Ronald Plasterk
Ronald Plasterk | |
---|---|
Minister of Education, Culture and Science | |
In office 22 February 2007 – 23 February 2010 | |
Prime Minister | Jan Peter Balkenende |
Preceded by | Maria van der Hoeven |
Succeeded by | André Rouvoet |
Personal details | |
Born | Ronald Hans Anton Plasterk 12 April 1957 The Hague, Netherlands |
Political party | Labour Party |
Spouse |
Els Beumer (m. 1990) |
Children | 2 |
Education | Leiden University (MSc, PhD) University of Amsterdam (P) |
Ronald Hans Anton Plasterk (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈroːnɑlt ˈɦɑns ˈɑntɔm ˈplɑstɛr(ə)k]; born 12 April 1957) is a Dutch scientist, entrepreneur and retired politician of the Labour Party (PvdA). He has earned a PhD degree in biology, specialised in molecular genetics. Being a former Minister in the Cabinet of the Netherlands, he has been the founder and CEO of Frame Cancer Therapeutics since December 2018. Next to his work at Frame, he has been appointed as professor at the University of Amsterdam since September 2018.
Biography
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (April 2020) |
Plasterk attended a
Plasterk worked as a
Plasterk worked as a researcher at Netherlands Cancer Institute from November 1987 until February 2000 and served as director of the Oncology department of the Netherlands Cancer Institute from July 1989 until February 2000. Plasterk worked as a professor of molecular biology at the Free University Amsterdam from January 1993 until February 1997 and as a professor of molecular genetics at the University of Amsterdam from February 1997 until February 2000.
Plasterk worked as director of the
He became active in the public sector and occupied numerous seats as a nonprofit director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards (Wellcome Trust, European Molecular Biology Organization, European Centre for Nature Conservation and the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences) served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government (Health Council) and as a political pundit and columnist for Intermediair, Volkskrant and Buitenhof.
After the
The Cabinet Balkenende IV fell on 20 February 2010 after tensions in the coalition over the extension of the Dutch involvement in the
After the Leader of the Labour Party and Parliamentary leader of the Labour Party in the House of Representatives Job Cohen announced that he was stepping down as Leader and Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives following increasing criticism on his leadership, Plasterk announced his candidacy to succeed him. Plasterk lost the leadership election to fellow frontbencher Diederik Samsom on 16 March 2012.
Following the
Plasterk retired from national politics and became active in the private sector and public sector. Following his position as minister, Plasterk joined the company myTomorrows as chief scientific officer in December 2017. He left myTomorrows in December 2018 and founded the startup company Frame Cancer Therapeutics. of which he is also the CEO. Frame Cancer Therapeutics is a pharmaceutical company that is dedicated to the development of novel cancer immunotherapies. Besides this, Plasterk has also been appointed as professor at the University of Amsterdam in September 2018.[3] Plasterk is also a prolific author, having written more than a dozen books and articles since 1990 about molecular biology, molecular genetics, education and atheism.[4]
In November 2023, Plasterk was appointed scout during the
Career
Education and science
Plasterk attended highschool at the
Between 1985 and 1986, he worked as a
In 1987 he returned to the Netherlands where he became group leader and member of the board of the
Since 2001 Plasterk has been a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Plasterk's research was in the area of
Columnist
Plasterk started as a columnist in the In 2000 several of his columns were bundled in the book Leven uit het Lab ("Life from the Lab")
Plasterk wrote on a wide range of subjects: he is an outspoken
In his columns in de Volkskrant and Buitenhof, he also fiercely opposed the proposal of
Furthermore, in the referendum on the European constitution, he positioned himself as an outspoken critic of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.[22] He opposed the constitution because he considered that it did not clearly codify the responsibilities of the European Union. He also felt that it laid too much emphasis on the free market.
