Piet Herdewijn is Professor Medicinal Chemistry and Director of the Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry at the Rega Institute for Biomedical Research at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.
His interest is in bioorganic and medicinal chemistry (infectious diseases and immunology). During the last 10 years he has been involved in developing the field of xenobiology, by designing artificial information systems based on the structure of nucleic acids.
He holds a PhD in the field of the synthesis of carbocyclic beta lactam antibiotics (1981) and a habilitation (1990) in the field of the synthesis of anti-HIV nucleosides. Previously, Professor Herdewijn was a Research Associate of the Belgium National Fund of Scientific Research and carried out postdoctoral research in the field of oligonucleotide synthesis at the University of Konstanz, Germany (W. Pfleiderer). He was Associated Professor at the University of Ghent (Belgium) and at the Université d’Evry-Val-d’Essone (France). He was Visiting Professor of the National Science Council, Taiwan, The Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France and the University of California at Irvine (USA). He is cofounder and first president of the International Society of Nucleosides, Nucleotides and Nucleic Acids.
Professor Jerdewijn is a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine, Belgium.
PROF. Piet Herdewijn
Professor of Medicinal Chemistry
Rega Institute for Medical Sciences
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Herestraat, Belgium