Biosketch

Juke Lolkema was trained as a chemist, after which he obtained a PhD in Physical Chemistry (1986). He then pursued a scientific career in microbiology, with a main focus on transport phenomona across the cytoplasmic membrane of bacteria; initially the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system and later secondary transport. Juke was interested both in the physiological function and energetics of the transporters, as well as in the molecular properties of the transported molecules. He has contributed significantly to the understanding of the role of precursor/product exchangers in catabolic decarboxylation and deimination pathways in lactic acid bacteria. Juke’s studies on secondary transporter proteins have resulted in the first folding models that correctly demonstrated domain structure, membrane topologies, and the presence of reentrant loop structures. An important aspect in his studies was the use of bioinformatics, which resulted in an experimental approach by which i) many transporters from one protein family could be studied at the same time and ii) successful structural classification of transporter proteins based on hydropathy analysis of the primary structure of the proteins was achieved.

Juke Lolkema has published >150 peer-reviewed papers, which has been cited >5,200 times (ISI Web of Science). He has participated in several NWO and EU funded research projects and coordinated the EU-FP7 project BIAMFOOD. Furthermore, he contributed to teaching programs in which GBB staff members are involved, for instance introducing early on bioinformatics in the curricula.