Projects per year
Personal profile
Quote
"To most organisms crystallization of water into ice is lethal. I am fascinated by the way antifreeze proteins protect against damage and want to develop new macromolecular antifreezes for sensitive soft materials."
Research profile
Ilja Voets leads an interdisciplinary team of chemists, physicists, biologists, and engineers, studying self-assembly processes in (biological) soft matter. The goal of the Voets research group is to gain fundamental insights in these processes and translate them into rational design strategies for novel functional soft materials. Voets is interested in colloidal self-organization, polymer assembly and folding, and protein biophysics. She studies how to control intra- and intermolecular copolymer assembly to reveal key structure-property relations, to package fragile biomolecules, to develop artificial enzymes, to enhance colloidal stability and to tailor smart materials. She has a particular fascination for ice-binding proteins (IBPs) that help fish, insects, and plants survive in extreme environments at subzero temperatures. Another key research challenge is to orchestrate colloidal self-assembly with remote cues such as light and temperature.
Academic background
Ilja Voets studied Molecular Sciences at Wageningen University & Research, where she obtained her PhD (cum laude) in 2008 at the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry and Colloid Science under supervision of dr. Arie de Keizer and prof. Martien A. Cohen Stuart. Her PhD thesis focused on micellisation in dilute aqueous solutions of two oppositely charge double hydrophilic block copolymers. From 2008-2011 Voets was a postdoctoral researcher at the AldolpheMerkle Institute of the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). In 2011 she started as assistant professor (tenure track) in Physical Chemistry at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry and the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems. Since 2018 she is a full professor at TU/e.
Affiliated with
- Institute for Complex Molecular Systems
- Eindhoven Polymer Laboratories
- Gravity Program Functional Molecular Systems
Partners in (semi-)industry:
- DSM
- Kemetyl
- Unilever
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Profiles
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Projects
- 1 Finished
-
TKI-AF-18059 Proteins on steel
Voets, I. K. (Project Manager)
1/01/19 → 30/06/23
Project: Research direct
-
Nanoscopy of single antifreeze proteins reveals that reversible ice binding is sufficient for ice recrystallization inhibition but not thermal hysteresis
Tas, R. P. (Corresponding author), Hendrix, M. M. R. M. & Voets, I. K. (Corresponding author), 10 Jan 2023, In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). 120, 2, 8 p., e2212456120.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Open AccessFile24 Citations (Scopus)138 Downloads (Pure) -
Switchable Electrostatically Templated Polymerization
Li, C., Magana, J. R., Sobotta, F., Wang, J., Cohen Stuart, M. A., van Ravensteijn, B. (Corresponding author) & Voets, I. K., 26 Sept 2022, In: Angewandte Chemie - International Edition. 61, 39, 6 p., e202206780.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Open AccessFile8 Citations (Scopus)132 Downloads (Pure) -
Single Enzyme Nanoparticles with Improved Biocatalytic Activity through Protein Entrapment in a Surfactant Shell
Atkins, D. L., Magana, J. R., Sproncken, C. C. M., van Hest, J. C. M. & Voets, I. K. (Corresponding author), 8 Mar 2021, In: Biomacromolecules. 22, 3, p. 1159-1166 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Open Access8 Citations (Scopus) -
Blocking rapid ice crystal growth through nonbasal plane adsorption of antifreeze proteins
Olijve, L. L. C., Meister, K., DeVries, A. L., Duman, J. G., Guo, S., Bakker, H. J. & Voets, I. K., 5 Apr 2016, In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). 113, 14, p. 3740-3745 6 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Open AccessFile151 Citations (Scopus)301 Downloads (Pure) -
Molecular control over colloidal assembly
Gerth, M. & Voets, I. K., 25 Apr 2017, In: Chemical Communications, ChemComm. 53, 32, p. 4414-4428 15 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review
Open AccessFile32 Citations (Scopus)267 Downloads (Pure)
Datasets
-
Effects of artepillin C on model membranes displaying liquid immiscibility
Pazin, W. M. (Creator), Vilanova, N. (Creator), Voets, I. K. (Creator), Soares, A. E. E. (Creator) & Ito, A. S. (Creator), SciELO journals, 2 Jun 2022
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.19962609, https://scielo.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Effects_of_artepillin_C_on_model_membranes_displaying_liquid_immiscibility/19962609
Dataset
Prizes
-
Ambizione Award
Voets, I. K. (Recipient), 2010
Prize: Other › Career, activity or publication related prizes (lifetime, best paper, poster etc.) › Scientific
-
An innovative peptide system for novel drugs targeting microbial Repeats-In-Toxin adhesins
Voets, I. K. (Recipient), 2019
Prize: ERC › Other › Scientific
-
DMS Science and Technology Award
Voets, I. K. (Recipient), 2009
Prize: Other › Career, activity or publication related prizes (lifetime, best paper, poster etc.) › Scientific
-
-
Ice-binding protein-polymers for control over ice growth in soft materials (POLICE)
Voets, I. K. (Recipient), 2016
Prize: NWO › Other › Scientific