Wilfred van der Donk

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Richard E. Heckert Professor of Chemistry
Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Professor, Institute for Genomic Biology

600 S. Matthews Ave.
161 Roger Adams Laboratory, Box 38-5, MC-712
Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: (217) 244-5360
Email: vddonk[at]illinois.edu
CV (PDF)

EDUCATION

• 1989 B.Sc & M.Sc, Leiden University, The Netherlands Thesis Advisor: Prof. Jan Reedijk, Thesis Title: Model Complexes for Copper Metallo-Enzymes
• 1994 Ph.D., Rice University, Houston, Texas, Thesis Advisor: Prof. Kevin Burgess, Thesis Title: Transition Metal Catalyzed Hydroboration

POSITIONS SINCE FINAL DEGREE

• 1994-1997 Postdoctoral Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, Advisor Prof. JoAnne Stubbe, Project: Mechanistic Studies on Ribonucleotide Reductase
• 1997-2003 Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 2003-2005 Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 2005-2008 William H. and Janet Lycan Professor of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 2007-present Professor, Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 2008-Present Richard E. Heckert Professor of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 2008-Present Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS

• 1989 Cum Laude Masters Thesis, Leiden University
• 1989-1993 Robert A. Welch Predoctoral Fellowship
• 1991, 1994 Harry B. Weiser Scholarship for Excellence in Research (Rice University)
• 1994-1997 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Jane Coffin Childs Foundation for Medical Research
• 1997 Camille and Henry Dreyfus New Faculty Award
• 1998 Burroughs-Wellcome New Investigator in the Pharmacological Sciences
• 1998 Research Innovation Award from the Research Corporation
• 1999 School of Chemical Sciences Teaching Award (U. Illinois)
• 1999 UIUC Research Board Beckman Award
• 1999 Arnold and Mabel Beckman Young Investigator Award
• 1999 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award
• 2000 Cottrell Scholar of the Research Corporation
• 2001 Beckman Fellow, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois
• 2001 Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship
• 2002 Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award
• 2003 Helen Corley Petit Scholar
• 2004 Pfizer Award, American Chemical Society, Division of Biological Chemistry
• 2004 University Scholar, UIUC
• 2006 Cope Scholar Award, American Chemical Society
• 2007 Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award in Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry
• 2008 School of Chemical Sciences Teaching Award , U. Illinois
• 2009 Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry Lecture Award, Royal Society of Chemistry
• 2010 Jeremy Knowles Award, Royal Society of Chemistry
• 2010 Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
• 2011 Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology
• 2011 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• 2013 Emil Thomas Kaiser Award, The Protein Society
• 2014 Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2015 Bioorganic Chemistry Award, the Royal Society of Chemistry
• 2016 NIGMS Merit Award
• 2017 Repligen Award, American Chemical Society
• 2017 Vincent du Vigneaud Award, American Peptide Society
• 2020 Harrison Howe Awardee, Rochester Section of the American Chemical Society
• 2020 Pedler Award, the Royal Society of Chemistry
• 2021 College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Impact Award for efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic
• 2021 Member of the National Academy of Sciences

AFFILIATIONS

• American Chemical Society
• American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• American Peptide Society
• American Society for Microbiology
• Society for Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology
• The Protein Society
• Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Latinos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS)
• Royal Society of Chemistry
• Organic Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society
• Biological Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society
• Inorganic Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

UIUC

• P.I. and founding Director NIH Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Grant, 2004-2016
• Faculty advisor and founder, UIUC SACNAS chapter, 2007-present
• Member, Sloan Scholarship Board, University Center for Exemplary Mentoring (UCEM)
• Director of Graduate Studies, Dept of Chemistry, 2012-2021
• Carle-Illinois College of Medicine Research Advisory Board, July 2017-present
• Institute for Genomic Biology Advisory Committee, 2016-2018 
• Chair, Organizing Committee Olga G. Nalbandov Symposium “Outpacing Antimicrobial Resistance”, Sept. 24-25, 2018.

