Dr M.J. Teixeira de Mattos (1950) has been appointed professor of Quantitative Microbial Physiology in the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam (UvA).

Joost Teixeira de Mattos obtained his doctorate from the UvA in 1984 with a dissertation on the adaptability of the metabolism of bacteria. After graduation he worked as a postdoctoral researcher on the thermodynamics of bacterial growth, and then on the biotechnological production of organic compounds for the sugar industry. Teixeira de Mattos has worked as a lecturer in the Microbiology Department of the UvA since 1986, and has been a senior university lecturer there since 1995. He holds various advisorial and directorial positions. These include membership on the jury of the NWO-AWL (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research) for the awarding of research subsidies, serving as a referee for various scholarly journals (currently FEMS Yeast Research), and since recently, acting as a member of the Executive Board of the European Federation of Biotechnology. In 2000, he won the Du Port Grant for his contributions to research in the area of science and engineering. Within the UvA, he is a member of a number of committees which are actively involved in teaching in chemistry and biology, and he is also coordinator of the Master programme in Biomolecular Sciences. He teaches chemistry and biology students at all levels. He was voted best Chemistry instructor in 2001, and best Biology instructor in 2003. 

The research that Teixeira de Mattos conducts focuses on the regulation of the biochemical paths with which microorganisms store energy in a useable form. Microorganisms have various alternative routes for energy conservation which they adjust according to circumstances. In order to adapt themselves, they need to ‘feel' their environment. The elucidation of the physical and chemical signals which the cell receives from its surroundings, and of the mechanisms by which these signals are translated to create the appropriate physiological behaviour, are central issues in Teixeira de Mattos's research. A quantitative description (and eventually a mathematical model) of the interaction between environment and microorganism is not only important for biotechnology, but will also give insight into the strategies evolved in the microbial world to enable survival in a constantly changing environment.