Focus in skin research

Promotor: Prof.dr. J.P. Abrahams, Prof.dr. M. van Heel

The focus of this thesis is how stars like our Sun and planets like Jupiter, Saturn, and Earth are formed.

A main goal of MSBB research is to address the major bottle-necks in combatting viral diseases: the lack of experimental models that are representative of human pathology and are cost effective and versatile. Viral diseases such as those that cause viral hemorrhagic syndromes or severe acute respiratory…

Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria - South Africa

Promotor: Prof.dr. M. Ubbink

Supervisor: Gerard van Westen

This thesis examines the link between simple molecules and the underlying structure and chemistry within protoplanetary disks - the birthplaces of planets.

With the energy transition toward a renewable energy supply and a CO2-neutral economy, electrification of the energy system is rising in importance, which leads to the challenge of long-term storage of renewable electricity.

This thesis describes the design and development of subunit‐selective inhibitors of particular catalytically active subunits of human constitutive proteasomes and immunoproteasomes.

In this thesis, bioorthogonal chemistry is combined with correlative light-electron microscopy to selectively label and study pathogenic intracellular bacteria within the host immune cell.

The main goal of the research described in this thesis was the development of new photoactivated chemotherapy (PACT) ruthenium(II) complexes bearing a non-toxic photolabile ligand.

Activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) is a functional proteomics technique for directly monitoring the expression of active enzymes in cell extracts and living cells. The technique relies on irreversible inhibitors equipped with reactive groups (warheads) that covalently attach to the active site…

This thesis describes the design, characterization and application of dextran based crosslinked network.

Promotor: A. Kros, Co-promotor: R.R.C.L. Olsthoorn

Both the Dutch government and the European Commission dedicate an increasing share of public funding for research and innovation to mission-oriented programs, aiming to facilitate sustainability transitions. These programs typically involve support fora range of different research activities, from the…

The chemical and structural heterogeneity of toxoid vaccines makes their analysis challenging. However, detailed insights on a molecular level can be obtained by mass spectrometry.

One of the main challenges in the development of an effective anti-cancer vaccine is the generation of an adequate and directed cellular immune response.

Actinobacteria are well known for the production of bioactive natural products, many of which have applications in the fields of human, animal and plant health. Subject of this thesis are the anthracyclines, glycosylated aromatic polyketides with potent anticancer activity.

Due to their central physiological roles in living organisms, retaining beta-glycosidases have been the subject of tremendous research efforts to examine their structure/function relation using numerous biophysical and biochemical approaches.

Pseudomonas Aeruginosa is a Gram-negative bacterium which can form biofilms, increasing its resistance against antibiotics and the host immune system. Polysaccharides are an integral part of this biofilm, one of these polysaccharides is called Psl. PslG is a glycosidase, able to cleave this polysaccharide,…

The long-held desire - to link structure directly to function and to explain molecular mechanisms based on basic chemical or physical principles - is finally coming closer, satisfying not only our scientific curiosity but also offering new solutions to the many challenges in the field of health, energy…

Nucleoid associated proteins maintain the architecture of the bacterial chromosome and regulate gene expression, hinting that their role as transcription factors may involve local three-dimensional chromosome re-modelling.

Assessing the risks of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) solely on the basis of experimental assays is time-consuming, resource intensive, and constrained by ethical considerations (such as the principles of the 3Rs of animal testing). The adoption of computational toxicology in this field is a high p…

Lysosomal glycosidases are acid hydrolases that fragment glycoconjugates in lysosomes.

This Thesis describes a strategy to synthesize 1,2-cis-oligosaccharides modulated by additives, such as dimethylformamide (DMF), triphenylphosphine oxide (Ph3P=O) and N-methyl(phenyl)formamide (MPF), using building blocks that carry solely benzyl type protecting groups and are therefore of uniform r…

How can we implement the technique of pharmacological resting-state fMRI to improve the diagnosis of dementia?

Reconstructing interactions between communities in and out of Cyprus in the early third millenium BC

Bet v1, the major allergen in birch pollen, is one of the main causes of allergies such as asthma and rhino-conjunctivitis. Additionally it is the main cause of birch pollen allergy in humans.

Plant-microbe interaction resulted in different physio/chemical responses by host plant and interacting rhizobacteria.

This thesis describes the use of a combined approach of computational and experimental techniques to gain novel insights to understand the glycosylation reaction and its reactive intermediates.

My work focuses on a class of astronomical objects called protoplanetary disks.

Streptomyces are prolific producers of enzymes and secondary metabolites, including more than 50% of all clinical antibiotics. This makes them highly attractive for medical, biotechnological, and industrial purposes.

Promotor: E. Bouwman, Co-Promotor: S. Bonnet

Promotor: H.S. Overkleeft, Co-promotor: M. van der Stelt

The investigations described in this thesis lay out strategies aimed at advancing antibiotic research and development. The examples presented revolve around two main approaches: understanding drug-target interactions and target identification.

Curved single crystals provide variable, but well-defined surface structures.

Promotor: B. van de Water, Co-Promotores: J.H.N. Meerman, F.J. Verbeek

Despite the fact that gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are one of the most studied nanoparticles, there is still a necessity for new approaches allowing for effective protective coating to enable wider use of GNPs in biomedical applications.

The main subject of this thesis is the design and synthesis of paramagnetic molecules for protein studies with NMR and EPR spectroscopy.

Promotor: M. Ubbink, Co-promotor: G. Siegal

This thesis aims to improve the detection from ultra-weak single emitter by enhancing their emission properties with plasmonic nanostructures. We exploit the wet-chemically synthesized single crystalline gold nanorods (GNRs) as our basic frameworks in the whole studies, simply because of their unique…

Bacterial chemosensory arrays are protein assemblies that are the key structural and functional component for motile bacteria to sense their internal or environmental chemical signals.

The mission in this division, headed by Laura Heitman, is to design and synthesize novel and better ligands for drug targets. Drug discovery is a lengthy but inspiring adventure. It is often an interplay between academic institutes and pharmaceutical industry, in which scientists at university develop…

Promotor: A. Kros

Large areas of space are filled by molecular clouds that consist of gas and dust grains that are the remnants of dead stars. When these clouds start collapsing, the decreasing temperature and increasing density cause gas particles to start accreting onto dust grain surfaces.

The research aims to explore the evolutionary adaptability of enzymes and the impact of temperature on protein evolution pathways, using M. tuberculosis β-lactamase BlaC as the object of study. Enzymes inherently embody a delicate balance between activity and stability, and the acquisition of new enzymatic…

This article offers a typology for organizational and institutional crisis management that portrays three sorts of crises: a crisis in an organization, a crisis to the organization and a crisis about the organization.

The studies presented in the work show the potential of the integrative use of biophysical data in defining the structural basis of protein interactions.

The recently introduced nature-originated deep eutectic solvents, so-called natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) are considered as truly green solvents, which composed of natural ingredients found abundantly in organisms.