I will give a general introduction to the field of molecular electronics, its history, methods and challenges. I will also introduce the subject of my investigation and provide a brief outlook to the remainder of our thesis.

Metals surfaces form a group of effective catalysts for the reaction of small molecules such as hydrogen (H2).

Biodiversity enables ecosystems to thrive through the synergy of functional differences among organisms. While human well-being strongly depends on biodiversity-driven ecosystem services, human actions are also at the root of current unprecedented biodiversity declines.

Promotor: J.M. van Ruitenbeek, Co-Promotor: S.J. van der Molen

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

Promotor: Prof.dr. J.G.E.M. Fraaije, Co-promotor: A. Kros

In this thesis, time-lapse fluorescent microscopy plays a pivotal role in investigating functional materials within living cells as well as the migratory behaviour of neural progenitor cells.

Zelfs een kleine quantumcomputer zou in staat moeten zijn om de eigenschappen en het gedrag van nieuwe moleculen exact te simuleren. Dit zou de chemie naar een nieuw niveau tillen. Betere zonnepanelen, krachtiger batterijen, grote energiebesparingen in de chemische industrie: de toepassingen hebben…

In human cells, a meter-long DNA is condensed inside a micrometer-sized cell nucleus. Simultaneously, the genetic code must remain accessible for its replication and transcription to functional proteins.

Due to their central physiological roles in living organisms, retaining beta-glycosidases have been the subject of tremendous research efforts to examine their structure/function relation using numerous biophysical and biochemical approaches.

Dishoeck

Schneider

This thesis is a collection of experimental attempts to enhance photoluminescence of fluorescent molecules and quantum dots with single gold nanorods (GNRs) and relevant applications.

Supervisor: P.J.J. Hooykaas

1: What is the relative importance of alfa and beta biodiversity in polar ecosystems, and how does intraspecific variation influence this? 2: How can we use remote sensing to determine functional biodiversity (within communities) in polar ecosystems? 3: Temporal and spatial scales of functional biodiversity:…

Promotor: Prof.dr. G.J. Kroes

Promotor: S.M. Verduyn Lunel

This thesis revolves around the electronic spectroscopy of molecules in the laboratory and the search for the carriers of the diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs).

My PhD thesis investigates the ecological significance of resistance against drought-induced air bubble formation inside the water conduits of plants (embolism), and the plasticity and functional aspects of stem anatomical traits in woody and herbaceous species.

Promotor: Prof.dr. E. F. van Dishoeck

During the course of drug discovery translational steps are made.

The main focus of the thesis is the discovery and development of novel inhibitors of bacterial metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs).

Promotor: P.J.J. Hooykaas, Co-Promotores: P.B.F. Ouwerkerk, M. Wang

Large areas of space are filled by molecular clouds that consist of gas and dust grains that are the remnants of dead stars. When these clouds start collapsing, the decreasing temperature and increasing density cause gas particles to start accreting onto dust grain surfaces.

Catalysis is of extreme relevance in the production of everyday materials and plays a central role in many aspects of our life.

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

Promotores: Prof.dr. G.W. Canters, Prof.dr. T.J. Aartsma

Promotor: Prof.dr. T. Hankemeier

Promotor: E.F. Smets Co-promotor: J. Geml

Streptomyces present a valuable platform for natural product discovery. Lugdunomycin is a novel angucycline-derived polyketide from Streptomyces sp QL37, with unprecedented skeleton and antimicrobial activity.

Promotor: Prof.dr. M.A.G.J. Orrit

Several techniques are explored for going beyond the born-oppenheimer static surface model for molecule-surface reactions.

In this thesis we investigated the ability of two-photon multifocal microscopy for single-molecule microscopy in live cells and organisms.

Promotie

In this thesis chemical and physical processes in the ice mantles on interstellar dust grains are studied.

Ice, the solid state of water, plays an important role on our planet as well as the entire universe.Despite the fact that an individual water molecule has a very simple structure, its chemical bonding in the solid phase can be surprisingly complex.

Promotor: Prof.dr. M. Ubbink

NNMT wordt beschouwd als een nieuw potentieel farmacologisch doelwit in de behandeling van een verscheidenheid van kankers, stofwisselingsziekten en andere pathologieën. Het toenemend aantal publicaties waarin de rol van NNMT bij ziekten wordt opgehelderd, heeft op zijn beurt de ontwikkeling van krachtige…

This thesis examines the link between simple molecules and the underlying structure and chemistry within protoplanetary disks - the birthplaces of planets.

Early time-resolved experiments by Frauenfelder on the ensemble of the kinetic rebinding of CO to myoglobin molecules resulted in a stretched exponential relaxa-tion due to a very large spread of the reaction rates of individual molecules.

Fundamental understanding of molecular reactions on metal surfaces is important for improving heterogeneous catalysis.

In this Ph.D. thesis, we characterized two novel upstream regulators of JUB1, HB40, and HB22, in Arabidopsis thaliana. In Chapter 2, we described functions of HB40 in modulating growth and development via the regulation of JUB1 and GA inactivation genes GA2OXs.

Promotor: M.A.G.J. Orrit

Dankzij bepaalde vet-suikermoleculen kunnen onder meer leprabacteriën zich verstoppen voor ons immuunsysteem. Hoe precies, is niet helemaal duidelijk. Hessel van Dijk, die op 13 oktober promoveerde, maakte de moleculen na en hielp daarmee een stukje van de puzzel op te lossen. Van Dijks proefschrift…

This thesis aimed to investigate core cross-linked polymeric micelles (CCPMs) and expand their potential for the delivery of hydrophobic drugs and co-factors.

Walsh

This thesis aims to improve the detection from ultra-weak single emitter by enhancing their emission properties with plasmonic nanostructures. We exploit the wet-chemically synthesized single crystalline gold nanorods (GNRs) as our basic frameworks in the whole studies, simply because of their unique…

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

Organic molecules in interstellar space are important as they influence the structure of galaxies and star formations. Studying catalytic processes in space allows us to understand how molecular species are formed and chemically evolved in the interstellar medium and solar system objects.

Schneider