Gian-Luca McLelland wins Antoni van Leeuwenhoek award 2023

Scientist Gian-Luca McLelland has received the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek award 2023 today. His curiosity and creativity led him to a remarkable discovery that asks for an update of the biochemistry textbooks. From experience, he knows that it can pay off to allow yourself to get a little sidetracked at times. In fundamental research, such a sidetrack might eventually turn out to be a main track.

Last year, Gian-Luca McLelland and his colleagues from the Netherlands Cancer Institute discovered that human cells can produce fuel through a different pathway than the one previously known. The fatty molecules they studied are fundamental to human life: most of the energy in our bodies is stored in such triglycerides.

Impressed

Today, McLelland received the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek award 2023 for more than 'just' this discovery. Supervisor Thijn Brummelkamp: "I am deeply impressed by Gian-Luca as a scientist, and he is one of the best supervisors of interns that I have met. His accomplishments and passion for science are exceptional."

Logistical problems

His unexpected finding, published in Nature last year, wasn't quite what Gian-Luca had been looking for in the first place. "I got sidetracked", he explains. "I wanted to study lipid metabolism. Cells have some logistical problems there: they make lipids in one place, store them in a second and burn them in a third. Some things in the literature didn't make sense, though."

He also noticed lipids stored inside droplets in cells that shouldn't contain them because they lacked the known production route… "That was puzzling," he says. It would be easy to think: a few droplets, who cares? Well, Gian-Luca did. He cleverly designed a series of experiments in which he selectively switched genes on and off in cells to study the effects. "We discovered that cells have an unknown brake on their triglyceride production. When we removed it, we saw a crazy amount of lipid droplets."

Massive gaps

"This pair of genetic screens that were designed and carried out by Gian-Luca are among the most elegant and striking genetic experiments that have ever been carried out in my laboratory", says Thijn Brummelkamp.

"It's a lot of fun trying to unravel the complicated workings of things we don't understand", Gian-Luca says. "There are massive gaps in our current understanding of cells and biology. Many functions of the 20,000 human genes, for example, remain unknown. You can discover things here that are completely new and unexpected, which can be thrilling."

Learn more about his research in this video.

Terrible player

Originally from Montreal, Canada, McLelland characterizes himself as laid-back. By combining this relaxed attitude with creativity and a passion for uncovering new knowledge, he seems to be quite successful in doing what he loves most: moving forward. In science. In sports. In life.

He does not shy away from uncomfortable positions in his efforts, literally - while doing yoga - or metaphorically - by moving overseas, or not giving up on ice hockey despite starting off as a terrible player. "I enjoy doing things I'm good at, but I also like activities I don't excel in. Just for fun, and to feel like I can improve my skills."

Moonlighting

He loves playing around with cells in the lab to discover the ways genes interact - knocking out genes with great precision and observing the effects. "We are sort of reverse engineering something that already exists. Imagine taking a car apart to unravel how it works, without having that prior knowledge of how the car works. That's what we do with genetics in the lab."

"A lot of genes have a second job - it's like they moonlight. How cool is that? These genes have a well-characterized function but turn out to have a second one. Cells are very efficient in that sense. They're probably more complex than we can ever understand in our entire lifetime."

His move to the Netherlands has been eye-opening for him. "Montreal is quite European to North American standards. But people think differently here. There are different attitudes towards work-life balance, for example." And then there is this Dutch habit that fits him like a glove: "I've been able to bike to work every day since I came here. I love it."

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek award

The Netherlands Cancer Institute awards the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek award every year to its most talented young researcher. The award is worth 6000 euros, which will go towards new research. The award, which was first given out in 1988, is partially financed by NKI alumnus prof. dr. Roel Nusse from Stanford University. The Netherlands Cancer Institute wishes to express its gratitude to him.

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