Dr van Kasteren is an synthetic organic chemist. However, rather than performing chemical reactions in flasks, his research focuses on doing chemical reactions in and on living cells; even in animals. The main aim, other than keeping these cells alive under the chemical reaction conditions, is to use this cell-compatible chemistry to learn more about the immune system and how it keeps us safe from the trillions of bacteria and viruses that live in and on our bodies.

Through careful application of this live-cell chemistry, his aim is to understand the processes of information transfer that take place when an invading microbe is eaten and destroyed. And how bits of the destroyed pathogens are used by the immune system to create a memory of the attack, so that when the same species attacks again it is cleared even more ruthlessly.

For this work he was awarded the Early Career Award by the British Biochemical Society, as well as fellowships from the ERC, Wellcome Trust and the Netherlands Scientific Council.