Rate My Professor Patrick van der Wel

Prof. dr. P.C.A. (Patrick) van der Wel is Associate Professor of Solid State NMR Spectroscopy at the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials in the Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen, a position he has held since 2018. He earned a B.Sc./M.Sc. in Chemistry from Utrecht University in 1996 and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, in 2002. Following his doctorate, van der Wel conducted postdoctoral research from 2003 to 2008 as a Postdoctoral Associate at the Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, under Prof. Robert G. Griffin. He then joined the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine's Department of Structural Biology, advancing from Assistant Professor (2008-2016) to tenured Associate Professor (2016-2018).

Van der Wel's research centers on the development and application of solid-state NMR spectroscopy to investigate molecular structure and dynamics in proteins and materials, with a focus on disease-related protein aggregation such as in Huntington's disease, where he studies huntingtin exon 1 fibril polymorphism and supramolecular structures, and mechanisms of programmed cell death involving cytochrome c-cardiolipin interactions. His projects also encompass biophysical analysis of biomaterials like cellulose nanocrystals and tertiary cellulose from wastewater. Notable publications include 'Fibril polymorphism affects immobilized non-amyloid flanking domains of huntingtin exon 1 rather than its polyglutamine core' (Nature Communications, 2017), 'Protofilament Structure and Supramolecular Polymorphism of Aggregated Mutant Huntingtin Exon 1' (Journal of Molecular Biology, 2020), 'Surface-Binding to Cardiolipin Nanodomains Triggers Cytochrome c Pro-apoptotic Peroxidase Activity via Localized Dynamics' (Structure, 2019), 'Cataract-associated P23T γD-crystallin retains a native-like fold in amorphous-looking aggregates formed at physiological pH' (Nature Communications, 2017), and 'Structural Changes and Proapoptotic Peroxidase Activity of Cardiolipin-Bound Mitochondrial Cytochrome c' (Biophysical Journal, 2015). He received the 2013 Eastern Analytical Symposium New Faculty Award in NMR Spectroscopy.