Jasper van Thor

Professor Jasper van Thor is a faculty member at Imperial College London's Department of Life Sciences, part of the Faculty of Natural Sciences. He holds the title of Professor of Molecular Biophysics and leads the Ultrafast Spectroscopy Laboratory and Molecular Biophysics group. His research focuses on ultrafast molecular dynamics using techniques like femtosecond crystallography and spectroscopy, particularly studying light-sensitive proteins such as photoreceptors, fluorescent proteins, and photosynthetic systems. He has pioneered work on structural dynamics using X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs) and developed open-source software tools like the Ultrafast Spectroscopy Modelling Toolbox and PyLDM for data analysis.

Education: MSc (1993) and PhD (1999) in Chemistry from the University of Amsterdam, followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford under Dame Louise Johnson, supported by EMBO and HFSP fellowships. He joined Imperial College in 2007, establishing the Ultrafast Spectroscopy Lab.

Research Interests: Ultrafast structural changes in proteins, photoactivation mechanisms, coherent vibrational dynamics, XFEL applications in biology, and theoretical modeling of population dynamics. His work bridges molecular biophysics, chemistry, and materials science, with contributions to understanding photosynthesis and protein signaling.

Key Achievements: Director of Imperial's Frontiers of Ultrafast Measurement network and PI of the LUXD lab. Developed novel methods for femtosecond infrared crystallography and revealed mechanisms like the 'hula-twist' isomerization in fluorescent proteins. Authored influential papers on protein structural dynamics and spectroscopic analysis tools.

Awards: EMBO Research Fellowship (2000), HFSP Long-Term Fellowship (2000), Royal Society University Research Fellowship (2002). Recognized for contributions to ultrafast structural biology.

Grants & Labs: Active in XFEL collaborations globally (LCLS, SACLA, European XFEL). Oversees the Electron Microscopy Centre and Energy Futures Lab affiliations. His lab develops open-source software for data analysis, emphasizing reproducibility and accessibility.