Journal service

• Reviewing Editor, eLife, 2012-2020
• Editorial Board Chemical Communications 2009-2011
• Editorial Advisory Board J. Org. Chem. 2006-2018
• Editorial Advisory Board ACS Chem. Biol. 2009-present
• Editorial Advisory Board ChemBioChem 2011-2016
• Editorial Advisory Board, Chemical Communications 2012-present
• Editorial Advisory Board, ACS Central Science 2015-present
• Editorial Advisory Board, Cell Chemical Biology 2016-present
• Editorial Advisory Board, Chemical Reviews 2018-present
• Reviewer (2000-present) of manuscripts for Science, Nature, Nature Chem. Biol., Nat. Biotechnol., Nat. Chem., J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, eLife, Nat. Commun., Biochemistry, Org. Lett., ACS Chem. Biol. ChemBioChem, Mol. Microbiol. J. Org. Chem., Inorg. Chem., Chem. Rev., Tetrahedron Lett., J. Phys. Chem., Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett., BMC Microbiol., Appl. Environ. Microbiol.
• Guest editor, special issue of ChemComm on Enzymes and Proteins with Herbert Waldman
• Guest editor, special issue of Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. with Squire Booker
• Guest editor, special issue of Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 2016 with Dan Tawfik
• Guest editor, special issue of Chem. Rev. 2017 on unusual enzymes in natural product biosynthesis
• Guest editor, special issue of J. Org. Chem. 2018 on natural product synthesis and biosynthesis
• Co-editor, “Cyclic Peptides: from Bioorganic Synthesis to Applications” Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, UK, 2018 with James Naismith and Jesko Koehnke. 

Grant and fellowship review

• Member, NIH SBCB Synthetic and Biological Chemistry B study section. 2008-2012
• Member, Scientific Advisory Committee, Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation 2008-2012
• Member NIGMS Advisory Council, 2016-2018
• Member, Searle Scholars Advisory Board, 2017-2021
• Chair, Searle Scholars Advisory Board, 2021-2022
• Selection Committee, Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowships in Chemistry, 2021-2024
• Ad hoc member NIH Physical Biochemistry study section
• Ad hoc member NIH Bioorganic & Natural Products study section
• Ad hoc member NIH SBIR Drug Discovery and Development study section
• Ad hoc member NIH SBCB Synthetic and Biological Chemistry B study section  
• Ad hoc member NIH Pioneer mail review
• Ad hoc member NIH R13 conference grants
• Ad hoc member NIGMS Advisory Council, 2015-2016
• Reviewer of grants for NIH, NSF, Research Corporation, Wellcome Fund, Dutch National Research Foundation (NWO), EPSRC (UK), Leverhulme Trust, NSERC, Science Foundation Ireland, and Petroleum Research Fund

Conference organization, consulting, and scientific society service

• Co-chair, symposium on vitamin B₁₂ at the 3rd International Conference on Porphyrins and Phthalocyanines, New Orleans, July 11-16, 2004
• Vice-chair, vitamin B₁₂ Gordon Research Conference, Oxford, England, Sept 18-23, 2005
• Chair, vitamin B₁₂ Gordon Research Conference, Biddeford, ME, July 1-6, 2007
• Vice-chair, Bioorganic Chemistry Gordon Research Conference, Proctor Academy, June 10-15, 2007
• Co-chair, Bioorganic Chemistry Gordon Research, Proctor Academy, June 15-20, 2008
• Organizing Committee, 21^st Enzyme Mechanisms Conference, Tucson, Arizona, January 3-6, 2009
• Co-chair (with Jin Zhang UCSD), 2018 ASBMB national conference, San Diego, April 21-25, 2018
• Chair, 27^th Enzyme Mechanisms Conference, January 3-6, 2022
• Organizing committee, 1^st International Conference on RiPPs, Granada, Spain, April 23-25, 2019
• Member Executive Committee, 2006-2009, Div. of Biological Chemistry, American Chemical Society
• Scientific Advisory Board, Divergence Inc., St. Louis, MO, 2004-2011
• Scientific Advisory Board, Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland, 2020-2024