Jan Peter van Pijkeren

Professor of Food Science

Diet-Microbe-Phage interactions in the gut ecosystem and development of microbial therapeutics

vanpijkeren@wisc.edu

Website

1605 Linden Drive,
Room A203B
Madison, WI 53706

Type: Faculty Trainer, MANTP Trainer

Department: Food Science

Education

Education B.S., Biotechnology, Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden, The Netherlands (1999)

M.S., Biology, Leiden University, The Netherlands (2002)

Ph.D., Microbiology, University College Cork, Ireland (2007)

Genome editing of phylogenetically distinct bacteria using cross-species retron-mediated recombineering

Alejandro González-Delgado, Laura Bonillo-Lopez, Milo S Johnson, Nastassia Knödlseder, Ching-Chung Ko, Yassir Lekbach, Jee-Hwan Oh, Hemaa Selvakumar, Michael C Wold, Zihan Yu, Virginia Aragón, Jeffrey A Gralnick, Marc Güell, Graham F Hatfull, Benjamin K Keitz, Britt Koskella, Vivek K Mutalik, Jan-Peter van Pijkeren, Seth L Shipman

Nature biotechnology. 2026 April 23.
Identification of human gut bacteria that produce bioactive serotonin and promote colonic innervation

Chiara H Moretti, Estelle Grasset, Jiaying Zhu, Gaohua Yang, Louise E Olofsson, Muhammad Tanweer Khan, Per-Olof Bergh, Jee-Hwan Oh, Annika Lundqvist, Tom van Gils, Manuela Krämer, Lisa M Olsson, Piyush Patel, Matthias Mitteregger, Daysi Espinola Monges, Chinmay Dwibedi, Kimberly A Krautkramer, Nienke Koopman, Marcus Henricsson, Andrew J Macpherson, Thue Schwartz, Gianfranco Grompone, Jan-Peter van Pijkeren, Valentina Tremaroli, Stefan Roos, Magnus Simrén, Fredrik Bäckhed

Cell reports. 2025 October 21.
Genome editing of phylogenetically distinct bacteria using portable retron-mediated recombineering

Alejandro González-Delgado, Laura Bonillo-Lopez, Milo S Johnson, Nastassia Knödlseder, Ching-Chung Ko, Yassir Lekbach, Jee-Hwan Oh, Hemaa Selvakumar, Michael C Wold, Zihan Yu, Virginia Aragón, Jeffrey A Gralnick, Marc Güell, Graham F Hatfull, Benjamin K Keitz, Britt Koskella, Vivek K Mutalik, Jan-Peter van Pijkeren, Seth L Shipman

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. 2025 July 16.
Synthesis of potential prebiotic oligosaccharides with diverse glycosidic linkages from corn stover via simultaneous hydrolysis and glycosylation

Meijun Zeng, Jee-Hwan Oh, Jan-Peter van Pijkeren, Xuejun Pan

Bioresource technology. 2025 April 14.
A secondary metabolite of Limosilactobacillusreuteri R2lc drives strain-specific pathology in a spontaneous mouse model of multiple sclerosis

Dale Archer, María Elisa Pérez-Muñoz, Stephanie Tollenaar, Simona Veniamin, Naomi Hotte, Christopher C Cheng, Kristoff Nieves, Jee-Hwan Oh, Lilian Morceli, Susan Muncner, Daniel R Barreda, Gurumoorthy Krishnamoorthy, Christopher Power, Jan-Peter van Pijkeren, Jens Walter

Cell reports. 2025 February 22.
Allosteric regulation of pyruvate kinase enables efficient and robust gluconeogenesis by preventing metabolic conflicts and carbon overflow

Fukang She, Brent W Anderson, Daven B Khana, Shenwei Zhang, Wieland Steinchen, Danny K Fung, Nathalie G Lesser, Lauren N Lucas, David M Stevenson, Theresa J Astmann, Gert Bange, Jan-Peter van Pijkeren, Daniel Amador-Noguez, Jue D Wang

mSystems. 2025 January 28.
Development of a Limosilactobacillus reuteri therapeutic delivery platform with reduced colonization potential

Laura M Alexander, Saima Khalid, Gina M Gallego-Lopez, Theresa J Astmann, Jee-Hwan Oh, Mark Heggen, Phil Huss, Renee Fisher, Amitava Mukherjee, Srivatsan Raman, In Young Choi, Morgan N Smith, Claude J Rogers, Michael W Epperly, Laura J Knoll, Joel S Greenberger, Jan-Peter van Pijkeren

