John van Opstal began his career in the Department of Biophysics at uu77, where he specialised in eye movements and auditory perception. His work revolved around how we localise sounds and how we move to extract information from the environment. A key finding here was that the auditory system remains plastic throughout life: our hearing continuously adapts to changing conditions, for example after hearing loss. In addition, he investigated how eye movements contribute to processing visual information, where we decide three times a second where to focus our gaze.
His research brought groundbreaking insights into how the brain processes sensory information and how the visual and auditory systems work together. This led not only to fundamental knowledge, but also to applications in clinical practice, for example in cochlear implants.
What made research so much fun?
When asked what he liked most about his work, Van Opstal answers without hesitation: the combination of scientific curiosity and collaboration with young, driven researchers. ‘You get older yourself, but the people you work with always remain in the same stage of life,’ he says. This constant contact with talented PhD students and postdocs kept him sharp and motivated. In addition, he was always fortunate to be successful in securing research funds, which enabled him to continue his research and take new directions.
He fondly remembers the close-knit Department of Biophysics, which later merged into the Donders Centre for Neuroscience in which he himself was heavily involved. The atmosphere, the collegial contact and the joint excursions were at least as important to him as the research itself. The photo accompanying this article also dates from this time, where the young van Opstal can be found in the top left:
