Overview
After completing his B.Sc. and M.Sc. at the Agricultural University Wageningen (Netherlands), van Wijk obtained a PhD at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands). This was then followed by postdocs at the Dept. of Biochemistry, Stockholm University, Sweden and at the Carnegie Institute at Stanford University (CA). He then became assistant professor in 1997 at the Dept. of Biochemistry, Stockholm University and moved his lab in 2001 to Cornell University. In 2005 he was promoted to tenured associate professor level. In 2007 he became DGS for the Field of Plant Biology
Research Focus
Plastids are essential organelles of prokaryotic origin present in nearly every plant cell containing an estimated 3000-4000 different proteins. Chloroplasts are the best known green plastids and carry out photosynthesis and also synthesize various primary and secondary metabolites. The van Wijk lab is focused on i) bundle sheath and mesophyll cell specific differentiation of chloroplasts in leaves of the C4 plant maize, and ii) in chloroplast biogenesis and protein homeostasis in Arabidopsis thaliana, with a particular focus on the Clp protease machinery. We use a multi-disciplinary approach, with emphasis on large scale comparative proteomics and mass spectrometry, bioinformatics and reverse genetics. Protein identifications with associated information are uploaded into the Plant Proteome Data Base (http://ppdb.tc.cornell.edu/), building a foundation for systems biology of the Arabidopsis and maize proteomes. Our proteomics and mass spectrometry infrastructure and expertise are also used in collaborations with colleagues at Cornell University and elsewhere.