Peter van der Geer

Background

Peter van der Geer was born on May 8, 1961, in Voorhout, Zuid Holland, Netherlands, to Arie van der Geer and Dora de Boer. He later developed a professional career spanning the Netherlands, Canada, and the United States, combining biomedical research with university teaching.

Education

Van der Geer studied biology at the University of Amsterdam, where he received a Doctoraal qualification in 1987 and a Doctor of Philosophy in biochemistry in 1993. The University of Amsterdam, founded in 1632 and expanded as a modern research university in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, provided the institutional setting for his training in the biological sciences.

His doctoral research was connected with the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, where he worked with Tony Hunter on signal transduction by the CSF-1 receptor. The Salk Institute was established in 1960 as an independent biomedical research center and became known for basic research in molecular biology, genetics, neuroscience, and related fields.

Career

Van der Geer began his research career with doctoral work at the University of Amsterdam and experimental research at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla. His work addressed protein-tyrosine kinases and the signaling proteins that recognize phosphorylated receptor sites, contributing to the study of how extracellular signals produce biochemical changes inside cells.

He held postdoctoral research appointments at the Salk Institute from 1993 to 1994 and at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute in Toronto from 1994 to 1997. The Salk Institute was an independent biomedical research center focused on fundamental biological mechanisms, while the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, founded in 1985 at Mount Sinai Hospital, became a major Canadian center for biomedical and clinical research.

In 1997 he joined the University of California, San Diego, as an assistant professor of biochemistry. UC San Diego, founded in 1960, developed as a research university with particular strength in science, engineering, medicine, and oceanography. Van der Geer remained there until 2006 before joining San Diego State University.

At San Diego State University he became an assistant professor of biochemistry in 2006 and an associate professor in 2008. He has taught biochemistry and receptor biochemistry, served as an undergraduate advisor, and directed research on signal transduction by protein-tyrosine kinases, including proteolytic processing of the colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor and the functions of Shc and c-Cbl. San Diego State University, founded in 1897 as a teacher-training school, is a public research university whose College of Sciences combines undergraduate education with laboratory research.

Achievements

• Van der Geer conducted research on receptor protein-tyrosine kinases and intracellular signal transduction, including the role of phosphorylation sites in recruiting downstream signaling proteins.

• His research investigated regulated proteolytic processing of the colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor during macrophage activation, linking receptor processing with cellular responses to microbial stimuli.

• As a university educator, he has taught courses in general biochemistry and receptor biochemistry while advising undergraduate students in chemistry and biochemistry.

Works

• book chapter

  • Phosphopeptide mapping and phosphoamino acid analysis on cellulose thin-layer plates

    (Chapter co-authored with William J. Boyle and Tony Hunter...)

    1993

• journal article

  • Identification of STS-1 as a novel ShcA-binding protein

    (Co-authored study identifying STS-1 as a binding partner ...)

    2017
  • The Receptor-like Protein-tyrosine Phosphatase, RPTPα, Is Phosphorylated by Protein Kinase C on Two Serines Close to the Inner Face of the Plasma Membrane

    (Research article co-authored with Sharon Tracy and Tony H...)

    1995
  • Wolfram Syndrome protein, Miner1, regulates sulphydryl redox status, the unfolded protein response, and Ca2+ homeostasis

    (Co-authored study examining Miner1, also known as ERMIN2,...)

    2013
  • STS-1 and STS-2, Multi-Enzyme Proteins Equipped to Mediate Protein–Protein Interactions

    (Review co-authored with Barbara Hayes discussing the stru...)

    2023
  • Identification and mutagenesis of the TACE and gamma-secretase cleavage sites in the colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor

    (Co-authored research identifying and testing cleavage sit...)

    2014
  • Regulated Intramembrane Proteolysis of the Colony-Stimulating Factor 1 Receptor during Macrophage Activation

    (Co-authored article describing ectodomain shedding and in...)

    2015
  • Protein instability following transport or storage on dry ice

    (Co-authored methodological paper examining protein instab...)

    2013

Connections

Peter van der Geer is the son of Arie van der Geer and Dora de Boer. He married Sandra Eileen Wiley. Their children include Anneke and Marijke.

Father:

Arie van der Geer

Mother:

Dora de Boer

Spouse:

Sandra Eileen Wiley

Biomedical researcher and co-author of research on the Wolfram Syndrome protein Miner1.

child:

Anneke Geer

child:

Marijke Geer

References

• Peter van der Geer, Ph.D. — San Diego State University Institutional profile documenting Van der Geer's position as associate professor of biochemistry, undergraduate advising, research interests, and laboratory focus.
• Peter van der Geer — Curriculum Vitae and Selected Publications San Diego State University faculty profile documenting his education, postdoctoral appointments, academic career, fellowships, research interests, and selected publications.
• 1999 University of California Hellman Fellows University of California fellowship document identifying Van der Geer as a Hellman Fellow and describing his research project on a Shc-binding protein.
  1999