It is estimated that approximately 30% of all proteins require a metal to function. Investigating the relationship between metal-binding and peptide/protein folding allows us to uncover fundamental rules for creating metallo-peptides and proteins, which in turn leads to the creation of new structures,…

Research question

Cancer is the leading cause of death in the Netherlands, and, with over 100 different types of cancer, it’s not a simple disease. Today, skin, breast, lung, prostate and colon cancer are the most diagnosed forms. Therefore, the discovery and development of new drugs has the ability to significantly…

Research at the MCBIM group is comprised of the following research themes:

Chemical reactions go hand-in-hand with an energy exchange with the environment in which they take place. Surfaces offer a variety of energy dissipation channels, constituted by the nuclear and electronic degrees of freedom of the atoms at the interface. Aiming at an improved future harvesting of energy,…

Supervisor: Gerard van Westen

Supervisor: Gerard van Westen

Education & outreach

Our research in the area of safety sciences aims to increase the mechanistic understanding of cellular toxicity of drugs and, in a broader sense, chemicals.

LIACS organizes different lectures and seminars like the LCN2 Seminars and SAILS Lunch Time-seminars.

Research at the BIOSYN group is comprised of the following research themes:

Research at the SBC group is comprised of the following research themes:

Lecture

Nature uses a special class of histone proteins, histone variants, to modulate the properties of chromatin at defined genomic locations.

The research area of this division is focused on the development of novel therapeutic modalities and novel concepts in early drug discovery, in order to better predict ligand-target interactions.

Promotor: Prof.dr. J.P. Abrahams

This dissertation contains four works during my PhD. Different biomaterials have been designed based on coiled-coil peptides. These biomaterials have a range of applications, inclusing drug delivery, cell sorting to cell-cell fusion.

This doctoral thesis is an effort to understand how lipid phase-separation induced by diacylglycerol analogues in lipid-based nanoparticles affects their in vivo behavior, leading to specific nanoparticle-protein communications and selective cell targeting.

Several buildings need to be demolished to make way for phase 2.

Our group operates at the cross-roads of different disciplines: molecular and cellular microbiology, biochemistry, structural biology and biophysics. The group harbors expertise in a multitude of molecular and cellular approaches including:

We showed that constitutive and inducible chemical and morphological defenses against Western flower thrips differ between tomato and chrysanthemum plants.

The objective is to develop in vitro antigen degradation assays in order to mimic the fate of the antigen in vivo.

With an emphasis on developing novel miktoarm star polymers termed PeptoMiktoStars, this thesis leverages asymmetric polymeric polypept(o)ide frameworks to advance their effectiveness in delivering hydrophobic drugs and nucleic acids.

The main goal of this thesis is to achieve advanced control of binding properties in bis-pyrrolic and macrocyclic pyrrolic receptors by light.

Promotor: Prof.dr. E.F. van Dishoeck, Co-Promotor: G.J. Herczeg

The application of nanomaterials in industrial processes and consumer products provides many societal benefits, but can also lead to the release of nanomaterials into the environment. The work in this dissertation aims to provide insights into the potential environmental impacts that may follow from…

Promotores: Prof.dr. H.S. Overkleeft, Prof.dr. G.A. van der Marel

Promotor: G.A. van der Marel, Co-Promotor: J.D.C. Codée

A structural investigation of coiled coil peptides used as membrane fusogens, mimicing naturally occuring coiled-coil fusion proteins. Synthetic modifications have been made to alter lipid attachment, secondary structure and to insert photoactive azobenzene moieties for active control over coiled coil…

Deficiency of glucocerebrosidase (GBA) underlies Gaucher disease, a common lysosomal storage disorder. Carriership for Gaucher disease has recently been identified as major risk for parkinsonism. Presently, no method exists to visualize active GBA molecules in situ. We here report the design, synthesis…

Active-site directed probes are powerful in studies of enzymatic function. We report an active-site directed probe based on a warhead so far considered unreactive.

This dissertation aims to advance understanding of amoeboid single cell migration under the influence of changing physicochemical environmental properties. The particular focus is on the relatively unknown influence of differing physical properties in the extracellular environment, such as the migratory…

The cannabinoid CB2 receptor (CB2R) represents a promising therapeutic target for various forms of tissue injury and inflammatory diseases. Although numerous compounds have been developed and widely used to target CB2R, their selectivity, molecular mode of action and pharmacokinetic properties have…

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…

The aim of this thesis is to explore the use of Bioorthogonal Antigens to study the cross-presentation pathway.

In photoactivated chemotherapy (PACT), a biologically active compound is caged by a light-cleavable protecting group.

Dit proefschrift beschrijft een collectie aan alternatieve strategieën voor het begrijpen, ontwerpen en toepassen van lipide nanosystemen, waarin de rol van de bio-nano interacties centraal staan. In het bijzonder wordt gekeken naar de interactie van RNA-lipide nanosystemen, bekend van de toepassing…

This thesis introduces the concept of

The work in this thesis has been focused on two subjects. The first is the assembly of alginate oligosaccharides and the generation of building blocks for the enzymatic synthesis of alginate, and the second is the total synthesis of large fragments of the zwitterionic SP1 polysaccharide.

Promotor: H.S. Overkleeft, Co-promotor: M. van der Stelt

This Thesis describes the design, synthesis and evaluation as glycoprocessing enzyme inhibitors of focused libraries of iminosugars.

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

Authoritative and cutting-edge, Bacterial Chromatin: Methods and Protocols, Second Edition aims to be a useful up-to-date reference work for researchers currently in the field and to those entering the field.

Endocannabinoids are lipid messengers that modulate various physiological functions by activating the cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptors. While the metabolism of endocannabinoids and their action at the CB receptors is fairly well studied, the molecular mechanisms governing their release and transport…

Aluminium-based adjuvants, such as aluminium hydroxide and aluminium phosphate, are well-known for their immune-stimulating properties.