Politics
Plasterk was a member of the
In 2006 he was member of the committee which wrote the
On 22 February 2007, he was appointed minister of Education, Culture and Science in the fourth Balkenende cabinet for the Labour Party.[12] Because of this appointment Plasterk has ended his scientific career, because he considers it is impossible to leave research for several years and then hope to reintegrate.[4] Wouter Bos, leader of the Labour Party, sees Plasterk as a social and cultural libertarian, who balances out the social and cultural conservativism of the Labour Party's coalition partners Christian Democratic Appeal and the Christian Union.[20]
As minister Plasterk was responsible for
A key issue during Plasterk's period as minister was the salary of teachers. When there was no room in the national budget to increase the salaries of teachers as advised by a committee led by Alexander Rinnooy Kan, Plasterk was forced to find money from within the budget of his own ministry. Kan made his advice public just days after the Miljoenennota (the national budget) was published. One of the solutions Plasterk considered was cutting the allowance for students and raising the fees for universities.[24] Plasterk was strongly criticized by the students unions for his proposals and by his coalition partners CDA and CU and the leftwing opposition parties SP and GroenLinks. In the end he and Wouter Bos, the minister of Finance, were able to find sufficient money for a marked increase in the salaries of teachers. Under the pressure of strikes by teachers,[25] Plasterk came to a deal with the teachers´ union in April 2008.[26]
He resigned on the morning of 20 February 2010, when all PvdA ministers withdrew from the fourth Balkenende cabinet. The Queen accepted the resignations on 23 February 2010. In the House of Representatives he focused on matters of finance.
After politics
Following his position as minister, on December 1, 2017 Plasterk joined myTomorrows as Chief Scientific Officer, a company that mediates between patients, doctors, governments and pharmaceutical companies on faster availability of new medications.[27] He left myTomorrows in December 2018 and founded the startup company Frame Cancer Therapeutics of which he is also the CEO. Frame Cancer Therapeutics is a pharmaceutical company that is dedicated to the development of novel cancer immunotherapies. Since September 2018, Plasterk has been appointed as a professor at the University of Amsterdam.
Personal life
Plasterk is married and has two children. He lives in
In the summer of 2008 he appeared in Zomergasten, an evening long in-depth television interview of the VPRO.
Awards
- 1999: Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research[30]
- 2002: Award for Communication in the Life Sciences of European Molecular Biology Organization
- 2005: David P. Bartel)
Bibliography
Selected scientific publications
- Ketting, R.F., Fischer, S.E.J., Bernstein, E., Sijen, T., Hannon, G.J., Plasterk R.H.A. (2001). Dicer functions in RNA interference and in synthesis of small RNA involved in developmental timing in C. elegans. Genes & Development 15: 2654–2659.
- Sijen, T., Fleenor, J., Simmer, F., Thijssen, K.L., Parrish, S., Timmons, L., Plasterk, R.H.A., Fire, A. (2001). On the role of RNA amplification in dsRNA-triggered gene silencing. Cell 107: 465–476.
- Tijsterman, M., Ketting, R.F., Okihara, K. L., Sijen, T., Plasterk, R. H. A. (2002) Short antisense RNAs can trigger gene silencing in C. elegans, depending on the RNA helicase MUT-14. Science 25;295 (5555): 694–697
- Wienholds, E., Schulte-Merker, S., Walderich, B., Plasterk, R.H.A. (2002) Target-selected inactivation of the zebrafish rag1 gene. Science 297 (July 5): 99–102.
- Wienholds, E., Koudijs, M.J., Van Eeden, F.J.M., Cuppen, E., Plasterk, R.H.A. (2003) The microRNA-producing enzyme Dicer 1 is essential for zebrafish development. Nature Genetics 35: 217–218.
- Sijen, T., Plasterk, R.H.A. (2003) Transposon silencing in the Caenorhabditis elegans germ line by natural RNAi. Nature 426: 310–314.
- Berezikov, E., Guryev, V., van de Belt, J., Wienholds, E., Plasterk, R.H.A., Cuppen, E. (2005) Phylogenetic shadowing and computational identification of human microRNA genes. Cell 120: 21–24.
- Robert, V.J.P., Sijen, T., van Wolfswinkel, J., Plasterk, R.H.A. (2005) Chromatin and RNAi factors protect the C. elegans germline against repetitive sequences. Genes Dev. 19: 782–787.
- Sijen T., Steiner F.A., Thijssen K.L., Plasterk R.H.A. (2007) Secondary siRNAs result from unprimed RNA synthesis and form a distinct class. Science. 2007 Jan 12;315(5809): 244–7.
