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

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

This dissertation focused on computational methods based on first principles calculations using the Density Functional Theory (DFT) framework. Emphasis was laid on affordable methods that can provide a tradeoff between computational expense and accuracy.

As a virtually inexhaustible source, solar energy plays a major role in future global energy scenarios.

This perspective addresses four challenges facing theorists whose aim is to make quantitatively accurate predictions for reactions of molecules on metal surfaces, and suggests ways of meeting these challenges, focusing on dissociative chemisorption reactions of H2, N2, and CH4.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the deadliest common cancer, with only 8% of patients surviving for five years. One reason for this poor outcome is that current chemotherapy treatments are highly toxic, often leaving patients too sick to receive treatment or forcing doctors to lower the dose…

Promotores: Prof.dr. H.J.M. de Groot, Prof.dr. J. Matysik (Universitaet Leipzig)

Promotor: Prof.dr. G.J. Kroes

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

To this day, all cyclophellitol-based inhibitors and ABPs have been close analogues of their natural substrate counterparts. As a result, these probes showed high selectivity towards their target glycosidases.

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

The glycosylation reaction is a pivotal reaction in creating new and complex oligosaccharides.

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

Glycoconjugate vaccines are composed of microbial poly- or oligosaccharides covalently linked to a carrier protein.

Glycosidases are essential in fundamental biological processes and are responsible for the degradation of most (oligo)saccharides, glycolipids and glycoproteins.

The research described in this Thesis was aimed at designing and synthesizing nature-inspired compounds as part of TB vaccine discovery.

This thesis systematically analyzes the physical-chemistry of lipid-graphene interactions with the major objective of reconciliating the variety of results reported in the literature.

ChEMBL is a large-scale drug discovery database containing bioactivity information primarily extracted from scientific literature.

Supervisor: Gerard van Westen

Promotor: G. A. van der Marel, Co-promotor: D. V. Filippov

Before researchers can develop targeted drugs, they need to know exactly how a disease works. Biochemist Bert Beerkens created molecules that allow them to find out. He used caffeine as the basis for new molecules that enable research into certain receptor proteins on cells.

Having a bachelor's, a master's and a PhD in Chemistry, Elena Sánchez López shifted to a more biological field of research for her postdoc. She completed all her studies at the University of Alcala, in Spain, before applying for a LEaDing fellowship at Leiden University, a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Cofund…

The genomic DNA of every organism is organized and compacted in order to fit inside the cell. This is achieved by the joint action of numerous architectural proteins that aid in folding the genome. Genome folding is tightly interconnected with transcription, with genes in certain regions being silenced,…

Leiden Professor of Molecular astrophysics Ewine van Dishoeck has been awarded an Advanced Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). She has been awarded 2.3 million euros in research funding for the MOLDISK programme. Within this programme, Van Dishoeck wants to connect chemistry and physics in…

Synthetic hydrogels that mimic the natural extracellular matrix in the biophysical and biochemical cues it provides to cells are in high demand, however the cell phenotypes as they are observed in vivo in numerous cases have yet to be attained.

The research presented in this thesis explores the chemotherapeutic potential of metal-based compounds as chemotherapy agents, with an initial focus on the synthesis and DNA interaction studies of platinum and palladium compounds utilizing the [Pt(bapbpy)]2+ scaffold. The study identifies intercalation…

Humanity stands at a pivotal juncture, facing the dual challenge of environmental sustainability and rapid population growth, projected to exceed 11 billion by century’s end.

Hydrogen fuel cells are expected to be pivotal in the energetic transition towards renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. However, their industrial scalability is severely hindered by the high cost and degradation rate of platinum catalysts, one of their key components. Addressing this…

This work describes several studies into the electroreduction of carbon dioxide (CO2RR), both regarding mechanistical aspects and catalyst stability considerations. Mechanistic insights into carbon-carbon bond formation on a silver catalyst are described in Ch 2, were we find an acetaldehyde-like surface…

Inspired by natural photosynthesis, perovskite-based photoelectrochemical (PEC) systems are being developed for artificial photosynthesis, aiming to enhance solar-to-hydrogen conversion for green energy.

The aim of this thesis is to develop and study a robust and adaptable scaffold for supramolecular polymer self-assembly in water.

In the search for sustainable energy solutions, the idea of artificial photosynthesis has been proposed as an approach with which to use water and sunlight to produce hydrogen.

Solar energy is used by photosynthetic organisms to drive energy required cellular processes. Is absorbed by two groups of pigments, located in the LHCs.

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

Heterogeneous catalysis is one of the fundamental processes of modern life, being common in industrial refinery and hydrogen vehicles, all the way to the living cell. The dissociation of H2 on Cu(111) is an important benchmark system for studying heterogeneous catalysis, with a large and varied amount…

Bicarbonate buffer is largely found in nature due to its ability to regulate pH variations around neutral values. As the pH changes, so does the speciation of the buffer.

This Thesis focuses on the design and synthesis of ADP-ribosylated compounds that can be applied in biological studies.

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

In most applications, electrocatalysts exhibit a large surface area to volume ratio, for example using nanoparticles.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most pressing challenges that humanity faces in the coming decades.

Green hydrogen is produced via a process called water electrolysis. During electrolysis water is split into oxygen and hydrogen.

The overall theme of this thesis is to complement the electrochemical data acquired in fuel cell research with in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS).

Single-layer graphene (SLG) has attracted considerable interest as a proton exchange membrane for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs), owing to its atomic thickness, mechanical robustness, and unique proton permeability.

Conference

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose a major health threat. Addressing this challenge requires among others the development of new antibacterial compounds. The research described in this thesis focuses on discovering novel antibiotics from soil bacteria, specifically Streptomyces and Paenibacillus.Despite…

Although Sander Wezenberg just started working in Leiden in March this year, he already managed to win a Vidi grant from NWO. Inspired by nature, Wezenberg wants to bring synthetic molecules to life and teach them to communicate. But who exactly is Wezenberg and what drives him?