Wouter de Laat obtained his PhD (1998) in molecular biology at the Erasmus University and is currently Head Research Genetics and professor in Biomedical Genomics at the UMC Utrecht & Oncode Institute. Wouter de Laat founded biotech company Cergentis (now Solvias NL), received national (VIDI, VICI) and international (ERC) career grants and is an elected EMBO member. Between 2008-2024 he was a group leader at the Hubrecht Institute, where his team pioneered the use and development of 3C-based technologies. They made original discoveries in the field of gene regulation and 3D genome organization, including first demonstration of chromatin looping between distal enhancers and genes. His current research at the UMC Utrecht is more translational, aimed at developing and implementing non-invasive prenatal diagnosis for monogenic diseases and exploring the therapeutical benefits of Del2Rec, a novel method that involves genomic deletions to recruit enhancers for gene reactivation.
