He received his Ph.D. at the University of Leiden (1996, cum laude) under the supervision of the late Prof. van Boom and conducted postdoctoral research in the group of Prof. Nicolaou (The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA). In 1998, he became assistant professor in bioorganic chemistry at the University of Amsterdam before moving to Radboud University Nijmegen (1999).