Nationality: Dutch
Undergraduate Institution: Wageningen University
Master Institution: Wageningen University
Graduate Institution: Wageningen University, Eindhoven University of Technology, NIZO
Email: Hent.schuurman@nizo.com
Phone: +31 6 5762 2344

Sub-group(s):

• Biological soft matter
• Polymer assembly

Biography:
During my BSc thesis I helped working on a project on atmospheric mass spectrometry on modified aluminium surfaces at the Organic Chemistry group. To obtain my MSc degree I joined Physical Chemistry and Soft Matter and worked in the group of prof.dr.ir Joris Sprakel on the development of ultra-weak force sensors. In this project we combined simulations, synthesised semi-conducting polymers and testing the force responsiveness of our polymers using single molecule fluorescence microscopy. This resulted in a grayscale force sensor capable of measuring forces down to 300 femtonewton. I did get the opportunity to continue to work on molecular force sensors with an internship at Duke University under supervision of prof. Stephen Craig. We used the same force sensors developed during my MSc thesis to study the effect of polymer conformation on their diffusion coefficient in viscous media using a single molecule tracking setup. Since June 2019 I started as a PhD student under supervision of dr. Hans Tromp at the NIZO in Ede on a collaboration project involving prof.dr.ir. Karin Schroën (Wageningen University, Food Process Engineering) and prof.dr. Ilja Voets (Eindhoven University).