PhD defence

We aim to engineer streptomycetes to fully exploit their potential for natural product productions, by a rational design and evolution approach.

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

How is vegetative development regulated in plants and how does this affect a plant’s life history strategy?

Science, Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC)

Cardiovascular diseases are among the most frequent causes of death in the world. The main underlying pathology of cardiovascular diseases is the development of atherosclerosis in the medium and large-sized arteries.

A combination of two potential drugs gives hope of a 'super blockage' of an over-active immune system, Leiden researchers report in Nature. The breakthrough came from the crystallisation of a membrane protein.

The studies described in this thesis deal with glycosidases, in particular alpha-galactosidases.

Healthy aging is one of the prime goals in today's society and atherosclerosis is among the greatest causes of morbidity in elderly. Cardiovascular disease patients receiving treatment are often of advanced aged and have an aged immune system, which limits translating experimental findings to the pa…

Promotores: Prof.dr. J. Kuiper, Prof.dr. P.H.A. Quax

Α-synuclein, a protein associated with Parkinson’s disease, proves to bind with membranes in a surprisingly efficient way. It confirms scientists’ suspicion of the protein’s leading role in the transmission of neurotransmitters between nerve cells in the brain. Publication in PLoS ONE.

Alireza Mashaghi and his research team have created a new framework to understand shapes of proteins and DNA. With this framework, many diseases can be understood better.

We aim to unravel the complex and intertwining regulatory systems that control development and antibiotic production in streptomycetes.

Female and male songbirds sing equally elaborate songs in some species, but in others, females do not sing like males or not at all. How did such pronounced differences in male and female communication evolve?

How can cell wall engineering approaches be used to improve streptomycetes for industry to make new antibiotics?

How can zebrafish models be used to gain a better understanding of host-pathogen interaction mechanisms and to screen new drugs for infectious disease treatment?

Mapping of bacterial genomes to combat infectious diseases

How can Staphylococcus aureus bacteria subvert the host immune system?

TRANSAUTOPHAGY is a European COST action to promote multidisciplinary research on autophagy and translation of knowledge to applications.

Atherosclerosis is the main underlying pathology of cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis is caused by an immune response which is directed against (modified) lipoproteins which accumulate in the vessel wall.

We perform multidisciplinary research at molecular, cellular, and organismal levels of animal biology to increase fundamental understanding of health and disease.

According to the amyloid cascade hypothesis, accumulation of beta-amyloid (Aβ) peptides initiates the pathological cascade in Alzheimer's disease (AD).

RARE-NL, a new collaboration between university hospitals, hopes to find treatments for rare diseases. Professor Teun van Gelder is representing the LUMC in the initiative.

Identifying natural plant-associated bacteria that provide targeted inhibition of pathogens through the production of antimicrobial peptides.

Mysterious protein fibers show up in the brain cells of people suffering from Alzheimer’s' disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. Leiden physicist Louise Jawerth has been awarded a Vidi grant to find out how these fibers form in the first place.

Alireza Mashaghi from the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) will use state-of-the-art technology to investigate proteins that play a role in muscular dystrophy. His goal is to provide new insights for designing novel therapeutic strategies in the future. To accomplish this, Mashaghi receives…

A central and much debated topic in the study of language acquisition concerns the nature of the learning mechanisms that are required. Are the computational and learning mechanisms that guide learning about language structure special and specific to language or humans?

While there are numerous and extremely advanced methods to sequence the genome, only a few methods exist to sequence the proteome. The Vidi project of Grégory Schneider promises to shed light on the most difficult paradigm of proteomics: achieving an error-free determination of the sequence of single…

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from 15 departments at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) realised they could do more for patients if they joined forces. This is how the BEAT-COVID group has been able to rapidly gain knowledge about COVID-19, the role of the immune system and…

When mosquito eggs hatch in nutrient-rich water, the mosquitoes are larger and they can also fly further. That is the first conclusion of a study from by the Netherlands Centre for One Health (NCOH) by PhD-student Sam Boerlijst.

Metabolic diseases are a burden on the European population and health care system. It is increasingly recognised that individual differences with respect to history, lifestyle, and genetic make-up affect disease progression and treatment response. A Systems Medicine approach, based on computational…

We aim to develop a microfluidic platform that can parallelize testing the performance and characteristics of pure, mixed and environmental bacteriophage samples.

Do large deletions represent a risk during CRISP/CAS9-mediated genome editing in plants?

The research described in this thesis centered on retaining exo-β-glucosidases implicated in health and disease, in particular the human inherited lysosomal storage disorder, Gaucher disease (GD).

Fourteen bachelor’s and master’s students are representing Leiden University in this year’s International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM). Their plan: to create a kit that can be used to quickly identify infectious diseases in case of an outbreak.

Acute cardiovascular clinical events such as myocardial infarction and cerebral stroke represent the major cause of death in Western societies. These pathologies are primarily resulting from atherosclerosis, a progressive condition characterized by the accumulation of lipids, immune cells, and fibrous…

Detection of cerebral beta-amyloid (Abeta) by targeted contrast agents remains of great interest to aid the in vivo diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Bis-styrylbenzenes have been previously reported as potential Abeta imaging agents.

The skin protects the body from unwanted influences from the environment as well as excessive water loss. The barrier function of the skin is located in the stratum corneum (SC).

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

Anthropogenic change is reshaping ecological systems, raising concerns about increasing transmission of infectious diseases. Among these, mosquito-borne diseases may be particularly sensitive to environmental change, as their transmission depends on vector populations.

How can zebrafish research help understanding human diseases?

As part of the NEXUS1492 project, this project will use ancient DNA techniques to shed new light on the demographic and health history of the Caribbean and the impact of European colonization on indigenous communities in the region.

We aim to understand ion homeostasis in the model eukaryote S. cerevisiae.

Childhood obesity is an increasing health issue. In the first part of this thesis comorbidities in children with obesity were studied, concerning the diagnostic process and dosing regimens.