Applied and environmental microbiology. 2024 October 31.
Allosteric Regulation of Pyruvate Kinase Enables Efficient and Robust Gluconeogenesis by Preventing Metabolic Conflicts and Carbon Overflow

Fukang She, Brent W Anderson, Daven B Khana, Shenwei Zhang, Wieland Steinchen, Danny K Fung, Lauren N Lucas, Nathalie G Lesser, David M Stevenson, Theresa J Astmann, Gert Bange, Jan-Peter van Pijkeren, Daniel Amador-Noguez, Jue D Wang

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. 2024 August 30.
Genetically Engineered Probiotic Limosilactobacillus reuteri Releasing IL-22 (LR-IL-22) Modifies the Tumor Microenvironment, Enabling Irradiation in Ovarian Cancer

Diala F Hamade, Michael W Epperly, Renee Fisher, Wen Hou, Donna Shields, Jan-Peter van Pijkeren, Brian J Leibowitz, Lan G Coffman, Hong Wang, M Saiful Huq, Ziyu Huang, Claude J Rogers, Anda M Vlad, Joel S Greenberger, Amitava Mukherjee

Cancers. 2024 February 10.
Selective utilization of gluco-oligosaccharides by lactobacilli: A mechanism study revealing the impact of glycosidic linkages and degree of polymerization on their utilization

Meijun Zeng, Jee-Hwan Oh, Jan-Peter van Pijkeren, Xuejun Pan

Journal of food science. 2023 November 27.
Bioluminescent monitoring of recombinant lactic acid bacteria and their products

In Young Choi, Jee-Hwan Oh, Zhiying Wang, Jan-Peter van Pijkeren

mBio. 2023 September 5.
Probiotic-Derived Ecto-5'-Nucleotidase Produces Anti-Inflammatory Adenosine Metabolites in Treg-Deficient Scurfy Mice

Yuying Liu, Shabba A Armbrister, Beanna Okeugo, Tingting W Mills, Rhea C Daniel, Jee-Hwan Oh, Jan-Peter van Pijkeren, Evelyn S Park, Zeina M Saleh, Sharmistha Lahiri, Stefan Roos, JMarc Rhoads

Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins. 2023 May 13.
Gluco-oligosaccharides as potential prebiotics: Synthesis, purification, structural characterization, and evaluation of prebiotic effect

Meijun Zeng, Jan-Peter van Pijkeren, Xuejun Pan

Comprehensive reviews in food science and food safety. 2023 April 19.
Release of Interferon-β (IFN-β) from Probiotic Limosilactobacillus reuteri-IFN-β (LR-IFN-β) Mitigates Gastrointestinal Acute Radiation Syndrome (GI-ARS) following Whole Abdominal Irradiation

Diala F Hamade, Michael W Epperly, Renee Fisher, Wen Hou, Donna Shields, Jan-Peter van Pijkeren, Amitava Mukherjee, Jian Yu, Brian J Leibowitz, Anda M Vlad, Lan Coffman, Hong Wang, M Saiful Huq, Ziyu Huang, Claude J Rogers, Joel S Greenberger

Cancers. 2023 March 29.
Facile and efficient chemical synthesis of gluco-oligosaccharides (GlcOS) with diverse glycosidic linkages as potential prebiotics to promote the growth of probiotic bacteria

Meijun Zeng, Ning Li, Theresa Astmann, Jee-Hwan Oh, Jan-Peter van Pijkeren, Xuejun Pan

Food research international (Ottawa, Ont.). 2023 March 4.

We work at the interface of industry and medicine. While we have completed projects with various lactic acid bacteria, most of our research focuses on Limosilactobacillus reuteri, until recently known as Lactobacillus reuteri L. reuteri is an important gut symbiont, and select strains have demonstrated health-promoting, i.e., probiotic, properties. The ultimate goal of our research program is to understand probiotic mechanisms towards the development of next-generation probiotics.

For many years, we have invested in developing genetic tools for use in L. reuteri and other lactic acid bacteria. As a consequence, our laboratory is at the forefront of lactic acid bacteria genome editing. These genome editing tools place us in the exciting position to pursue research in the following areas:

to unravel the molecular underpinnings by which probiotic bacteria interact with the vertebrate host;
to unravel the tripartite interplay between diet, a probiotic, and its bacteriophages;
to develop probiotic bacteria as therapeutic delivery vehicles.

We’re grateful for our current and past funding, which, combined with great collaborators, made it possible to build a dynamic team of staff and students to drive our research.

If you are interested in learning more about our work, please don’t hesitate to contact us.