Stefan Rüdiger graduated in Chemistry at Heidelberg University (1995) and obtained the PhD from Freiburg University (2000). After a postdoc with Sir Alan Fersht (Cambridge University and Medical Research Council), he started his own group in Utrecht in 2004. His work centres on the molecular mechanisms or protein folding and chaperoning in the cell. A particular focus is on understanding the mechanism of chaperone machines. Recent work provided a mechanism of action for the key chaperone systems Hsp70 and Hsp90. The Rüdiger group now focusses to understand how these chaperones control protein aggregation in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer, Parkinson and Huntington. A key finding of his group described a structural model of the Hsp90 chaperone in complex with the Alzheimer protein Tau.