Overview

After completing his B.Sc. and M.Sc. at the Agricultural University Wageningen (Netherlands), van Wijk obtained a PhD at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands). This was then followed by postdocs at the Dept. of Biochemistry, Stockholm University, Sweden and at the Carnegie Institute at Stanford University (CA). He then became assistant professor in 1997 at the Dept. of Biochemistry, Stockholm University and moved his lab in 2001 to Cornell University. In 2005 he was promoted to tenured associate professor level. In 2007 he became DGS for the Field of Plant Biology

Research Focus

Plastids are essential organelles of prokaryotic origin present in nearly every plant cell containing an estimated 3000-4000 different proteins. Chloroplasts are the best known green plastids and carry out photosynthesis and also synthesize various primary and secondary metabolites. The van Wijk lab is focused on i) bundle sheath and mesophyll cell specific differentiation of chloroplasts in leaves of the C4 plant maize, and ii) in chloroplast biogenesis and protein homeostasis in Arabidopsis thaliana, with a particular focus on the Clp protease machinery. We use a multi-disciplinary approach, with emphasis on large scale comparative proteomics and mass spectrometry, bioinformatics and reverse genetics. Protein identifications with associated information are uploaded into the Plant Proteome Data Base (http://ppdb.tc.cornell.edu/), building a foundation for systems biology of the Arabidopsis and maize proteomes. Our proteomics and mass spectrometry infrastructure and expertise are also used in collaborations with colleagues at Cornell University and elsewhere.

Outreach and Extension Focus

Outreach is focused on multi-disciplinary training in quantitative plant biology and biochemistry, as well as bioinformatics and statistics at the undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral levels. Through the successful summer internship NSF sponsored plant genome, we involve undergraduates from under-represented groups in our research.

Instruction Focus

Van Wijk`s class room teaching is focused on Plant Biochemistry (BioPL462), Plant Genomics Tools and Techniques (BioPL641) and Plant Proteomics and Mass Spectrometry (BioPL482/483 series). In addition, van Wijk frequently participates in Workshops on Plant Genomics, where he typically teaches proteomics and mass spectrometry. Research advising occurs at the undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral levels and is oriented towards training in multi-disciplinary research with the objective to understand plastid differentiation and protein homeostatis/proteolysis.

Additional Links

• Department of Plant Biology
• Plant Proteome DataBase, PPDB
• vanWijk lab website
• Link to CALS Research portal
• Link to CALS Impact statements

Honors, Awards and Appointments

• Roger E. Koeppe Lecture at the mini-symposium on "Mechanisms regulating Cellular Processes and Systems Biology", at Oklahoma State University, July 2006 - 2006
• Melvin Calvin award from the International Society for Photosynthesis Research (http://www.photosynthesisresearch.org/) - 2004

Professional Activities

• Editorial Board member Molecular Cellular Proteomics -
• Advisory Board CBSU (http://cbsu.tc.cornell.edu/) -
• Editorial Board member BMC Plant Biology -
• Member Multinational Arabidopsis Steering Committee (MASC) - proteomics workgroup -

Selected Publications

• Brehelin, C., Kessler, F., van Wijk, K.J. (2007) Plastoglobules: versatile lipoprotein particles in plastids. Trends in Plant Science 12, 260-266
• Giacomelli, L., Rudella, A. and van Wijk, K.J. (2006). High light response of the thylakoid proteome in Arabidopsis thaliana wild type and the ascorbate deficient mutant vtc2-2; a comparative proteomics study. Plant Physiology 141(2), 685-701
• Ytterberg A.J., Peltier, J.B., van Wijk, K.J. (2006) Protein profiling of plastoglobules in chloroplasts and chromoplasts; a surprising site for differential accumulation of metabolic enzymes. Plant Physiology 140, 984-997
• Peltier, J.B., Cai, Y., Sun, Q., Zabrouskov, V., Giacomelli, L., Rudella, A., Ytterberg, AJ, Rutschow, H., van Wijk, K.J. (2006) The oligomeric stromal proteome of A. thaliana chloroplasts. Mol Cell Proteomic 5.1, 114-133
• Rudella, A., Friso, G., Alonso, J.M., Ecker, J.R., van Wijk, K.J. (2006) Down-regulation of ClpR2 protease of A. thaliana leads to reduced accumulation of the ClpPRS complex and defects in chloroplast biogenesis. The Plant Cell 18, 1704-1721
• Majeran, W., Cai, Y., Sun, Q., van Wijk, K.J. (2005) Functional differentiation of Bundle Sheath and Mesophyll maize chloroplasts determined by Comparative proteomics. The Plant Cell 17(11) 3111-40
• Peltier JB, Ytterberg AJ, Sun Q, van Wijk KJ (2004) New functions of the thylakoid membrane proteome of Arabidopsis thaliana revealed by a simple, fast and versatile fractionation strategy. J. Biol. Chemistry 279, 49367-49383
• Sun Q, Emanuelsson O, van Wijk KJ (2004) Analysis of curated and predicted plastid subproteomes of Arabidopsis thaliana; Subcellular compartmentalization leads to distinctive proteome properties. Plant Physiology 135, 723-734
• Friso, G., Giacomelli, L., Ytterberg, A.J., Peltier, J.B., Rudella, A. Sun, Q., van Wijk, K.J. (2004) In-depth analysis of the thylakoid membrane proteome of Arabidopsis thaliana chloroplasts; new proteins, new functions and a plastid proteome database. Plant Cell 478-499
• Peltier JB, Ripoll D, Friso G, Rudella A, Ytterberg J, Cai, Y, Giacomelli, L, Pillardy, J and van Wijk KJ (2004). Clp protease complexes from photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic plastids and mitochondria of plants, their predicted 3-D structures and functional implications. J. Biol. Chemistry 279, 4768 - 4781

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