He obtained his PhD in chemistry (cum laude) with Prof. Ben Feringa at the University of Groningen. After postdoctoral work at the University of Oxford with Prof. Harry Anderson, he joined the TU Delft Faculty in 2008 (tenured in 2013). His main research interests include the use of chemical reactivity to control self-assembly processes and soft materials, and the design and synthesis of new materials for applications in physics, biology and engineering.