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Jan Hoeijmakers

Principal Investigator
Jan Hoeijmakers
Jan Hoeijmakers
Prof.dr. Jan Hoeijmakers leads a research group which studies the nutritional effects on genomic stability.
Phone +31 (0)88 97 25266


Jan Hoeijmakers did his PhD (University of Amsterdam) on the very peculiar fishnet-like kinetoplast DNA of trypanosomes, which cause African sleeping sickness. In ‘spare’ time he discovered unexpected DNA rearrangements underlying antigenic variation which allows this parasite to evade immune destruction.

Subsequently he started the molecular analysis of DNA repair in mammals at the Dept. of Molecular Genetics (Erasmus University Rotterdam) in 1981. He cloned the first and subsequently many other human DNA repair genes, allowing elucidation of DNA repair mechanisms and resolving the basis of human repair syndromes, such as the cancer-prone disorder xeroderma pigmentosum and the severe neurodevelopmental conditions Cockayne syndrome and trichothiodystrophy. His team pioneered DNA repair dynamics in living cells exploring novel imaging technologies, generated numerous mouse repair mutants, discovered a strong connection between accumulation of DNA damage and (accelerated) aging and a trade-off between cancer and aging. Importantly, the mouse mutants appeared superior models for normal aging including Alzheimer’s disease addressing a tremendous unmet medical need. Accumulation of unrepaired DNA damage causing premature cell death and senescence also triggered an anti-aging ‘survival response’ which enhances maintenance at the expense of growth resembling the longevity response by dietary restriction. Remarkably, subjecting repair-deficient progeroid mice to actual dietary restriction tripled their lifespan and drastically retarded accelerated aging most impressively neurodegeneration by reducing DNA damage accumulation and transcriptional stress. DNA-damage-induced transcription stress was also discovered as a major cause of normal aging and provides an explanation for the molecular basis of all proteinopathies in ageing-related dementias. These findings have wide clinical implications for therapy of humans genome instability syndromes, dementia’s, treatment by chemo- and radiotherapy and ischemia-reperfusion injury associated with surgery and organ transplantation. For his work he received numerous awards and prizes including two advanced grants of the European Research Council.

  • Hybrid Molecular and Functional Micro-CT Imaging Reveals Increased Myocardial Apoptosis Preceding Cardiac Failure in Progeroid Ercc1 Mice

    • mrt. 2024
    • Bibi S, van Thiel, et al
    • Molecular Imaging and Biology
  • Fasting before living-kidney donation: effect on donor well-being and postoperative recovery: study protocol of a multicenter randomized controlled trial

    • dec. 2022
    • C A J, Oudmaijer, et al
    • Trials
  • A Sample Preparation Method for the Simultaneous Profiling of Signaling Lipids and Polar Metabolites in Small Quantities of Muscle Tissues from a Mouse Model for Sarcopenia

    • aug. 2022
    • Yupeng, He, et al
    • Metabolites
  • Different responses to DNA damage determine ageing differences between organs

    • apr. 2022
    • Maria, Vougioukalaki, et al
    • Aging cell
  • Photorepair of Either CPD or 6-4PP DNA Lesions in Basal Keratinocytes Attenuates Ultraviolet-Induced Skin Effects in Nucleotide Excision Repair Deficient Mice

    • mrt. 2022
    • Gustavo S., Kajitani, et al
    • Frontiers in Immunology
View all publications