Bioactive Molecules is one of the four research themes of the Institute of Biology Leiden.

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.

Plant Sciences' contribution to the Bioactive Molecules research theme is to identify new plant bioactive molecules, and unravel their mechanisms of action in plant development or health, and the regulatory networks and (bio)synthetic pathways required for their production.

Animal Sciences’ contribution to the Bioactive Molecules research theme includes research on molecules from natural sources, such as plants, insects, and snake venom, with the aim to identify novel anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anti-diabetic agents.

Can the venom of snakes, scorpions and other animals be sources of new antibiotics?

Can we make a better vancomycin?

We aim to develop A. niger strains that produce more starch degrading enzymes even in the absence of starch.

Can new variants of daptomycin and the polymyxins be found?

How and why latex bearing plants select specific chemical compounds for eco-chemical interactions with its biotic factors?

Can zebrafish larvae be used as a behavioural model for screening natural products as potential neurotropic drugs?

Natural product inspired antibiotics to address resistance

Can we develop new enzymes and cell factories to upgrade current enzyme cocktails towards complete degradation of biomass?

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.

This project aims to further understand the molecular details related to the biosynthesis and function of Galf containing glycoconjugates in fungal Aspergillus spp.

- Which metabolites could be components of NADES? - How can we prove the presence of NADES in nature? - What are the roles of NADES in nature? - How to apply NADES in life sciences?

- How to deconvolute metabolic mixture of precursors and products by biontransformation? - How to optimize the reaction conditions to produce bioactive compounds in biotransformation? - What is the effect of co-treating fungi or bacteria for biotransformations?

Aim of the proposal is to develop lugdunomycin into a drug candidate able to treat infectious diseases caused by multi-drug resistant pathogens.

How can we find novel natural products from Actinomycetes that act as growth modulators on mammalian cells? Can we harvest and develop the potential of these novel compounds for industrial and medical biotechnology?

Can thrips resistance in strawberry be explained based on secondary metabolite profiles and plant morphological traits?

Can we bring novel treatment options to the clinic for UM patients with liver metastases?

Gubbens

Lecture

What is the role of auxin in the initiation and process of somatic embryogenesis?

Can animal venoms yield novel antimicrobial peptides?

Development of Natural Resource for New Medicines

Which metabolites of sponge are influenced by individual environmental or biological factors?

How can we manipulate the biotic and abiotic environment to increase thrips resistance in tomato and chrysanthemum? More specifically we ask: How can plant secondary metabolites that are not soluble in water be delivered to plants in seed coating or root dipping treatment? Can bacteria be used to…

Lecture

As a new vision on food production, the feasibility study on LED light to grow crops with the biological- and chemical evaluation of final products.

Can we determine the 3D structure of a chemotaxis core complex using single-particle reconstructions via cryo-EM?

Which compounds and microorganisms that live near and inside plant roots are beneficial? Can we use this knowledge to improve the health and growth of crop plants?

To explore the potential of marine microorganisms as producers of novel antimicrobial agents and as bioprotectants in aqua- and agriculture, using an integrative, ecology-based strategy for bioprospecting.

Can we establish a new quality control system for herbal medicines that is based on bioactivity rather than a few abundant chemicals?

The American Society of Pharmacognosy (ASP) has given the Varro E. Tyler prize to Rob Verpoorte, for his outstanding lifetime contributions to the science of nature as source of medicine.

This year, microbiologist Arthur Ram will start new research on producing useful enzymes in bulk. Ram receives an NWO grant for this project that will find its applications in the industrial biotechnology and food industry.

We aim to develop a drug-delivery method based on the production of biomolecules directly at the target site.

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

Why do plants produces always produced so many slightly differing metabolites within a particular chemical class?

Can metabolomic profiling be used to predict resistance against insect herbivores in plants?

Through his project we will unravel the global regulatory networks that control gene expression in Streptomyces bacteria and allow them to properly respond to major changes in the environment; we will then harness this knowledge to activate and identify novel antibiotics

The substance galanthamine from flower bulbs can fight symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Nadeem Akram investigated how daffodils can optimally produce this natural remedy. PhD defence on 24 June.

The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded Nathaniel Martin a Proof of Concept (PoC) grant. With it, his group aims to make a dangerous but potent antibiotic less toxic. He receives €150.000.

Single-Molecule Microscopy (SMM) techniques constitute a group of powerful imaging tools that enable researchers to study the dynamic behavior of individual molecules.

How do macrophages and neutrophils contribute to metastatic onset?

What chemicals do plants have available, and what happens if they use them when faced with bacteria or fungi? That is what PhD candidate Luis Salomé Abarca is keen to learn. He studies plants’ survival and their use of chemical components in communication and defence. Salomé Abarca works at the Natural…

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.

Detecting nanoscopic objects plays an important role in nanoscience in particular, in the rapidly growing field of nanobiology. The forebear to modern super-resolution microscopy for single molecule investigation, is fluorescence microscopy.