Piet Borst

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Group Leader, Division of Molecular Biology, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam

EDUCATION:
• 1961 PhD (cum laude), University of Amsterdam
• 1963 MD, University of Amsterdam
• 1963-1964 Post-doctoral research fellow, Biochemistry Department, New York University

HONORS AND AWARDS:
• 1981 Royal Dutch/Shell-prize for the Life Sciences (Netherlands)
• 1984 Paul-Ehrlich und Ludwig-Darmstaedter Prize, Germany (shared with Prof. George Cross)
• 1989 Howard Taylor Ricketts Award of the University of Chicago, USA
• 1990 Dr G Wander award of the Wander Foundation in Bern, Switzerland
• 1992 Dr HP Heineken prize for biochemistry and biophysics of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences
• 1992 Gold medal of the Robert Koch Foundation in Cologne, Germany
• 1999 Commander in the Order of the Dutch Lion (Netherlands)
• 1999 Silver Medal of merit of the City of Amsterdam
• 1999 Medal of the University of Amsterdam for exceptional contributions to the university
• 2000 Hamilton Fairley Award for Clinical Research, European Society for Medical Oncology, Hamburg
• 2003 Honorary degree of Leiden University
• 2007 Honorary Foreign Commander of the British Empire (CBE)
• 2007 Honorary degree (Doctor of Laws) of the University of Dundee, Scotland

MEMBERSHIPS:
• 1978 Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 1983 Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (the second Dutch academy)
• 1986 Foreign member of the Royal Society of Great Britain
• 1989 Academia Europaea
• 1991 Foreign associate National Academy of Sciences, Washington, USA
• 1995 Foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, USA
• 2009 Fellow of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences

RESEARCH INTEREST:
• Multidrug resistance of cancer cells
We are interested in the mechanisms that underlie drug resistance in cancer cells and focus on resistance caused by increased ATP-dependent transport of drug out of the cell, mediated by ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters. We have isolated genes for these transporters and are characterizing their substrate specificity and sensitivity to inhibitors in transfected cells. We are also studying resistance mechanisms in spontaneous tumors arising in genetically modified mice.

• DNA base J
A second focus is DNA base J. This work is an offshoot of our long-standing interest in the mechanisms of antigenic variation in African trypanosomes. DNA base J (or beta-glucosyl-hydroxymethyluracil) is a base present in all kinetoplastid flagellates including the pathogenic ones, such as trypanosomes and Leishmania species. Base J replaces 1% of thymine in DNA and is predominantly located in repetitive sequences, such as telomeric repeats. Removing J from these locations results in massive readthrough of RNA polymerase II transcription, providing a plausible explanation for J-less death of Leishmania.

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