Rob Collin

Dr. Rob W.J. Collin is an assistant professor and junior principal investigator at the Radboud University Medical Centre (RUMC), and is affiliated with the Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences (RIMLS). He heads the “Blindness Genetic Therapy” research group within the Department of Human Genetics of the RUMC.

After his PhD study on exploring the role of proteins involved in Alzheimer’s disease (graduated in 2006), he switched gears to the field of Human Genetics. As a post-doc, he was primarily involved in the identification of several novel genetic causes of non-syndromic hearing impairment (DFNB59, ESRRB and LRTOMT) and inherited (vitreo)retinal dystrophies (EYS, C2ORF71, IMPG2, MVK, TSPAN12 and ZNF408). In 2008, he decided to start exploring the possibilities to create his own research line within the RUMC, on the development of genetic therapies for inherited retinal dystrophies. He was awarded a prestigious ‘VENI’ grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), allowing him to initiate his own research line. In order to learn the tricks and treats of gene therapy, he visited the lab of Jean Bennett at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA, for a period of 6 months in 2010. In 2010, he won the Retina Netherlands ‘Career Development Award’.

Currently, he heads a research group consisting of ten individuals that are all focusing on the development of novel therapeutic strategies to treat inherited retinal dystrophies, including an antisense oligonucleotide-based therapy to treat CEP290-associated LCA, one of the most severe subtypes of visual impairment that affects very young children. He has published over 75 peer-reviewed manuscripts and several book chapters. He is a member of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO), the American Society of Gene- and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) and the Dutch society for Gene and Cell Therapy (NVGCT). In addition, he is an editorial board member of the recently launched ‘Journal of Gene Therapy’ and reviewer for many scientific journals including The American Journal of Human Genetics, Human Molecular Genetics, PLOS One, Ophthalmology, IOVS and Molecular Vision.