Profiling Dutch Biophysicists - Cees Dekker

Jointly with the NWO Physics of Life Research Community Program Officer Dr. Naomi Chrispijn-Steenbeck, we have been profiling biophysicists in the Dutch research community.

We start the joint series with Prof. Cees Dekker from the Technical University Delft (TUD), we hope you enjoy reading the profile!

Cees Dekker at a bluegrass festival playing guitar.

1. What is your job title?

Distinguished University Professor (Universiteitshoogleraar) at Delft University of Technology

2. What about your subject area?

Nanobiology and single-molecule biophysics

3. How did you get into science?

I am by nature very curious and interested in just about everything. I was that teenager boy who would ponder the big philosophical questions, puzzling about those in his attic room at night. Studying science was a great way to learn much more about the natural world, which is why I embarked on studying physics. That path led to more and more experimental physics and a PhD in solid-state physics (on spin glasses). At the end of my PhD, I had the luxury of various options to work in industry of academia. I chose the latter because of the wonderful opportunities to further explore the world.

4. Where else have you worked/studied?

I studied at Utrecht where I also did my PhD. Right after that I started an assistant professorship at the same University, working on quantum effects in semiconductors, but soon thereafter I spent 1.5 years on a sabbatical in IBM Yorktown Heights, just above New York City. Together with Bell Labs, this was one of the most vibrant scientific places at that time, and I worked here with leading scientists on superconductors. In 1993, I moved to TU Delft as an associate professor. Here I started entirely new research lines in molecular electronics. One of these lines, on carbon nanotubes, was hugely successful, as we became the first in the world to measure electrical conduction through a single molecule, and to even develop a single-molecule transistor from that. At the end of the 1990s this work had yielded a range of interesting discoveries, and I became full professor.
At the point in time, I was 40 years old and was thinking about next challenges. I decided that I didn't want to develop a longer-term research program in molecular electronics, but instead wanted to explore new fields. I had become intrigued by molecular motor proteins - peptide wires that fold themselves into a protein that can perform mechanical work (walk, rotate,..) by burning fuel molecules. And nanotechnology - with which I was already working - provided tools to measure on such individual proteins. So I quite radically changed my research to single-molecule biophysics, starting to read standard textbooks on molecular biology and changing the lab infrastructure from mK electronic devices in UHV to room-temperature scanning probe setups and lasers. Since then, I have greatly enjoyed working in biophysics, learning so many new things. Currently we develop nanopore technology to sequence single proteins, we discover the basic motors that shape our chromosomes, and we are making first steps to build synthetic cells from molecular components.

5. What are your hobbies/what do you do for fun?

I have a lot of energy and do a zillion things outside science as well. I spend time with friends and with my family, my wife, children and even grandchildren now. I am active in a church, as part of the leadership of a new church in Rotterdam (now with 700 members after 1.5 years), where I also play guitar and electric bass on Sundays. For all my life I have played music, mostly bluegrass music where I play contrabass, dobro, and guitar. I was part of various bands but nowadays mostly play this music at a number of festivals where you will see me playing music continuously in jam sessions. I also read a lot of books. Given that I am Christian and a scientist, people do wonder how I combine that (I actually feel that faith and science go together harmoniously), so I also wrote a number of books on that relationship (even a children book!), and occasionally get interviewed on that in newspapers.

6. Could you share some tips and tricks for someone thinking about pursuing a career in science in academia?

It’s a bit cliché but I’d like to say: follow your heart. There will always be more or less funding opportunities, but I would advise to not set your agenda based on that but to pursue in the first place what really excites you. A career in academia can be very fulfilling in many aspects - the joy of the intellectual challenges, the freedom of independently making your own choices, the international network, and the daily contacts with students which keeps you young (even if you yourself become 60+).

7. Who are your scientific role models?

I met (and meet) many inspiring people in the sciences. One of the most impressive scientists that I met was Rick Smalley, a chemist at Rice who I collaborated with on carbon nanotubes. What particularly impressed me was his critical questions and his sharp eye for what was the most important science to explore. A few years after we met, he won the Nobel Prize. In the Netherlands I like to mention Hans Mooij as a scientific role model. Quite on his own, in a modest place (the Technische Hogeschool Delft), he built a very original line of research (mesoscopic physics) that became the international top. And in doing so, he attracted and mentored young talent. What I learned from him was to think about the questions of tomorrow, or actually the day after tomorrow. Don't follow the trends but set and define a field if necessary.

8. What does your working area (desk, office) look like and what does it say about you?

Nice question. Here's a few thing I notice in my office: a colorful large book cabinet, plants in the windows, a central table with red chairs and a screen for all the zooms, a large white wall that is fully covered in scribbles, a desk (okay-ishly clean but with some paper piles here and there) with a large screen for those 100+ emails everyday. What does that say about me? Don’t know, but perhaps that I am quite organized but open to colors and surprises. And that much of my understanding comes from visualizing things in scribbles on a whiteboard during discussions with my lab members.