Van Maarseveen and Timmerman met around 2005 and soon found themselves discussing the synthesis of cyclic peptide peptides. Van Maarseveen from a fundamental synthetic chemistry interest, Timmerman from the potential application in therapeutic vaccines and therapeutic peptides.

The idea of an appointment as a part-time professor in Van Maarseveen's group was quickly formed. In collaboration with the Society for the Advancement of Physics, Medicine and Surgery, the special chair of Protein Mimetic Chemistry was established and Pepscan seconded Timmerman to the university for one day a week. Thus, starting March 2007, he was a special professor in the Faculty of Science for fifteen years. He lectured, amongst others on organic chemistry and on how to survive as a scientist, and he guided three PhD students to their doctorates. Linde Smeenk obtained her PhD in 2013, Gaston Richelle graduated cum laude in 2018 and Dieuwertje Streefkerk obtained her title in 2021.

Pride and pleasure

Timmerman looks back on his period as a professor with great pride and pleasure but recalls how, fifteen years ago, he did not know how to make his 'experiment' a success. "We had to look for money and I wondered if anyone at all wanted to do a PhD with one Prof. Timmerman from a small and unknown company in Lelystad."

That uncertainty soon disappeared after his first grant application was immediately successful. He was able to fund his first PhD project from NWO's ECHO program, intended for curiosity-driven projects by excellent chemistry researchers. Finding a PhD candidate also proved surprisingly easy. "I had barely received the grant when a student knocked on the door informing about the possibility of a PhD position." That student was Linde Smeenk, who shortly before had won a prize at the annual PAC symposium for chemistry students. "I was extremely lucky to have her as my first PhD student" Timmermans says. Smeenk produced an impressive thesis that was awarded the HRSMC Research School's Dick Stufkens Prize in 2013, for the best dissertation of that year.

Patent

The next grant took a bit more work but in 2013 Timmerman and Van Maarseveen managed to get a project funded by the former technology foundation STW, now part of NWO. This time for two PhD students: Gaston Richelle, and subsequently Dieuwertje Streefkerk. They continued the work of Linde Smeenk and developed so-called CLIPS/CLICK scaffolds enabling the synthesis of three-, four-, five- and sixfold cyclic peptides. That research eventually proved very successful and led to a patent, which Pepscan then took an exclusive license on. "This underpins the practical relevance of a special chair", says Timmerman. "It's a win-win: As a company, we build on the results, while the university achieves valorization success in addition to academic recognition."

Timmerman speaks of a "great experience" to have been involved with the university and the research at the Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences for part of his career. "The many contacts I have made over the past fifteen years have been invaluable to Pepscan. And I think the reverse is also true." Van Maarseveen agrees and recalls a joint publication on the work of Gaston Richelle in which not only Pepscan but also the company Enzypep was involved. "All in all, there was a nice synergy, both on a personal level and in terms of scientific content  And that patent probably describes the most robust chemistry in the world for preparing multicyclic peptides."

Read more

• Inaugural lecture of Peter Timmerman (in Dutch)
• Thesis Linde Smeenk; news item Stufkens prize
• Thesis Gaston Richelle; news item cum laude
• Thesis Dieuwertje Streefkerk
• Website Society for the Advancement of Physics, Medicine and Surgery
• Website Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences
• Website Pepscan