Johan Pijnenborg

I obtained my bachelor and master’s degree in chemistry from the Radboud University Nijmegen. During my bachelor internship I learned about carbohydrate chemistry in the Boltje research group and I became immediately intrigued by this field of research. During my masters I worked for over a year on sialic acid derivatives, a carbohydrate that is abundantly present on the outer cell membrane with vital functions in both health and disease [1,2]. Then I expanded my knowledge and skills in glycobiology in the group of prof. Carolyn Bertozzi at Stanford University for 5 months where I worked on antibody-sialidase conjugates. In January 2018 I started my PhD in the Boltje research group. Here I am working on new chemical tools for the study and perturbation of carbohydrate processing enzymes. Using these tools I hope to expand our knowledge in the field of glycobiology while also developing new potential therapeutics in cancer.