chemistry

Piet Borst

Piet Borst is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Piet Borst rather than just read about it. In short: Piet Borst CBE (born 5 July 1934, in Amsterdam) is emeritus professor of clinical biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Amsterdam (UVA), and until 1999 director of research and chairman of the board of directors of the Netherlands Cancer Institute and the Antoni van Leeuwenhoekziekenhuis (NKI-AVL). He continued to work at the NKI-AVL as a staff member and group leader until 2016.

Key takeaways

Piet Borst belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Piet Borst to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Piet Borst from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Piet Borst CBE (born 5 July 1934, in Amsterdam) is emeritus professor of clinical biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Amsterdam (UVA), and until 1999 director of research and chairman of the board of directors of the Netherlands Cancer Institute and the Antoni van Leeuwenhoekziekenhuis (NKI-AVL). He continued to work at the NKI-AVL as a staff member and group leader until 2016.

Career Piet Borst studied medicine in Amsterdam from 1952 to 1958 and completed his internships in 1961-1962. He received his PhD for an investigation of tumor mitochondria (Supervisor Edward Slater). He then moved to New York City, where he worked with fellow post-doc Charles Weissmann on replication of bacteriophages in the lab of Nobel laureate Severo Ochoa at the New York University School of Medicine. In 1965, he became professor of Biochemistry at the University of Amsterdam and head of the section for Medical Enzymology and Molecular Biology of the Biochemistry Department. From 1972 to 1980 Borst was also part-time Director of the Institute of Animal Physiology of the University of Amsterdam where he set up the first Unit for Molecular Biology on the Biology Campus. In 1983 Borst moved to the Netherlands Cancer Institute - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital where he became director of research and in 1987 also chairman. He retained an honorary professorship at the University of Amsterdam. After his mandatory retirement in 1999, Borst became a staff member and continued running his lab, studying mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance in cancer cells, the physiological functions of drug transporters and the biosynthesis and function of DNA Base J, a new base in DNA that had been discovered in trypanosomes by his research group. Borst contributed to discussions about science and science policy in the Netherlands: In the seventies he was spokesman for science in the rather virulent discussions on recombinant-DNA experiments; as a director of the cancer institute he regularly reported on advances in cancer research/treatment in the press and on radio/TV; he was a member of the Innovation Platform, a small thinktank of the Dutch prime-minister; and for 23 years he wrote a monthly column in the prime intellectual daily, the NRC Handelsblad. His doctoral students include Jan Hoeijmakers.

Major international organisational functions 1978 – 1984 Elected member EMBO Council (1982 – 1984 vice-president) 1985 – 1991 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the EMBL in Heidelberg, Germany. (1988 – 1991 President) 1986 – 1990 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Basel Institute for Immunology, Switzerland 1986 – 1993 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, Vienna, Austria 1991 – 2004 Member of the Scientific Committee of the Foundation Louis Jeantet, Genève, de jury of the Louis Jeantet Prize (since 1997 President of the jury), Switzerland 1992 – 1998 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC), Lausanne, Switzerland 1994 – 2000 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Londen, GB 1999 – 2005 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Zentrum für Molekulare Biologie, Heidelberg, Germany 2000 – 2005 Member of the External Scientific and Strategic Committee (CEOSS) of the Institute Pasteur, Paris, France (since 2004 also chairman) 2000 – 2006 Member Supervisory Board Schering A.G., Berlin, Germany 2004 – 2008 Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Fritz-Lipmann Institut, Jena, Germany 2005 – 2012 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the London Research Institute, London, United Kingdom 2005 – 2012 Member of the Board of Scientific Governors of The Scripps Research Institute, USA 2013 – 2016 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Research Institute for the Biology of Ageing (ERIBA), Groningen, The Netherlands

Royal distinctions 1999 Commander in the Order of the Netherlands Lion 2007 Honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)

Scientific awards 1981 Royal Dutch/Shell-prize for the Life Sciences (Netherlands) 1984 Paul-Ehrlich und Ludwig-Darmstaedter Prize, Germany (shared with Prof. George Cross) 1984 F.M.V.V. Prize of the Dutch Federation of Medical Scientific Societies 1989 Howard Taylor Ricketts Award of the University of Chicago, USA 1990 Dr. G. Wander award of the Wander Foundation in Bern, Switzerland 1990 Gold medal of the Genootschap voor Natuur-, Genees- en Heelkunde in Amsterdam 1992 Dr. H.P. Heineken prize for biochemistry and biophysics of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences 1992 Gold medal of the Robert Koch Foundation in Cologne, Germany 1993 Prof.dr P. Muntendam prize of the Dutch Cancer Society 1999 Silver Medal of merit of the City of Amsterdam 1999 Medal of the University of Amsterdam for exceptional contributions to the university 2000 Hamilton Fairley Award for Clinical Research, European Society for Medical Oncology, Hamburg. 2007 The distinguished Service Award, awarded at the Miami Nature Biotechnology Winter Symposium, Miami Beach, Florida, USA. 2010 Gebroeders Bruinsma Erepenning van de Nederlandse Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij, Amsterdam. 2023 Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science.

Membership of academics 1978 Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences 1983 De Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen 1986 Foreign Member of the Royal Society 1989 Academia Europaea 1991 Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, United States 1995 International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, United States 2009 Fellow of the European Academy of Cancer Sciences

Discoveries of Borst and collaborators

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Piet Borst

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Piet Borst claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Piet Borst before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Piet Borst ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Piet Borst

In research: Piet Borst appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Piet Borst in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Piet Borst is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1934 births, Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam, Commanders of the Order of the British Empire, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Piet Borst outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Piet Borst in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Piet Borst means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Piet Borst out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Piet Borst in simple terms?

Why does Piet Borst matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Piet Borst?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Piet Borst.