This project aims to assess the risk of spread of antimicrobial resistance genes in the environment derived from currently used synthetic biology approaches in the field of drug discovery.

Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen, Instituut Biologie Leiden (IBL)

Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen, Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS)

Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen, Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS)

Lezing

Promotor: Prof.dr. T.H.W. Bäck

This project explores the community of engineers in Sri Lanka and their role with regard to three domains of inquiry.

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.

An examination of academic organization at the forefront of the biotechnology revolution

Promotor: P.J.J. Hooykaas, Co-Promotor: E.J. van der Zaal

Higher design and engineering educators have different views on what a new or renewed curriculum should entail, content-wise as well as pedagogically. This research aims to describe how these ‘curriculum perspective perceptions’ influence working definitions, end goal formulation, and the scope of results…

Bandura Witharana defended his thesis on 27 September 2018

Promotores: Prof.dr. J.N. Kok, Prof.dr. M.R.V. Chaudron, Co-Promotor: P. van der Putten

A main goal of MSBB research is to address the major bottle-necks in combatting viral diseases: the lack of experimental models that are representative of human pathology and are cost effective and versatile. Viral diseases such as those that cause viral hemorrhagic syndromes or severe acute respiratory…

Mashaghi lab conducts research at the interface of physics, engineering and biomedicine. We develop and use theoretical and experimental approaches to address basic and applied research problems.

Analysing the ways in which immigration structurally challenges and changes the organization and conceptual boundaries of national welfare states.

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.

Apps that can precisely identify shards, coins or heel bones: archaeology has embraced artificial intelligence. Alex Brandsen is working on a search engine that scans vast quantities of text from an archaeological viewpoint.

Assessing the risks of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) solely on the basis of experimental assays is time-consuming, resource intensive, and constrained by ethical considerations (such as the principles of the 3Rs of animal testing). The adoption of computational toxicology in this field is a high p…

BRAIN Biotech and the Leiden University will jointly develop an Aspergillus based production strain with high yield and thus contribute to a bio-based circular economy. The cooperation is based on BRAIN´s molecular tool BEC.

Within the domain of health there can clearly be seen some new developments, for example e-healthcare solutions, which change the health landscape. However, in many African countries health care and public health are not sufficient enough.

Koper

Biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) for natural products are widespread in microbial genomes, and they are rapidly exchanged. This research assesses the factors that control the spread of BGCs and resistance genes in nature. This includes risk assessment for the spread of engineered DNA in nature.

The discussion on employability of higher education graduates has been around for several years, with more emphasis in the 21st century. Yet, universities are still challenged in the pursuit of providing work-ready graduates who can meet industry expectations.

Promotor: M. Danhof Co-promotor: O.E. Della Pasqua

Supervisor: P.J.J. Hooykaas Co-Supervisor: R. Offringa

Metal complexes and 2D materials like graphene were combined to produce structures that can function as sensors.

Promotores: Prof.dr. C.A.M.J.J. van den Hondel, Prof.dr. V. Meyer (Technische Universität Berlin)

Promotor: Prof.dr. R.M.H. Merks

Climate change is a challenge for both current and future generations. New biological resources have to be developed in order to meet the demand for energy as well as the demand for food.

Immune system defends our body against pathogens and cancerous cells, but excessive immunity can in turn lead to tissue damages and diseases. For example, scratching the surface of the eye ignites an immune response that aims at preventing infection but can also lead to edema, angiogenesis and eventually…

In cooperation with Cyber Security Academie (CSA) and The Hague University of Applied Sciences the new Master Cyber Security Engineering is established and starts in September 2018.

Water droplets float in a hot pan because of the so-called Leidenfrost effect. Now physicists have discovered a variation: the Elastic Leidenfrost effect. It explains why hydrogel balls jump around on a hot plate making high pitched sounds. Publication in Nature Physics on July 24.

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?

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

Brandon Zicha (Leiden University College The Hague) had always been critical of the teaching system at universities. But it was only when he passed the Senior Teaching Qualification at the end of last year that he was able to explain exactly what was wrong with it.

In discussions about today’s society and multiculturalism the word is constantly bandied back and forth: diversity. At Leiden University we aspire to ‘diversity and inclusiveness’, and claim that our diversity policies put these core values into practice. We have a Diversity and Inclusiveness Working…

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

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

In this thesis unconventional tools based on fluidic interfaces were developed to study the surface and interfacial chemistry of graphene, to characterize the intrinsic properties of graphene, to disentangle the effects of substrate and of the environmental factors, and to improve handling protocols…

The rise of populist parties, the expansion of the role of the state and now the fragmentation of the Senate and the House of Representatives: Dutch political reality has changed rapidly over recent decades. These developments are in stark contrast to Dutch constitutional law that has remained almost…

Vancomycin is a last-resort antibiotic for the treatment of many Gram-positive bacterial infections, while remaining inactive against Gram-negative strains.

Promotor: Prof.dr. G.P. van Wezel

When you want to analyse big quantities of archaeological data, you run into the issue that searching through excavation reports is extremely time-consuming. If only there existed a search engine specifically focused on querying these reports… But wait, work on an archaeological search engine focused…

PhD candidate Alex Brandsen, working in the Digital Archaeology research group has recently received a grant from the Leiden University Centre for Digital Humanities. This grant will be used to further develop and improve AGNES, the search engine for excavation reports that Brandsen is building.

As part of the HTSM2017 funding program, the LACDR division for Systems Biomedicine and Pharmacology received 1.08 million euros for a research project to develop novel engineering approaches to fight cancer.

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.