Lecture, This Week's Discoveries

The GMP Facility facilitates development and production of Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs) and chemical (peptide) synthesis.

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

Agrobacterium tumefaciens, a gram-negative plant pathogen belonging to the family Rhizobiaceae, is the causative agent of crown gall disease, which can affect many plant species including agronomically important ones.

Does the mineralocorticoid receptor play a role in the effects of cortisol and synthetic glucocorticoids on the immune response?

Promotores: Prof.dr. P.M. Brakefield, Prof.dr. B.J. Zwaan (Wageningen Universiteit)

Promotor: Prof.dr. J. Memelink

Supervisor: P.J.J. Hooykaas

Can new variants of daptomycin and the polymyxins be found?

The relative simplicity of the bacterial cell, short generation times and well defined and inexpensive culturing conditions have significantly contributed to our understanding of many complex biological systems. Yet the workings of the bacterial genome, seemingly impossibly compressed within a tiny…

The Horizon 2020 project CoSTREAM aims to improve our understanding of the co-occurrence of stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. It has long been known that both diseases share underlying causes, but their exact interaction or link is not fully understood. CoSTREAM combines multiple factors to identify and…

Bacterial biocatalysis constitutes a sustainable alternative for high-value chemicals production by enabling the utilization of renewable feedstocks.

Promotor: B. van de Water

Inactivating mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes predispose to several types of cancer.

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

Chemical tools to monitor drug-target engagement of endogenously expressed protein kinases are highly desirable for preclinical target validation in drug discovery. Here, we describe a chemical genetics strategy to selectively study target engagement of endogenous kinases.

How does FoxP1 affect auditory perception on a behavioural and genomic level?

Promotor: G.P. van Wezel

How is Pol θ responsible for T-DNA integration, and how do other DNA double-strand break repair pathways interact with Pol θ? How may we manipulate T-DNA integration to stimulate error-free integration at a predetermined genomic site?

At the division of Biopharmaceutics, we aim to develop and test new therapeutic approaches to limit or even prevent the development of atherosclerosis in order to reduce the number of acute cardiovascular syndromes such as myocardial infarction or stroke.

How can zebrafish research help understanding human diseases?

By carrying out fundamental research and providing excellent education, universities become a breeding ground for innovation and entrepreneurship.

PhD defence

PhD defence

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,…

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

In this project, we will study the genetic and environmental drivers of woodiness and stem lignification at the level of plant‐to‐gene‐to‐molecule.

The ongoing increase in antimicrobial resistance combined with the low discovery of novel antibiotics is a serious threat to our health care.

Macrophages and atherosclerotic lesions The infiltration of monocytes in the arterial wall, their differentiation to macrophages, and the subsequent accumulation of cholesterol in these macrophages initiate the process of atherosclerosis. We study the importance of specific genes in macrophages for…

Promotores: Prof.dr. P.C.W. Hogendoorn & Prof.dr. H.P. Spaink, Co-promotor: Dr. B.E. Snaar-Jagalska

In populations with a seed-bank, individuals can temporarily become dormant and refrain from reproduction until they can become active again. The repository of all dormant individuals in the population is called the seed-bank. Seed-banks are observed in many taxa, including plants, bacteria and other…

The research described in this thesis focused on identifying novel drug targets and synergistic combinations for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), a virulent subtype of breast cancer with a dismal prognosis and limited therapeutic options.

We have studied shape with a particular focus on the zebrafish model system. The shape is an essential appearance of the phenotype of a biological specimen and it can be used to read out a current state or response or to study gene expression.

Can zebrafish provide a fast, sensitive in vivo vertebrate model for identifying novel mechanisms of Ewing sarcoma progression and for development of new anticancer compounds in a time- and cost-effective manner?

Discovery of metastasis promoting candidate drug targets

We investigate reaction systems, a novel computational model gleaned from the biochemical reactions taking place in living cells and information processing in nature.

Drug development is a time- and resource-consuming process that starts with the discovery and validation of a (protein) target that contributes to pathogenesis or disease progression.

Research aims: Identification of key genes involved in programming the cellular architecture of A. niger & Genetic engineering of A. niger in order to improve its secretory capacities and rheological behavior under industrial fermentation conditions.

A novel in vivo model system for studies on glucocorticoid resistance

Cellular stress response pathways are activated upon exposure to chemicals and help organisms deal with various molecular dangers (e.g. oxidative stress). When these pathways become hyper-activated an adverse response takes place and cells die, which may lead to organism-level toxicity such as drug-induced…

The RNA guided endonuclease based on the CRISPR/Cas system of Streptococcus pyogenus is a potent new tool for genome engineering in plants.

The group Theoretical Physics of Life Processes, led by Helmut Schiessel, focuses on the physics of chromatin, the DNA-protein complex that fills the nuclei of eukaryotic cells.

This thesis focuses on two processes involved in fighting infections: metabolism and immune cell motility and navigation.

Chromatin is an ubiquitous protein-DNA complex that forms the structural basis of DNA condensation in all eukaryotic organisms.

The CIGR brings together a diverse range of unique expertise in genome research rooted in biology, chemistry and physics. Members of the CIGR investigate genome folding and genome transactions. An important aspect is direct as well as long term relevance for medicine.

We study cell-fate decision-making using embryonic stem cells as a model system. Stem cells integrate a large number of cues to direct their development into a great variety of cell types.

Promotor: M. Ubbink, Co-Promotor: R. T. Dame

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