Dr. van Haastert studied biology and received his PhD degree from the University of- Leiden. In 1984 he combined a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Leiden and Johns Hopkins University. Since 1989 he has been professor of cellular biochemistry in the University of Groningen, where, since 2009, he has been director of the Groningen Biomolecular Sciences and Biotechnology Institute (GBB).

The primary aim of Dr. van Haastert’s research is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of how eukaryotic cells move and navigate in gradients of diffusive molecules. This process is called chemotaxis, and is used by cells to find food, to detect bacterial infections or to shape a multicellular structure. Many of these studies are performed with the micro-organism Dictyostelium, because this organism is genetically tractable and still has many properties of mammalian cells, including amoeboid shape, locomotion and complex protein modification.

He has received several prizes, including Awards of the Netherlands Society of Biochemistry and Nederlandse Maatschappij der Wetenschappen. Dr. van Haastert serves on many Scientific Advisory Boards, and is editor of Molecular Biology of the Cell.