Theoretical Biology, Experimental Biophysics, Biological Complexity, Applied Mathematics, Ecology. My research has a very strong multidisciplinary nature and mixes the areas mentioned above, but in general is focused on physics of biocomplexity

Current Students

2010— Fabai Wu, who is pursuing a Ph.D. from Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands. Fabai studies the biophysics of cell protein networks which are responsible for regulating cell shape. (co-advisor together with Cees Dekker)

2014— Vanessa Weinberger, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in Ecology at PUC, Chile. Vanessa studies relationships between urban, biological and social complexity (co-tutor, main adviser Pablo Marquet)

Past Doctoral Students

2014 Felix Hol, Ph.D. thesis “Bacterial societies: cooperation, colonization & competition in micro-scale ecosystems”. Now Postdoc with Cees Dekker at the TU Delft

Past Master Students

2012 Peter Schoustra, M.Sc. thesis “Models of migration and settlement of E.coli on micro fabricated landscapes”. Now working at Bluerise B.V.

2012 Bas van Schie, M.Sc. thesis “Dependence of Min protein oscillatory behavior on geometry in defined novel E. coli cell morphologies” Now working at Proficium B.V.

2012 Rutger Woolthuis, M.Sc. thesis “Cooperation and competition in a contact prisoner’s dilemma” Now a graduate student under Rob de Boer in the Ph.D. program at Universiteit Utretcht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

2011 Mathias Vogel, M.Sc. thesis “Biodiversity in a colicin-mediated community in micron scale habitats” Now a graduate student in the bioengineering Ph.D. program at Stanford University, California, USA

2011 Simon van Vliet, M.Sc. thesis “Microbial population dynamics in spatially-structured environments” Now a graduate student under Martin Ackerman in the Systems Biology Ph.D. program at ETH, Zurich, Switzerland

2010 Fabai Wu, M.Sc. thesis “Cell division, mechanical interaction and antibiotic susceptibility of E. coli in sub-micron constrictions” Now a graduate student under Juan Keymer and Cees Dekker in the Bionanoscience Ph.D. program at the Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

2010 Farzad Sekhavati, M.Sc. thesis “E. coli properties under pressure in a micro channel” Now a graduate student under Joachim Radler in the Ph.D. program in the Center for Nanoscience at Ludwig-Maximilians Universitat (LMU), München, Germany

2009 Rosalie Driessen, M.Sc. thesis “Single cell manipulation and characterization of E. coli on microfabricated silicon chips” Now a postdoc under Remus Dame in the Ph.D. program in the Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Universiteit Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands

Past Bachelor students

Advised eight undergraduate students who completed their Bachelor degree by conducting a research project at the Keymer lab. For a complete list of these students and their thesis projects please see: http://keymerlab.nl/www/?page_id=96

Past Postdocs

2009-2011 Peter Galajda, now a PI at the Biological Research Centre (BRC), Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged, Hungary

2009-2011 Jaan Mannik, now a PI at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Tennessee, USA

Other Past Graduate student mentorship

2012 Kevin Lhoste, Ph.D. École Normale Supérieure (ENS), Paris. Ph.D Thesis “Development of PVDF micro and nano structures for cell culture studies” Main advisor Yon Chen. Member of the dissertation committee in 2012 and the thesis advisory committee between 2009 and 2012. Today a postdoc working with François Taddei at the Centre de Recherche Interdisciplinaire (CRI) in Paris, France