prof. dr. Nico Sommerdijk

About Nico Sommerdijk

Nico Sommerdijk is professor of Bone Biochemistry at the Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences where he investigates the molecular mechanisms of bone formation in health and disease. His work is summarized in https://publons.com/researcher/4378049/nico-sommerdijk/

Sommerdijk obtained his PhD from Radboud University Nijmegen in 1995 after which he did postdoctoral work in the University of Kent and Radboud University. From 1999 to 2019 he worked at Eindhoven University of Technology where he pioneered the use of cryo-electron microscopy to study soft matter assembly and biomineralization mechanisms.

In August 2019 he moved to Radboud University Medical Center Nijmegen where he investigates bone biomineralization, in particular the mechanisms of collagen assembly and mineralization. There he co-founded (with Anat Akiva) the Radboud Electron Microscopy Center that supports the advanced electron microscopic analysis of biological materials. For his research Sommerdijk uses both 3D (cryo-)correlative electron microscopy, as wel as liquid phase electron microscopy.

Personal prizes & awards

• Academia Europaea Member, Austria (2020)
• ERC Advanced Grant: “A “Google Earth” Approach to Understanding Collagen Mineralization” (2018)
• NWO TOP-PUNT Grant: “Bio-Inspired Hybrids” (2016)
• Royal Society of Chemistry “Soft Matter and Biophysical Chemistry Award” (2015)
• NWO VICI Award: “Understanding Bio(mimetic) Mineralization” (2010)
• NWO VIDI Award: “Biomimetic Synthesis of CaCO3 Biomaterials” (2006)

Nico Sommerdijk

Nico Sommerdijk is Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences. His research interests are the (bio)chemistry and structure of collagen, in particular the mechanisms of assembly, crosslinking and mineralization, as well as the translation of this fundamental knowledge to novel therapies in biomedicine. Sommerdijk obtained his PhD (cum laude) from Radboud University Nijmegen in 1995, in the field of supramolecular chemistry under the supervision of Profs B. Zwanenburg and R. Nolte.

After postdoctoral work at the University of Kent (UK) and Radboud University, he moved to Eindhoven University of Technology to work on bioinspired hybrid materials, using biomineralization as a source of inspiration for materials chemistry. In Eindhoven he founded the Center of Multiscale Electron Microscopy where he pioneered the use of cryo-electron microscopy in materials science. In 2018 he obtained an ERC advanced grant entitled "A Google Earth Approach to Understanding Collagen Mineralization” to study biomineralization processes in “living in-vitro systems”.

In August 2019 he moved to Nijmegen where his group works on two interwoven research lines: i) The investigation of collagen mineralization in both physiological and pathological situations; ii) Nanomaterials for biomedical applications. In addition he established the Radboud Electron Microscopy Center that supports the advanced electron microscopic analysis of biological materials.