Department Head, Department of Cell Biology,
Judith Klumperman is the Head of the Department of Cell Biology and Chair of the Cell Screening and Microscopy Cores at University Medical Center Utrecht. Judith is an expert in electron microscopy (EM) and the application of advanced microscopy methods to basic and applied research projects. Her lab is renowned for high-end immuno EM studies and development of correlative light – EM (CLEM) methods to bridge the gap between light/live cell imaging and EM.
The ultimate aim of Dr. Klumperman's research is to manipulate the major digestive system of the cell – the autophagy-lysosomal (AL) pathway - in disorders with disturbed AL functioning, such as metastasizing cancer cells, neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. Alzheimer disease, Parkinson’s disease) and lysosomal storage disorders.
Judith Klumperman completed her PhD studies in the Laboratory for Electron Microscopy, Medical Faculty, University of Leiden (Prof. W.Th. Daems) and the Department for Biochemistry, University of Amsterdam (Prof. J.M. Tager) in a collaborative project with the Biocenter in Basel, Switzerland (Prof. H.P. Hauri). Her postdoctoral work was at the Department of Cell Biology, Center for Electron Microscopy, Medical Faculty, University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht (Prof. J.J. Geuze), where she worked on the ‘Cellular transport mechanisms of lysosomal enzymes’, in collaboration with the Department of Biochemistry in Göttingen, Germany (Prof. K. von Figura). In 1992, she became a tenured assistant professor at the Department of Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology, Faculty Biology, Free University, Amsterdam. In 1999, she returned to the Department of Cell Biology, UMC Utrecht, where in 2001 she became full professor of Cell Biology and in 2007 Head of the Department.
