Hans Kamerling
Johannis P. Kamerling (1944) studied chemistry at Utrecht University (1962-1969), and obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1972 with Prof. J.F. Arens and Prof. J.F.G. Vliegenthart. His glycoscience research is focused on (i) structural studies of polysaccharides and glycoprotein glycans (since 1969) ; (ii) organic/enzymatic synthesis of (conjugated) carbohydrates (since 1984) ; and (iii) carbohydrate-mediated interactions studies (since 1990). From 1969 to 2008 he has been connected to the Department of Bio-Organic Chemistry at Utrecht University. In 1974 he was a visiting scientist with Prof. B. Lindberg at the University of Stockholm, and in 1981 with Prof. A. Kobata at the University of Japan. In the period 2000-2003 he was Dean of Studies of the Faculty of Chemistry, and in 2002 he became Chairman of the Department of Bio-Organic Chemistry. Since 2008 he is Honorary Professor of Chemical Glycobiology at the Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute (GBB) of the University of Groningen (RUG). Since 2009 he is Professor emeritus at Utrecht University.
In 1990 in Yokohama, he was honoured with the prestigious Roy L. Whistler Award of the International Carbohydrate Organisation. He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the Lajos Kossuth University of Debrecen (1999) and received the honor as Profesor Invitado of the University of Havana in 2002. He held several international representations as the Dutch representative in the European Carbohydrate Organization and in the International Carbohydrate Organization, to which he acted as secretary from 2007 to 2012. He was Chair of the European Science Foundation (ESF) Expert Group that prepared the ESF Policy Briefing “Structural Medicine : The Importance of Glycomics for Health and Disease” (2006). He has been/is editor and board member of several scientific journals, and acted as secretary of the XIIth International Carbohydrate Symposium (1984), the 9th European Carbohydrate Symposium (1997) and the XVIth International Symposium on Glycoconjugates (2001). In 2009 he was honored with the Dutch Royal Distinction “Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau”.
He his the (co)-author of over 440 scientific articles/books/reviews, and has supervised 49 doctoral thesis at Utrecht University. He acted as the editor-in-chief of the 4-volume Elsevier reference book“Comprehensive Glycoscience – From Chemistry to Systems Biology” (2007).