As of September 2013 Professor Vinod Subramaniam will fulfil the role of Scientific Director of the prestigious FOM Institute AMOLF.
Since 1 May 2012 Subramaniam has been the Scientific Director of the MIRA Institute for Biomedical Technology and Technical Medicine. He combined this with his professorship of the Nanobiophysics Group, which is connected to both MIRA and the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology. Professor Subramaniam will remain associated with the University of Twente as a professor alongside his post at AMOLF.
FOM Institute AMOLF conducts fundamental research on matter in the areas of nanophotonics and biophysics. AMOLF plays a leading role in the initiation and development of new research areas with a great potential for technological innovations. FOM Director, Wim van Saarloos, is thrilled with the arrival of Subramaniam: “He is able to connect AMOLF’s two lines of research, nanophotonics and biophysics. Moreover he has experience with public-private partnerships. A promising combination!”
The Executive Board of the University of Twente wholeheartedly supports Vinod Subramaniam’s appointment. Rector magnificus, Ed Brinksma: “AMOLF is a prominent institute and it is fantastic that he has been asked for this position.”
The Executive Board is currently in discussion with Subramaniam on a new scientific director for MIRA and will soon start the procedure for an Appointments Committee.
Professor Subramaniam (1967) is specialized in macromolecular biophysics and nanoscale functional imaging. With the aid of optical and other techniques he studies the molecular biophysics of protein interactions at the single molecule level. One of his main research interests concerns understanding the misfolding and aggregation of proteins, and in particular the human alpha-synuclein protein, which potentially plays an important role in the development of Parkinson’s Disease.
Subramaniam studied Electrical Engineering at Cornell University and in 1996 he received his PhD in Applied Physics at the University of Michigan (USA). He then worked, among other places, at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, Germany. In 2004 he was appointed professor of the Department of BioPhysical Engineering at the University of Twente and later of the Department of Nanobiophysics. Subramaniam is also an endowed professor in Nanoscale Imaging at the Radboud University Nijmegen and a senior fellow and guest professor at the Zukunftskolleg of the University of Konstanz in Germany.
Contact information for the press: Bertyl Lankhaar, spokesperson for the Executive Board of the University of Twente, T +31 (0)53 489 2210
Contact at FOM Foundation: Gabby Zegers, T +31 (0)30 600 12 22
Contact at FOM Institute AMOLF: Erny Lammers, T +31 (0)20 754 74 08
