Jos Jonkers

Jos Jonkers performed his PhD and postdoctoral research in the group of Dr. Anton Berns at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI). Following his second postdoc in the group of Dr Allan Bradley at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, he started his own research group at the NKI in 2003. He is currently a Senior Group Leader and Head of the Division of Molecular Pathology at the NKI, and Affiliate Professor of Molecular Experimental Oncogenetics and Cancer Therapeutics at Leiden University. In 2012, he was elected to membership of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).

Research in the Jonkers lab is focused on the genetic dissection of human breast cancer through the use of genetically engineered mouse models and patient-derived xenograft models. His group has generated several mouse models for BRCA-associated hereditary breast cancer and E cadherin-mutated invasive lobular breast cancer, which are used for both basic and translational studies focusing on genotype-phenotype correlations, cancer gene discovery and validation, tumor-host interactions, and mechanisms of therapy response and resistance. His lab has identified multiple mechanisms by which BRCA1/2-deficient tumors acquire resistance to platinum drugs and PARP inhibitors.