Curriculum Vitae
Full name: Frank Jozef Godfried Thom Sleutels
Born: August 30th 1972 in Asten, The Netherlands
Address: Schietbaanlaan 106 B, Rotterdam
Contact: Email: frank@sleutels.net, tel: 0650425718
Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/franksleutels
Profile
Ambitious, innovative, analytical, precise and critical geneticist with a PhD in molecular (epi)genetics who publishes in the international top of science journals such as Nature, EMBO, Genes & Development and Nature Cell Biology
Excellent communicator, not only in teaching at university but also in popularising science and medicine in newspapers, TV and science café.
Qualified team player and experienced project and people manager who builds and participates in national and international networks in order to collaborate on data acquisition and release.
Dedicated problems solver moving projects forward.
32 years of working experience within Medical Academia.
Specialist in Clinical Genetics; Excellent and in depth knowledge of all steps essential to unravel a genetic diagnosis, from DNA, sample preparation, Next Generation Sequencing, Big data handling, Bioinformatics, variant calling & classification and genotype-phenotype filtering.
Patient with an <undisclosed> likely pathogenic variant that provided valuable personal insight and experience on the field of human genetics and Dutch genetic health care as well as an experience from a patient perspective.
World traveller to meet new cultures, ideas, problems and solutions. Creative videographer in his spare time. Father of twins. Running Rotterdam and beyond in his spare time.
He characterises himself as WYSIWYG.
Education and work experience
1991-1996. Masters of Science in Medical Biology, Radboud University Nijmegen
1996-2001.Ph.D. in Experimental Molecular genetics, University of Amsterdam/Netherlands Cancer Institute (Denise Barlow and Anton Bern). Thesis title: “Imprinting and gene silencing are in the Air”.
2002-2006. Post-doc at the department of Cell biology and Genetics, Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam (Niels Galjart and Frank Grosveld), creating genetically modifying animal models to study chromatin effects on transcriptional control. Supervised by .
2006-2011. Junior group leader, department of Cell biology and Genetics, Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam (Niels Galjart and Frank Grosveld), working on chromatin structure and epigenetic inheritance.
2011-2015. Senior scientist, bioinformatician and project manager at the Next Generation Sequencing unit of Biomics, Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam (Wilfred van IJcken, Frank Grosveld and Danny Huylebroeck).
2015-2019. Laboratory Specialist Genome Diagnostics in training, department of Clinical Genetics, Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam (Lies Hoefsloot and Robert Hofstra).
2017. Kwalified auditor for ISO15189 (Kerteza).
2018. Managementcursus (Federatie Medisch LaboratoriumSpecialismen).
2019. Qualified and registered LaboratoriumSpecialist Klinische Genetica (LSKG) since 2019.
Project and human resource management
2002 - 2023. 21 years of project management, Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam.
2003-2006. NWO project: The role for BORIS and CTCF in the mechanism of genomic imprinting
2008-2011. KWF project: The role of CTCF and CTCF-L in imprinting and cancer
2012-2014. Next Generations Sequencing projects for both research and diagnostic purposes for clients within ErasmusMC and for national and international collaborators. Examples are data production and analyses for Non Invasive Prenatal Testing, Exome and disease panels and Expression studies.
2006-2015. 9 years of human resource management of technicians, master students and PhD students.
Ph.D. student Suzanne van de Nobelen. Thesis: Touched by CTCF: Analysis of a multi-functional zinc finger protein
Ph.D. student Widia Soochit. Thesis: Fingers in action! Chromatin Organization and Transcriptional Regulation by CTCF and CTCFL.
2017. EU tender NIPT (National NIPT study: Trident-2).
Communication skills and knowledge transfer
2002-2023. Teacher of courses in molecular medicine, embryology, microscopical anatomy, pathology, NIPT, bioinformatics, NGS, genetics and clinical genomics.
2004-2014. Commenting and popularizing science in Dutch media, such as Volkskrant and NRC newspapers, Netwerk TV and Noorderlicht Radio.
2004-2008. He voluntarily managed the first Dutch Café Scientific, discussing science with a broad audience. Initiated and supervised by Jan Molenaar.
Numerous scientific en popular science presentations at national and international scientific and public meetings.
Fund acquisition
2003. € 250K VENI grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific research (NWO) for excellent scientists. Titled: “The role for BORIS and CTCF in the mechanism of genomic imprinting”.
2006. € 500K KWF grant: "The role of CTCF and CTCF-L in imprinting and cancer".
2010. € 32K Sigma Aldrich: "Where Bio Begins"; CompoZr Targeted Integration technology.
Scientific publications
Claus LR, Chen C, Stallworth J, Turner JL, Slaats G, Hawks AL, Mabillard H, Senum SR, Srikanth S, Flanagan-Steet H, Louie RJ, Silver J, Lerner-Ellis J, Morel C, Mighton C, Sleutels F, van Slegtenhorst M, van Ham T, Brooks AS, Dorresteijn EM, Barakat TS, Dahan K, Demoulin N, Goffin EJ, Olinger E; Genomics England Research Consortium; Larsen M, Hertz JM, Lilien MR, Obeidová L, Seeman T, Stone HK, Kerecuk L, Gurgu M, Yousef Yengej FA, Ammerlaan CME, Rookmaaker MB, Hanna C, Rogers RC, Duran K, Peters E, Sayer JA, van Haaften G, Harris PC, Ling K, Mason JM, van Eerde AM, Steet R. Certain heterozygous variants in the kinase domain of the serine/threonine kinase NEK8 can cause an autosomal dominant form of polycystic kidney disease. Kidney Int. Aug 19 (2023).
Smits DJ, Schot R, Popescu CA, Dias KR, Ades L, Briere LC, Sweetser DA, Kushima I, Aleksic B, Khan S, Karageorgou V, Ordonez N, Sleutels FJGT, van der Kaay DCM, Van Mol C, Van Esch H, Bertoli-Avella AM, Roscioli T, Mancini GMS. De novo MCM6 variants in neurodevelopmental disorders: a recognizable phenotype related to zinc binding residues. Hum Genet. Jul;142 (2023).
Brosens E, Peters NCJ, van Weelden KS, Bendixen C, Brouwer RWW, Sleutels F, Bruggenwirth HT, van Ijcken WFJ, Veenma DCM, Otter SCMC, Wijnen RMH, Eggink AJ, van Dooren MF, Reutter HM, Rottier RJ, Schnater JM, Tibboel D, de Klein A. Unravelling the Genetics of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia: An Ongoing Challenge. Front Pediatr. Feb 3 (2022).
Soochit W, Sleutels F, Stik G, Bartkuhn M, Basu S, Hernandez SC, Merzouk S, Vidal E, Boers R, Boers J, van der Reijden M, Geverts B, van Cappellen WA, van den Hout M, Ozgur Z, van IJcken WFJ, Gribnau J, Renkawitz R, Graf T, Houtsmuller A, Grosveld F, Stadhouders R, Galjart N. CTCF chromatin residence time controls three-dimensional genome organisation, gene expression and DNA methylation in pluripotent cells. Nat Cell Biol. Aug;23 (2021)
Chopra M, McEntagart M, Clayton-Smith J, Platzer K, Shukla A, Girisha KM, Kaur A, Kaur P, Pfundt R, Veenstra-Knol H, Mancini GMS, Cappuccio G, Brunetti-Pierri N, Kortüm F, Hempel M, Denecke J, Lehman A; CAUSES Study; Kleefstra T, Stuurman KE, Wilke M, Thompson ML, Bebin EM, Bijlsma EK, Hoffer MJV, Peeters-Scholte C, Slavotinek A, Weiss WA, Yip T, Hodoglugil U, Whittle A, diMonda J, Neira J, Yang S, Kirby A, Pinz H, Lechner R, Sleutels F, Helbig I, McKeown S, Helbig K, Willaert R, Juusola J, Semotok J, Hadonou M, Short J; Genomics England Research Consortium; Yachelevich N, Lala S, Fernández-Jaen A, Pelayo JP, Klöckner C, Kamphausen SB, Abou Jamra R, Arelin M, Innes AM, Niskakoski A, Amin S, Williams M, Evans J, Smithson S, Smedley D, de Burca A, Kini U, Delatycki MB, Gallacher L, Yeung A, Pais L, Field M, Martin E, Charles P, Courtin T, Keren B, Iascone M, Cereda A, Poke G, Abadie V, Chalouhi C, Parthasarathy P, Halliday BJ, Robertson SP, Lyonnet S, Amiel J, Gordon CT. Heterozygous ANKRD17 loss-of-function variants cause a syndrome with intellectual disability, speech delay, and dysmorphism. Am J Hum Genet. Jun 3 (2021).
