Full name: Roeland Merks
Formal name: Dr. R.M.H. Merks
Function: Scientific Staff Member

Email: Roeland.Merks@cwi.nl
Telephone +31(0)20 592 4117
Room:  M265
Homepage:  http://www.cwi.nl/~merks
Research groups:
(MAC4) Life sciences

Research

Merks' research focuses on cell-based modeling of plant development and angiogenesis. He heads the “core modeling” group of the Netherlands Consortium for Systems Biology (NCSB). The group (1 postdoc, 2 PhD, 1 technician, 2 MSc students, 2 postdoc vacancies) works on plant development, angiogenesis, gut microbiota metabolism, epigenetics, and lignin polymerization in close collaboration with members of experimental and theoretical groups within NCSB and elsewhere. In 2010 Merks was awarded an NWO Vidi (Interdisciplinary-ALW) to further develop his work on angiogenesis, focusing on the interactions between endothelial cells and the extracellular matrix.

Career

2012 -	Onderzoeker D MAC4 - Life Sciences
2010 - 2012	Scientific staff member/tenure track MAC4 - Life Sciences
2008 - 2009	Scientific staff member/tenure track LS - Life sciences
2005 - 2008	Postdoc/Marie Curie Fellow/Young Leader, VIB Dept. Plant Systems Biology and Ghent University
2003 - 2005	Postdoc Indiana University Bloomington
1999 - 2003	PhD student Computational Science, University of Amsterdam, "Branching Growth in Stony Corals: a modelling approach". Promotor: Prof. Dr. P.M.A. Sloot
1998	Guest researcher, Tokyo University

Selected Awards and Honours

2010	Vidi Innovational Research Grant NWO
2008	Marie Curie European Reintegration Grant
2005	Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (EIF)

Selected Academic Activities

2011 -	PhD advisor Boas, S.E.M.
2010 -	Member management team Nederlands Instituut voor Systeem Biologie - [NISB]
2009 -	PhD advisor Palm, M.M.
2008 - 2013	Member advisory board Netherlands Consortium for Systems Biology - [NCSB] - Interne Advies Raad

Selected Publications

R.M.H. Merks, M.A. Guravage, D. Inze, G.T.S. Beemster. VirtualLeaf: an open source framework for cell-based modeling of plant tissue growth and development. Plant Physiology 155, 1–11, 2011.

K. Wabnik, J. Kleine-Vehn, J. Balla, M. Sauer, S. Naramoto, V. Reinöhl, R.M.H. Merks, W. Govaerts, J. Friml. Emergence of tissue polarization from synergy of intracellular and extracellular auxin signaling. Molecular Systems Biology 6, 447, 2010.

F.R.D. van Parijs, K. Morreel, J. Ralph, W. Boerjan, R.M.H. Merks. Modeling lignin polymerization. Part 1: simulation model of dehydrogenation polymers.. Plant Physiology 153, 1332–1344, 2010.

M. Scianna, R.M.H. Merks, L. Preziosi, E. Medico. Individual cell-based models of cell scatter of ARO and MLP-29 cells in response to hepatocyte growth factor. Journal of Theoretical Biology 260, 151–160, 2009.

R.M.H. Merks, E.D. Perryn, A. Shirinifard, J.A. Glazier. Contact-inhibited chemotaxis in de novo and sprouting blood-vessel growth. PLoS Computational Biology 4, e1000163–last, 2008.

All publications (link to repository)