Research Groups
Wouter de Laat Group

Biomedical genomics

UMC Utrecht
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Our Focus

For many years, our research aimed to understand how gene expression is (mis-)regulated in health and disease. Hypothesizing that the structure of our DNA influences its function, we developed novel technologies to study genomefolding inside cells. Collectively, our work contributed to the now established concept that gene expression is regulated by the folding patterns of our genome, with DNA looping machineries active in our cells shaping our DNA to ensure that genes are expressed in the right cells and at the right levels. Recently however, driven by my desire to more actively bring science to the clinic, I changed research institutes and topics. As new head research of the UMCU Genetics Department. I am now setting up more translational research. One major aim hereby is to develop and bring non-invasive prenatal diagnosis to the clinic. We formed a large consortium with academic hospitals and industry to develop and implement enabling methodology for Non-Invasive Prenatal Diagnosis. Within 3-4 years, our method should be available to parents carrying severe genetic disease and opting for prenatal diagnosis, as the desired alternative to invasive options.

About Wouter de Laat

My Research

Wouter de Laat performed his PhD (1998) at the Erasmus University Rotterdam (Prof. Jan Hoeijmakers) where he investigated the molecular mechanism of nucleotide excision repair. He identified one of the nucleases and characterized the interplay between repair factors at the site of the lesion. As a postdoc, he joined the group of Prof. Frank Grosveld to work on beta-globin gene activation. In 2000 he received a career grant (VIDI) to work on long-range gene activation. His group used 3C technology, and later developed 4C technology, to demonstrate chromatin loops between genes and enhancers and to uncover the principles and functional importance of long-range DNA contacts within and between chromosomes.

In September 2008 de Laat moved his group to the Hubrecht Institute, where he continued his work on genome structure and function and further pioneered the development and application of 3C-based technologies in DNA diagnostics. In January 2009 he was appointed professor in Biomedical Genomics at the University Medical Center Utrecht. Wouter de Laat is founder of Cergentis, a biotech company now owned by Solvias, that provides services and kits for complete gene sequencing based on its proprietary Targeted Locus Amplification (TLA) Technology.

Awards

  • 2019: Prix Galien Excellence COVID-19 Award

  • 2012: VICI career grant

  • 2009: Elected EMBO member

  • 2008: ERC Starting Grant

  • 2000: VIDI career grant

Key Publications

  • 2025 | Characterization of induced cohesin loop extrusion trajectories in living cells | Ruiqi Han et al. | Nature Genetics | View publication

  • 2025 | Identification of a SNAI1 enhancer RNA that drives cancer cell plasticity | Chuannan Fan et al. | Nature Communications | View publication

  • 2025 | Long-range enhancer-controlled genes are hypersensitive to regulatory factor perturbations | Sjoerd J.D. Tjalsma et al. | Cell Genomics | View publication

  • 2025 | Reactivation of developmentally silenced globin genes through forced linear recruitment of remote enhancers | Anna-Karina Felder et al. | Blood | View publication

  • 2025 | Two unrelated distal genes activated by a shared enhancer benefit from localizing inside the same small topological domain | Yike Huang et al. | Genes & Development | View publication

  • 2022 | Building regulatory landscapes reveals that an enhancer can recruit cohesin to create contact domains, engage CTCF sites and activate distant genes | Niels J. Rinzema et al. | Nature Structural & Molecular Biology | View publication

  • 2021 | A public-private partnership model for COVID-19 diagnostics | Peter H.L. Krijger et al. | Nature Biotechnology | View publication

  • 2021 | Interplay between CTCF boundaries and a super enhancer controls cohesin extrusion trajectories and gene expression | Erica S.M. Vos et al. | Molecular Cell | View publication

  • 2021 | Robust detection of translocations in lymphoma FFPE samples using targeted locus capture-based sequencing | Amin Allahyar et al. | Nature Communications | View publication

  • 2018 | Enhancer hubs and loop collisions identified from single-allele topologies | Amin Allahyar et al. | Nature Genetics | View publication

Members

Wouter de Laat
Group leader		Marjon Verstegen    
Lab manager