Professor Hans Clevers, MD, Ph.D. was Professor in Immunology (1991-2002) and Molecular Genetics (since 2002) at Utrecht University. He was director of the Hubrecht Institute in Utrecht (2002-2012) and President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW, 2012-2015). Professor Clevers’s group has identified Lgr5 as the adult stem cell marker in the intestine and subsequently in several other tissues. Based on this discovery, the Clevers lab has developed miniature organ culture systems (“organoids”) of a variety of organs. 

The Clevers lab will contribute to the Grand Challenge Project with his unique expertise in an extensive collection of human organoids/tumor organoids as well as genetic screening in these systems.