Dr. Martine Smit

Biography

Martine Smit is a professor of Medicinal Chemistry at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She studied Pharmacochemistry from 1986 to 1991 at VU Amsterdam and obtained her PhD in Molecular Pharmacology/Medicinal Chemistry in 1995, focusing on the regulation of histamine receptors. Following her doctoral studies, she spent 3.5 years as a postdoctoral researcher at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, where she worked on oncogenic signaling networks under the guidance of Professor R. Iyengar. Professor Smit's research focuses on novel concepts related to G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) including constitutive activity, endosomal signaling, dimerization, and extracellular vesicle biology, especially in the context of targeting and understanding oncogenic signaling networks activated by human viral chemokine receptors. Over her career, she has collaborated with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, resulting in multiple patents. She has made significant contributions to the field by identifying nanobodies that target and modulate human viral chemokine receptor function. In addition to her research, she has received prestigious grants and awards, including the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences fellowship and several NWO grants. She is currently involved in coordinating several projects aimed at enhancing the understanding of GPCR networks in leukemic cells.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards