An objective of this research was to achieve direct, well-defined and non-rate-limiting electron transfer between respiratory enzymes and the electrode surface by means of 'Q-wires'.

This thesis investigates how non-genetic factors, such as inflammation and concomitant medication, impact hepatic drug metabolism and subsequent drug metabolizing phenotype predictions.

The research is aimed at development of an efficient gene targeting method that allows controlled integration of DNA at a preselected site in the Trichoderma genome.

From descriptive to physiological models that can predict oral absorption and elimination of CYP3A substrates across the pediatric age range.

Glycoside hydrolases (glycosidases/GHs) are widely abundant enzymes in all kingdoms of life and are important biocatalysts that catalyze the hydrolysis of glycosidic linkages in oligo/polysaccharides, glycoproteins and glycolipids with tremendous efficiency

How can we develop new chemical biology tools and approaches to understand and interfere with glucosylceramide metabolism in relation to Gaucher disease?

Jo-Anne Verschoor wins the Unilever Research Prize 2020. The master's student in Biology developed a method to test whether bacteria are capable of degrading plastic. Verschoor: 'Using specific enzymes from these bacteria, we may be able to efficiently recycle plastic in the future.

Active-site directed probes are powerful in studies of enzymatic function. We report an active-site directed probe based on a warhead so far considered unreactive.

Vitamin A or retinol is essential in embryonic development, the visual cycle and the immune system.

Macromolecular Biochemistry is a section of the Leiden Institute of Chemistry at Leiden University, comprising the PIs Marcellus Ubbink, Remus Dame, Lars Jeuken, Anne Wentink, Anjali Pandit, René Olsthoorn, Alia Matysik, Sebastian Geibel and Steffen Brünle.

Research projects for students of the University of Leiden and other Dutch Universities are often available at the MacBio group. The research lines are also described in the Research section. For details of specific projects contact the supervisor (Ubbink, Dame, Boyle, Jeuken or Wentink).

Research at the BIOSYN group is comprised of the following research themes:

Chemical biology research at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry is aimed at understanding biological processes at the molecular level to strengthen the knowledge base of human health and disease. The approach to achieve this goal is a fundamental chemical one; with the aid of chemical probes biological…

Microbial Sciences' contribution to the Bioactive Molecules research theme is to discover new bioactive molecules and enzymes and unravel their mechanisms of action, regulatory networks, and the (bio)synthetic pathways required for their production.

The growing demand of energy indicates that global energy resources in the form of fossil fuels will not be sufficient in the future. In order to solve potential future energy problems development of a sustainable hydrogen economy is highly desirable.

Promotores: Prof.dr. H.S. Overkleeft, Prof.dr. G.A. van der Marel

Monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL) is the principal enzyme responsible for hydrolysis of the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG). MAGL inhibition provides several potential therapeutic opportunities, including anti-nociceptive, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activity.

In this thesis, the discovery and optimization is described of chemical tools to study the N-acylethanolamine (NAE) biosynthetic pathway.

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…

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.

Sphingolipids are important membrane compounds with a variety of functions. In mammalian cells, different enzymes are involved in the metabolism of sphingolipids, but interruption of this metabolism process leads to different diseases.

Promotores: Prof.dr. H.S. Overkleeft, Prof.dr. G.A. van der Marel

Promotor: Prof.dr. B. van de Water, Co-promotor: L.S. Price

Chemical biology research at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry is aimed at understanding biological processes at the molecular level to strengthen the knowledge base of human health and disease. The approach to achieve this goal is a fundamental chemical one; with the aid of chemical probes biological…

Human and animal cells are very complex: very different chemical processes are going on at the same time, but they are separated from each other because the cells are divided in compartments. These compartments may also have a profound effect on the potential efficacy of therapeutics, because the drug…

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Almost all bacteria are enveloped by a cell wall that provides cellular protection.

This thesis describes the development and optimization of the first molecular tools to study the enzyme PLA2G4E.

Can the pink-pigmented microbe Methylobacterium extorquens be genetically engineered to convert the sustainable raw material methanol into antibiotics?

Diacylglycerol lipases (DAGLα and DAGLβ) convert diacylglycerol to the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol. Our understanding of DAGL function has been hindered by a lack of chemical probes that can perturb these enzymes in vivo.

Glycosidases are important enzymes in the turnover of polysaccharides and glycoconjugates, and are involved in a range of human pathologies including genetic disorders such as Gaucher and Pompe disease, but also in various cancers.

Promotor: C.A.J. Knibbe, Co-promotores: H.P.A. van Dongen, B. van Ramshorst

Netherton Syndrome (NTS) is a rare genetic skin disease caused by mutations in the serine protease inhibitor Kazal-type 5 gene, which encodes the lympho-epithelial Kazal-type-related inhibitor. NTS patients have a profound impaired skin barrier function. Because SC lipids play a crucial role in the…

Aspergillus niger is an important industrial producer of organic acids and enzymes producing large amounts of spent fungal biomass.

How are the epidermal lipid pathways involved in health and disease.

The company Azafaros was established in 2018 to translate innovative science from Leiden University and Amsterdam University Medical Center into novel disease-modifying treatment modalities for rare genetic metabolic disorders such as lysosomal storage diseases.

Artificial photosynthesis aims to produce fuels from solar energy using chemical processes. In semi-artificial photosynthesis, a hybrid approach is taken using both chemical and biotechnology approaches. We aim to develop hybrid systems between light-harvesting nanoparticles and redox-enzymes (oxidoreductases)…

In Microbial Sciences, we perform multidisciplinary research to understand the structure and function of microbes at all levels of biological organization, from small molecules and cellular structures at atomic resolution to multicellular communities.

Gubbens

Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) is an internationally oriented institute for research and education in biology. We are part of the Faculty of Science at Leiden University.

LED3 is the combined effort of three excellent institutes of Leiden University. Through joined hands, we are able to give rise to a more effective early drug discovery pipeline. Let us briefly introduce the three institutes.

Supervisor: Xue Yang

Our focus is to optimize the fungal cell wall to both increase chitin production and chitin extractability.

PhD defence

Plants produce an astonishing variety of secondary metabolites (SMs) which are thought to play vital roles in the fitness of plants through ecological interactions.

The work described in this Thesis is focused on the assembly of oligosaccharide fragments derived from a fungal polysaccharide, galactosaminogalactan (GAG) and fragments of the exopolysaccharide Pel, generated by Pseudomonas aeruginosa.