Erasmus MC : Gerben Schaaf

Gerben Schaaf studied biology at the Utrecht University (graduated cum laude). He was awarded a PhD from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (Utrecht University) for elucidating the mechanisms of drug-mediated nephrotoxicity. During his postdoctoral career he applied the acquired cell biological skills to study the biology of skeletal muscle tumors, rhabdomyosarcomas, at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam (Netherlands). He discovered that the putative tumor suppressor Sprouty1 harbors oncogenic features in rhabdomyosarcomas and can be efficiently targeted to eradicate these tumors. Based on his work in rhabdomyosarcoma he received a Veni Award (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research) to identify tumor stem cells in rhabdomyosarcoma in the lab of Prof. Thomas Rando at the Stanford School of Medicine (Dept. of Neurology and Neurological Services, Palo Alto, USA). In this work he found strong parallels in lineage progression and the cellular differentiation hierarchy of normal and tumor skeletal muscle cells. This research forms the basis of the current work in his research group that is focusing on muscle stem cells in homeostasis and disease. He started as a Principle Investigator in the Erasmus MC Stem Cell Institute in 2008. His long-term goal is to translate the knowledge obtained from the study of normal and dysfunctional muscle stem cells into novel therapeutic approaches for rhabdomyosarcomas and muscular dystrophies, including Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

• Wang et al. (1998) Biochem Biophys Res Comm 245:912-7
• Schaaf et al. (2001) Chem Biol Interact, 134:167-90
• Schaaf et al. (2002a) Free Radic Res 36:835-43.
• Schaaf et al. (2002b) Biochim Biophys Acta 1588:149-58
• Rooseboom et al. (2002) H Pharmacol Exp Ther 301:884-92
• Schaaf et al. (2002c) Hemeoxygenase in Biol & Med 353-363
• Schaaf et al. (2004) Current Protocols in Toxology  Suppl. 21
• van Ruissen et al. (2005) BMC Genomics 6:9.1
• Schaaf et al. (2005) FASEB J 19:404-6
• van Ruissen et al. (2008) Methods Mol Biol 387:169-83
• Schaaf et al. (2008) Methods Mol Biol 387:151-68
• Missiaglia et al. (2009) Genes Chrom Cancer 48:455-67
• Schaaf et al. (2010) Cancer Res 70 :762-71