Wisnumurti DA, Sribudiani Y, Porsch RM, Maskoen AM, Rahayuningsih SE, Asni EK, Sleutels F, van Ijcken WFJ, Sukadi A, Achmad TH. G6PD genetic variations in neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia in Indonesian Deutromalay population. BMC Pediatr. Dec 20 (2019).
Huijsdens-van Amsterdam K, Straver R, van Maarle MC, Knegt AC, Van Opstal D, Sleutels F, Smeets D, Sistermans EA. Mosaic maternal 10qter deletions are associated with FRA10B expansions and may cause false-positive noninvasive prenatal screening results. Genet Med. Nov 20 (2018).
Brouwer RWW, van den Hout MCGN, Kockx CEM, Brosens E, Eussen B, de Klein A, Sleutels F, van IJcken WFJ. Nimbus: a design-driven analyses suite for amplicon-based NGS data. Bioinformatics. Aug 15 (2018).
Wisnumurti DA, Sribudiani Y, Porsch RM, Maskoen AM, Abdulhamied LI, Rahayuningsih SE, Asni EK, Sleutels F, Kockx CEM, van Ijcken WFJ, Sukadi A, Achmad TH. UGT1A1 Genetic Variations and a Haplotype Associated with Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia in Indonesian Population. Biomed Res Int. Jan 23 (2018).
Schmidt R, Jager V, Zühlke D, Wolff C, Bernhardt J, Cankar K, Beekwilder J, Ijcken WV, Sleutels F, Boer W, Riedel K, Garbeva P. Fungal volatile compounds induce production of the secondary metabolite Sodorifen in Serratia plymuthica PRI-2C. Sci Rep. Apr 13 (2017).
Vrijenhoek T, Kraaijeveld K, Elferink M, de Ligt J, Kranendonk E, Santen G, Nijman IJ, Butler D, Claes G, Costessi A, Dorlijn W, van Eyndhoven W, Halley DJ, van den Hout MC, van Hove S, Johansson LF, Jongbloed JD, Kamps R, Kockx CE, de Koning B, Kriek M, Lekanne Dit Deprez R, Lunstroo H, Mannens M, Mook OR, Nelen M, Ploem C, Rijnen M, Saris JJ, Sinke R, Sistermans E, van Slegtenhorst M, Sleutels F, van der Stoep N, van Tienhoven M, Vermaat M, Vogel M, Waisfisz Q, Marjan Weiss J, van den Wijngaard A, van Workum W, Ijntema H, van der Zwaag B, van IJcken WF, den Dunnen J, Veltman JA, Hennekam R, Cuppen E. Next-generation sequencing-based genome diagnostics across clinical genetics centers: implementation choices and their effects. Eur J Hum Genet. Sep 23 (2015).
Sleutels F, Soochit W, Bartkuhn M, Heath H, Dienstbach S, Bergmaier P, Franke V, Rosa-Garrido M, van de Nobelen S, Caesar L, van der Reijden M, Bryne JC, van Ijcken W, Grootegoed JA, Delgado MD, Lenhard B, Renkawitz R, Grosveld F, Galjart N. The male germ cell gene regulator CTCFL is functionally different from CTCF and binds CTCF-like consensus sites in a nucleosome composition-dependent manner. Epigenetics Chromatin. Jun 18 (2012).
