Rate My Professor Marthe Walvoort

Marthe T. C. Walvoort is Full Professor in Chemical Glycobiology at the Stratingh Institute for Chemistry within the Faculty of Science and Engineering at the University of Groningen. She earned her MSc degree in Chemistry from Leiden University, followed by a PhD degree cum laude in carbohydrate chemistry under the supervision of Professors Hermen Overkleeft and Gijs van der Marel at Leiden University. Following her doctorate, she undertook a research internship in the glycoscience group of Professor Ben Davis at the University of Oxford and served as a postdoctoral associate in the glycobiology laboratory of Professor Barbara Imperiali at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There, she led the development of phosphoglycosyltransferase inhibitors inspired by nucleoside antibiotics and contributed to efforts linking bacterial infections to multiple sclerosis biomarkers through N-linked glycoproteins. Walvoort joined the University of Groningen at the end of 2015 as an Assistant Professor and Rosalind Franklin Fellow, advancing to Associate Professor and subsequently to her current full professorship.

Her research focuses on the synthesis of complex oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates from human and bacterial origins, employing both chemical and biological approaches to understand structure-activity relationships of carbohydrates. Key efforts include investigating enzymes in bacterial glycan synthesis as antimicrobial targets, developing structure-based inhibitors against bacterial glycosyltransferases, producing human milk oligosaccharide mimics such as di-fucosyl-β-cyclodextrin with anti-adhesive properties against E. coli, and characterizing exopolysaccharides from probiotic bacteria like Bifidobacterium and Lactobacilli for gut health applications. Walvoort has received major awards including the ERC Starting Grant (2022, €1.5 million), NWO Vidi Grant (€850,000), KNAW Early Career Award (2021), NWO Athena Award (2021), and Gratama Prize (2018). Notable publications encompass 'Exopolysaccharides from Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis and Bifidobacterium adolescentis modulate Toll-like receptor signaling' (Carbohydrate Polymers, 2025), 'Synthesis and Evaluation of 3-Deoxy-D-manno-oct-2-ulosonic Acid Derivatives to Perturb Escherichia coli Lipopolysaccharide Biosynthesis' (JACS Au, 2025), and 'Processivity in Bacterial Glycosyltransferases' (2019). She holds roles as Rector Scholierenacademie, member of the Ammodo Science Fellowship selection committee for Biomedical Sciences, founder of the non-profit SlimSmullen, organizer of the Summer Course Glycoscience, and Dutch delegate to the European Carbohydrate Organization and EuChemS Glycoscience Division. Her scholarship has amassed over 2,900 citations.