Marileen Dogterom, Professor of Bionanoscience at TU Delft has been President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science since 1 June 2022. She combines the presidency with her scientific work.

Marileen Dogterom is an internationally acclaimed researcher. She headed the Bionanoscience Department of the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience in Delft for a considerable period. She is one of the pioneers in the field of biomolecular and cellular physics. Her research focuses on the cytoskeleton: the microtubules that give living cells their shape and mechanical function, and that enable cells to divide successfully. Dogterom builds parts of cells in the controlled environment of her laboratory, giving her a quantitative understanding of the workings of the cytoskeleton. Her research is crucial to the development of artificial cells. Dogterom leads a national consortium BaSyC (“Building a Synthetic Cell”) as one of the means of attempting to understand the processes of life by building an artificial cell. Her work has been recognised by an ERC Synergy Grant, one of the largest European research grants, and the Spinoza Prize in 2018.

Marileen Dogterom has a warm heart for scientists of all generations and backgrounds and a good eye for the preconditions needed for the next generation of scientists to be successful. In addition to ensuring that Dutch science remains future-proof, she plans to work on more direct ways of channelling the expertise of scientists from all disciplines towards policy on major themes such as climate and health.