Our groups
Bas van Steensel Group

Genome Biology and Gene Regulation

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Our Focus

Correct gene expression is essential for the functioning of all our cells, and defective gene regulation is a key cause of cancer. Throughout the genome, gene activity is controlled by hundreds of transcription factors that bind and ‘read’ tens of thousands of short DNA sequences scattered between the genes, and thereby tune the activity of genes. In addition, the packaging and folding of DNA are of key importance. To unravel this enormous complexity, we develop new technologies that allow us to measure and manipulate the genome at very large scale. We then build computational models that help us to interpret the results. Among others, we develop new tools to (i) probe the activities of many transcription factors in parallel; (ii) systematically alter the position of regulatory elements relative to their genes and to each other; (iii) measure the transcriptional activity of millions of DNA fragments. Based on these large datasets we construct computational models that reveal underlying molecular mechanisms. We also apply this knowledge to understand how non-coding mutations in cancer genomes affect gene regulation. These approaches provide fundamental insights into the biology of our genome and help to understand how it can go awry in cancer.   

About Bas van Steensel

My Research

Bas van Steensel received his PhD in 1995 from the University of Amsterdam, where he studied the role of nuclear organization in steroid receptor function. As a postdoc he studied human telomere-binding proteins in the lab of Titia de Lange (the Rockefeller University) and he developed a technique for mapping of protein-DNA interactions in the lab of Steven Henikoff (FHCRC, Seattle). He set up his own lab at the University of Amsterdam in 2001, and moved to the Netherlands Cancer Institute in 2002. Since 2010 he is also adjunct Professor in Chromosome Biology at Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam.

Awards

  • 2022: ERC Advanced Grant

  • 2016: ERC Advanced Grant

  • 2011: ERC Advanced Grant

  • 2008: EMBO Membership

  • 2004: European Young Investigator (EURYI) Award

  • 2001: EMBO Young Investigator Programme

  • 2000: Annual Award, Netherlands Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

  • 2000: Researcher of the Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW)

  • 1995: Human Frontier Science Program Long-Term Fellowship

Key Publications

  1. Akhtar, W., de Jong, J., Pindyurin, A. V., Pagie, L., Meuleman, W., de Ridder, J., ... & van Steensel, B. (2013). Chromatin position effects assayed by thousands of reporters integrated in parallel. Cell, 154(4), 914-927.

  2. Kind, J., Pagie, L., de Vries, S. S., Nahidiazar, L., Dey, S. S., Bienko, M., ... & Fudenberg, G. (2015). Genome-wide maps of nuclear lamina interactions in single human cells. Cell, 163(1), 134-147.

  3. van Arensbergen J, Pagie L, FitzPatrick VD, de Haas M, Baltissen MP, Comoglio F, van der Weide RH, Teunissen H, Võsa U, Franke L, de Wit E, Vermeulen M, Bussemaker HJ, van Steensel B. (2019). High-throughput identification of human SNPs affecting regulatory element activity. Nat Genet. 51:1160-1169.

  4. Leemans C, van der Zwalm MCH, Brueckner L, Comoglio F, van Schaik T, Pagie L, van Arensbergen J, van Steensel B. (2019). Promoter-intrinsic and local chromatin features determine gene repression in LADs. Cell 177:852-864.

  5. Martinez-Ara M, Comoglio F, van Arensbergen J, van Steensel B. (2022). Systematic analysis of intrinsic enhancer-promoter compatibility in the mouse genome. Mol Cell. 82:2519-2531

Members

Bas van Steensel
Division Head, Division Gene Regulation		Acadia Kocher    
Postdoc		Christine Moene    
PhD student
Daniel Goodall    
Postdoc		Hatice Yucel    
Technical staff		Marcel de Haas    
Technician
Martijn Verkuilen    
Phd student		Mathias Eder    
PhD Student		Max Trauernicht    
PhD Student
Noud Klaassen    
PhD student		Óscar García Blay    
PhD student		Pia Mach    
Postdoc
Vinicius Franceschini dos Santos    
Bioinformatician		Xabier Vergara Ucin    
PhD student