Popular scientific publications
- Wormen en waarden (1993)
- Techniek van het leven: de betekenis van biotechnologie voor mens en samenleving (2000)
- Leven uit het lab (2002)
Decorations
Honours | ||||
Ribbon bar | Honour | Country | Date | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|
Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau | Netherlands | 23 November 2010 |
References
- ^ Ronald Plasterk: ‘Het is even wennen dat niemand voor me rent’ - website Intermediair
- ^ "Ronald Plasterk (PvdA) stelt zich niet opnieuw verkiesbaar voor de Tweede Kamer" (in Dutch). Parlement & Politiek. 10 September 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ Ronald Plasterk, hoogleraar Novel strategies for access to therapeutics - website UvA
- ^ PMID 17330008.
- ^ "Ronald Plasterk aangewezen als verkenner" [Ronald Plasterk designated as scout]. Tweede Kamer (in Dutch). 2023-11-28. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
- ^ "Ronald Plasterk aangewezen als verkenner, 'groot politiek draagvlak' voor benoeming" [Ronald Plasterk appointed as scout, 'great political support' for appointment]. NRC (in Dutch). 2023-11-28. Retrieved 2023-11-28.
- ^ "Verbazing over stap van Omtzigt" [Confusion about Omtzigt's decision]. Reformatorisch Dagblad (in Dutch). 7 February 2024. p. 9.
- ^ "Advies Plasterk aan PVV, VVD, NSC en BBB: praat verder over vormen van kabinet" [Plasterk's advice to PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB: Continue talking about cabinet arrangements]. NOS (in Dutch). 12 February 2024. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
- ^ "Tweede Kamer akkoord met Kim Putters als nieuwe informateur" [House of Representatives agrees with appointment of Kim Putters as informateur]. NOS (in Dutch). 14 February 2024. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
- ^ a b Schaps, Karolin. "Ronald Plasterk, DNA dissenter". cafebabel.com. Archived from the original on 2013-01-18. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
- ^ "Ronald Plasterk". PvdA. February 20, 2007.[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c d "CV Ronald Plasterk". regering.nl. Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. 22 February 2007. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
- ^ a b "Ronald H.A. Plasterk". biomedicalgenetics.nl. Archived from the original on 2008-04-12. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
- ^ "Dr. R.H.A. (Ronald) Plasterk" (in Dutch). Parlement.com. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
- ^ S2CID 152695135.
- S2CID 33791765.
- ^ Plasterk, Ronald (2004-06-07). "Ron Plasterk on RNA Interference: a Genome's "Immune System"". Oral History Collection, CSHL website. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
- ^ ""Er is geen verband tussen altruïsme en God" – Interview met Plasterk". Persbericht De Groene Amsterdammer. 22 January 2001. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
- ^ "Ronald Plasterk: ietsisme". Genootschap Onze Taal. 14 February 2007.
- ^ a b Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (14 February 2005). "Ronald Plasterk" (in Dutch). NOVA. Archived from the original on 7 May 2015.
- ^ Ronald Plasterk (8 May 2005). "Column: Kerk en Staat" (in Dutch). Buitenhof.
- ^ "WBS-debat: meerderheid stemt vóór Grondwet". Wiardi Beckman Stichting. 15 May 2005. Archived from the original on 13 January 2006.
- Ministry of Education, Culture and Sciences.
- ^ "Collegegeld hoger, basisbeurs blijft". NOS. Archived from the original on 2007-11-24.
- ^ "Leraren opnieuw in actie". nu.nl. 9 April 2008.
- ^ "Akkoord over hoger salaris leraren". De Volkskrant. 16 April 2008.
- ^ "Ronald Plasterk joins myTomorrows as CSO – Blog | myTomorrows". mytomorrows.com. Retrieved 2019-03-29.
- ^ "KCOV Excelsior sings Bach's Matthäus-Passion - Het Concertgebouw".
- ^ "Plasterk gaat op in Matthäus Passion". Algemeen Dagblad. 3 April 2007.
- ^ "NWO Spinoza Prize 1999". Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. 11 September 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
External links
- Official
- (in Dutch) Prof. Dr. R.H.A. (Ronald) Plasterk Parlement & Politiek