Robert Ietswaart

Assistant Professor - Biological Sciences

SCI 4.255
Ietswaart lab
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Currently accepting undergraduate and graduate students

Professional Preparation

Postdoctoral Fellowship - Functional Genomics and Machine Learning
Harvard Medical School - 2024

Doctor of Philosophy - Computational & Systems Biology
John Innes Centre / University of East Anglia - 2016

Master of Science - Theoretical Physics
Leiden University - 2011

Bachelor of Science - Mathematics
Leiden University - 2009

Bachelor of Science - Physics
Leiden University - 2009

Research Areas

AI Virtual Cell

Chemical cell reprogramming

Gene regulation at a genome-wide scale

Regenerative medicine

Publications

Proximal termination generates a transcriptional state that determines the rate of establishment of Polycomb silencing 2024 - Journal Article

Early-stage lung cancer is driven by a transitional cell state dependent on a KRAS-ITGA3-SRC axis 2024 - Journal Article

A kinetic dichotomy between mitochondrial and nuclear gene expression processes 2024 - Journal Article

Early-stage lung adenocarcinoma is driven by an injury-associated, plastic cell state dependent on a KRAS-ITGA3-SRC axis 2024 - Other

Genome-wide quantification of RNA flow across subcellular compartments reveals determinants of the mammalian transcript life cycle. 2024 - Journal Article

Regulatory principles of human mitochondrial gene expression revealed by kinetic analysis of the RNA life cycle 2023 - Other

RNA Polymerase II pausing temporally coordinates cell cycle progression and erythroid differentiation 2023 - Other

Proximal termination generates a transcriptional state that determines the rate of establishment of Polycomb silencing 2023 - Other

Awards

Patent pending on AI Virtual Cell - USPTO [2026]

SBIR grant - NIH / NHLBI [2024]

Finalist - Harvard President's Innovation Challenge [2024]

T32 Fellowship in Genetics - NIH / NIGMS [2022]

Student Software Prospective Future Impact Award - International Society for Computational Biology [2019]

Long-Term Postdoctoral Fellowship - EMBO [2016]

PhD studentship - BBSRC [2011]

Hendrik Casimir prize - Casimir Research School [2010]

Appointments

Assistant Professor - Biological Sciences
UT Dallas [2026–Present]

Co-Founder
Stealth Startup [2025–Present]

Chief Scientific Officer & Co-Founder
Cellforma, Inc. [2022–2025]