Our Image of the Month shows Professor Bert Bakker at our Wellcome Witness Seminar 'Clinical Molecular Genetics in the UK c.1975–c.2000'.

Professor Bakker has also made memorable contributions to our Witness Seminar on 'Human Gene Mapping Workshops c.1973-c.1991'.

Professor Egbert (Bert) Bakker PhD (b. 1951) studied chemistry in Delft (BSc), continuing his studies at Leiden University (1975–1976) where he was also a technician (1977–1989). During this period he worked closely with Professor Peter Pearson and pioneered molecular genetic techniques, which led to the first prenatal diagnosis of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in 1985. In 1989 he completed his doctoral research on DMD (Bakker (1989)) and, the same year, was awarded the Lustrum Prize by the Dutch Human Genetics Society. In 1990 he became Head of the DNA diagnostic section in Leiden University’s Clinical Genetics Centre and became Associate Professor at the Department of Human Genetics. In conjunction with these roles, he was Head of the Forensic DNA-Laboratory at Leiden (1994–2000). He was appointed Professor of Molecular Genetic Diagnosis at Leiden University Medical Center, where he is now Head of the Laboratory.

A video interview with Professor Bakker is available here: http://www.histmodbiomed.org/article/bakker-bert