Barakat TS, Rentmeester E, Sleutels F, Grootegoed JA, Gribnau J. Precise BAC targeting of genetically polymorphic mouse ES cells. Nucleic Acids Res. Oct;39 (2011).
van de Nobelen S, Rosa-Garrido M, Leers J, Heath H, Soochit W, Joosen L, Jonkers I, Demmers J, van der Reijden M, Torrano V, Grosveld F, Delgado MD, Renkawitz R, Galjart N, Sleutels F. CTCF regulates the local epigenetic state of ribosomal DNA repeats. Epigenetics Chromatin. Nov 8, (2010).
Ribeiro de Almeida C, Heath H, Krpic S, Dingjan GM, van Hamburg JP, Bergen I, van de Nobelen S, Sleutels F, Grosveld F, Galjart N, Hendriks RW. Critical role for the transcription regulator CCCTC-binding factor in the control of Th2 cytokine expression. J Immunol. Jan 15;182(2):999-1010 (2009).
Heath H, Ribeiro de Almeida C, Sleutels F, Dingjan G, van de Nobelen S, Jonkers I, Ling KW, Gribnau J, Renkawitz R, Grosveld F, Hendriks RW, Galjart N. CTCF regulates cell cycle progression of alphabeta T cells in the thymus. EMBO J. Nov 5;27(21):2839-50 (2008).
Sleutels F, Tjon G, Ludwig T, Barlow DP. Imprinted silencing of Slc22a2 and Slc22a3 does not need transcriptional overlap between Igf2r and Air. EMBO Journal. 22(14): 3696-3704 (2003).
Sleutels F, Zwart R and Barlow DP. The non-coding Air RNA is required for silencing autosomal imprinted genes. Nature 415, 810-813 (2002).
Sleutels F and Barlow DP. The origins of genomic imprinting in mammals. Advances in Genetics, Volume 46, Homology Effects, Academic Press, USA. (2002).
Oudejans CB, Westerman B, Wouters D, Gooyer S, Leegwater PA, van Wijk IJ and Sleutels F. Allelic IGF2R repression does not correlate with expression of antisense RNA in human extraembryonic tissues. Genomics 73:3, 331-337 (2001).
Zwart R, Sleutels F, Wutz A, Schinkel A and Barlow DP. Bidirectional action of the Igf2r imprint control element on upstream and downstream imprinted genes. Genes and Development 15:18, 2361-2366 (2001).
Sleutels F and Barlow DP. Investigation of elements sufficient to imprint the mouse Air promoter. Molecular and Cellular Biology 21:15, 5008-5017 (2001).
Sleutels F. Imprinting and gene silencing are in the Air. PhD thesis (2001).
Sleutels F, Barlow DP and Lyle R. The uniqueness of the imprinting mechanism. Current Opinions in Genetics and Development 10:229-233 (2000).
Bosch RR, Smeets RL, Sleutels F, Patel AM, Emst-de Vries SE, Joep J, de Pont HH, Willems PH. Concerted action of cytosolic Ca2+ and protein kinase C in receptor-mediated phospholipase D activation in Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing the cholecystokinin-A receptor. Biochem ical Journal 337:263-268 (1999).
Klein JM, Mohrherr CJ, Sleutels F, Jaenecke N, Riehm JP, Rao KR. A highly conserved red pigment-concentrating hormone precursor in the blue crab Callinectes sapidus. Biochemical Biophysical Research Communications. 212:151-158 (1995).
Klein JM, Mohrherr CJ, Sleutels F, Riehm JP, Rao KR. Molecular cloning of two pigment-dispersing hormone (PDH) precursors in the blue crab Callinectes sapidus reveals a novel member of the PDH neuropeptide family. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 205:410-416 (1994).
de Kleijn DP, Sleutels FJ, Martens GJ, Van Herp F. Cloning and expression of mRNA encoding prepro-gonad-inhibiting hormone (GIH) in the lobster Homarus americanus. FEBS Letters 353:255-258 (1994).