About us

Research at the Hubrecht Institute is pioneering in developmental and stem cell biology. The institute encompasses 20 research groups that perform fundamental, multidisciplinary research on healthy and diseased cells, tissues and organisms.

The Hubrecht Institute is a research institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), situated on the Utrecht Science Park. Since 2008, the Hubrecht is affiliated with the UMC Utrecht. This allowed the institute to grow into an internationally renowned research institute and facilitated the link with (pre)clinical research. The Hubrecht Institute has a partnership with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) based on shared institutional goals, scientific synergy and complementarity.

Research

Research at the Hubrecht Institute is diverse and covers many aspects of developmental and stem cell biology including signaling in stem cells and early development, cardiac development, regeneration, epigenetics, genome architecture, cell cycle control, DNA repair, gene expression dynamics and quantitative biology of gene expression. This research leads to innovation in treatment of cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases among others. The Hubrecht Institute utilizes a unique array of research models to address the different research questions, including mice, frogs, zebrafish, flies, worms, tissue culture cells and organoids.

Strategy

A center for interdisciplinary biomedical research. One of the main goals of the Hubrecht Institute is to build an interdisciplinary research institute that can tackle the most important problems in modern biology and medicine. During the last five years this interdisciplinary approach strengthened significantly. For example, during the last year more than half of the top publications from the Hubrecht Institute involved more than two Hubrecht groups, demonstrating the collaborative spirit. This aspect will continue to be strengthened by recruitment of complementary groups and stimulation of interdisciplinary research.

Organization

Presently, the Hubrecht Institute supports 20 research groups with a total of around 280 employees. The research groups operate in an independent manner and scientific quality is guaranteed by yearly internal evaluations and by site visit committees every six years according to the Standard Evaluation Protocol (SEP). In addition to a highly interactive and international scientific environment, excellent research facilities are available on-site. The Hubrecht is a highly dynamic, diverse and young institute where the average age of the researchers is around 30 and more than 30 different nationalities are represented. The institute aims to grow to 25 groups in the coming years.

Location

The Hubrecht Institute is situated on Utrecht Science Park (USP), which provides a home base for Utrecht University, University Medical Center Utrecht, HU Utrecht University of Applied Sciences and various small and large companies. USP is a vibrant and exciting place to study and work. Life Sciences and Health is one of the main themes of research and education. Utrecht Life Sciences is a platform that supports collaboration and innovation.

 

Our partners

The Hubrecht Institute collaborates with numerous laboratories, internationally, nationally and locally, always aiming to improve our research. The Hubrecht Institute is part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and has a special partnership with the UMC Utrecht, Utrecht University, Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and Oncode Institute.

Ambrosius Hubrecht (1853-1915) by Bramine Hubrecht (Universiteitsmuseum Utrecht)

History

The Hubrecht Institute was named after Ambrosius Arnold Willem Hubrecht (1853-1915), professor of Zoology in the Faculty of Medicine of Utrecht University. He lived at the Janskerkhof in Utrecht, an official residence that later also contained the Anatomy/Embryology Laboratory and the Anatomy Museum of Utrecht University.

At the beginning of the 1880s Hubrecht corresponded with Charles Darwin, who paved the way for the theory of evolution in his book “On the origin of species”. During his life Hubrecht assembled a vast amount of embryonic material from a number of species, particularly from the former Dutch colonies of the East Indies.

Open access

The Hubrecht Institute strongly supports open access of all scientific publications. Therefore, we provide PDF files of all publications on our website for personal use. In addition, the institute subsidizes open access publication via the golden route.

 

Working at the Hubrecht Institute

People are the most valuable asset of the Hubrecht Institute. Many young people work at the Hubrecht, making the average age of employees very low. All employees are appreciated for their contribution to the success of the institute. It is important to the institute that people feel safe and work together well. This is reflected by a broad introduction program, yearly evaluation meetings and regular drinks and outings to improve integration, collaboration and relaxation. Find out more on our ‘Working at the Hubrecht Institute’ page.

Visiting address

  • Uppsalalaan 8
  • 3584 CT Utrecht
  • Nederland

Postal address

  • P.O. Box 85164
  • 3508 AD UTRECHT
  • The Netherlands