Lukas Kapitein is a professor of Molecular and Cellular Biophysics and director of Biology Imaging Center at the Department of Biology at Utrecht University. He studies the architecture and dynamics of cells, with a particular focus on neurons: how do they obtain and maintain their complicated form? By using concepts and techniques from the field of physics, his group aims to unravel basic principles of cellular biology. His group combines advanced light-microscopy, including various forms of super-resolution microscopy, with cellular engineering and active control strategies, such as optogenetics, to explore and modulate intracellular transport, cellular architecture and cellular functioning.  

Lukas graduated with a master’s degree in experimental physics from the VU Amsterdam in 2002. At this university, he also completed his PhD on the motility of mitotic kinesins in 2007. He then joined as a postdoc at the Department of Neurosciences of Erasmus Medical Centre to work on the cytoskeleton and polarized cargo transport in neurons. In 2011, he joined as an assistant professor at Utrecht University, where he became a full professor in 2018. His research has been supported by VENI and VIDI grants from NWO and ERC Starting and Consolidator Grants from the European Research Council. 

https://cellbiology.science.uu.nl/research-groups/lukas-kapitein-biophysics/