The Comprehensive Collaborator

How did you get into analytical chemistry?

I’ve always been practically minded – I wanted to build things, even as a child. I initially wanted to study mechanical engineering at university but a few trial lectures left me uninspired so I switched to chemical engineering. I pictured myself in a hard hat, building huge chemical plants, but I found that the engineering side of things was frustratingly inexact, full of estimates and guesswork – chemistry was more satisfying. And with analytical chemistry I could fulfill my childhood desire to build things and solve practical problems.

Do you have an overarching goal?

Some samples contain more information than we can currently extract, while others offer up a huge amount of data but we are unable to interpret it. My goal is to build systems that allow us to generate more data, and develop methods that allow us to extract more information from the data. Comprehensive chromatography and hyphenated methods are the main avenues I’m using to achieve that.

What qualities make a good analytical scientist?

First and foremost, you must enjoy working with others. I enjoy solving the analytical problems faced by scientists working in different environments, whether in the laboratory, in hospitals, or out in the field. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship – they provide the impetus and the testing ground, and I provide the technical know-how. Good collaborators make sure that your work is recognized, but analytical scientists are seldom front and center, so you have to be happy working in the background.

You wear two hats – one in industry and another in academia. How do you find time?

I believe that both of my employers benefit from splitting my time. Problems that I cannot easily solve at Unilever often become longer-term projects at the University, so the two roles are complementary. Though there is a lot of overlap in subjects and topics, I am strict in splitting my time: Monday to Thursday at Unilever, and Friday at the university.

Do you find time for any interests outside of work?

As well as spending time with my family, I enjoy gardening and home improvements – building things in my shed. And, like most Dutch Catholics, I enjoy good beer and a celebration too!

Are you a practicing Catholic?

Somewhat. I often think that the natural world is so wonderful that there must have been a higher force involved. Just think of the human body – thousands upon thousands of researchers have spent lifetimes trying to unravel its mysteries and yet we still only grasp a small part of the complexity within ourselves. I agree with what Milton Lee said about science and religion both being, in a sense, a search for truth (1).

How different are the cultures of academia and industry?

Very different! In industry, the goal is to solve a problem – the focus is on reliability and delivering on time. In academia, you have much more freedom, and only one goal – to publish. The gap is most obvious when it comes to transferring new technology from the university to industry. Academics tend to consider a new tool or technique “ready” once they publish it. But these early versions are rarely reliable or efficient enough for use in industry.

How can we bridge the divide?

I don’t think we should try to make academia more like industry, or vice versa – or we would risk losing what makes them each so valuable. Instead, I think we need something “in between” to commercialize technology developed in academia. I’m not sure what that should look like, but it might involve small instrument companies or university spin-outs.

What has been your proudest career moment?

Being appointed professor at the University of Amsterdam was a proud moment, and made even better because so many of my colleagues at Unilever got in touch to congratulate me. It was great to hear how much my work is appreciated.

Any low points?

I once worked on a project for two years before realizing that what we hoped to achieve was simply not feasible. I concluded that my desire to make the project work had blinded me to the reality of the situation.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Have faith in yourself and celebrate your successes. But, equally, don’t assume that because you have solved difficult problems before, you can solve every problem. When designing experiments, do not try to confirm your hypothesis – instead, set out to design an experiment that will kill your idea.

What are the biggest challenges facing analytical science right now?

We are very good at finding out what molecules are present in a sample, but that isn’t always enough. We need to become much better at localizing compounds and exploring their behavior – the consequences of them being where they are. For example, a molecule bound to a protein may behave very differently to a free molecule. Exciting new techniques, such as imaging mass spectrometry, have a role to play here. But the goal also leads us to another challenge: very localized sampling, down to a cubic micron.