Dr P Timmerman (b. 1966) has been named Professor by Special Appointment in Protein Mimetic Chemistry in the Faculty of Science at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). This chair has been created through the initiative of the Association for the Advancement of Physics, Medicine and Surgery.

Peter Timmerman researches the functional reconstruction of protein surfaces with the help of peptides. Peptides are short chains of 2 to 50 amino acids which are often extremely flexible in form, and which therefore do not closely mimic the proteins from which they are derived. In his research at Pepscan Therapeutics Timmerman recently developed ‘CLIPS technology', a chemical technique to ‘freeze' peptides in a particular spatial form. This technology is currently employed worldwide for a range of uses, including to better chart the binding sites of antibodies and proteins. In his function as Professor by Special Appointment in Protein Mimetic Chemistry Timmerman will work on the development of new synthetic methods to spatially fix peptides, so that they can better serve as protein-mimics for synthetic vaccines, among other uses.

Timmerman studied Organic and Analytic Chemistry at the Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam), and obtained his doctorate summa cum laude from the University of Twente in 1994 with a thesis entitled ‘Molecules with Rigid Cavities by Combination of Calix[4]arenes and Resorcinarenes'. After graduating he did post-doctoral research at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich. From 1995 to 2002 Timmerman was Assistant Professor at the Laboratorium voor Supramoleculaire Chemie en Technologie at the University of Twente. He has been a senior researcher at Pepscan Therapeutics in Lelystad since 2001.