140 peer-reviewed papers, and has supervised a total of 22 PhD candidates, 17 of whom have finished their PhD and 5 are ongoing. He is co-inventor of several granted patents one of which has reached clinical stage.