From surface science towards industrial practice using high-pressure scanning tunneling microscopy.

Despite the fact that gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are one of the most studied nanoparticles, there is still a necessity for new approaches allowing for effective protective coating to enable wider use of GNPs in biomedical applications.

Microscopic insight on lipid-based nanomedicine in vivo remains limited to the perception of the knowledge that could be obtained: if we interpret only what we see, then we only believe to know. Although believing to know encapsulates an undefined amount of uncertainty in the exploration of lipid-based…

This thesis investigates reactive interfaces in surface science across three domains: heterogeneous catalysis, environmental nanoplastics, and two-dimensional materials.

In this thesis, the focus lies on studying glucocorticoid receptor dynamics in living cells with the aim of understanding how this transcription factor finds its DNA target sites to regulate transcription.

Een speciaal type microscoop jaagt momenteel een revolutie aan in de biologie: de cryo-elektronenmicroscoop. Twee van zulke giganten staan sinds 2011 op de Leidse Faculteit der Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen. Hoogleraar Ultrastructuurbiologie Ariane Briegel vertelt hierover in het NRC Handelsblad.

Artificial photosynthesis has recognised potential to produce green and sustainable fuels from earth-abundant resources such as water, carbon dioxide (CO2), and sunlight.

In this dissertation, we work towards an experiment in which we aim to bring a micrometer sized magnet at the tip of a soft cantilever into a superposition.

This dissertation revolves around the design and implementation of novel instrumentation and related measurement techniques, at the single molecule level, for use in biophysical research. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to the field of fluorescence-based single molecule measurements. In particular,…

Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a powerful technique used to visualize the inside of cells and to study specific protein complexes. Within this thesis, I describe the use of various cryo-EM techniques to gain insight into the structural changes of the human pathogen, Vibrio cholerae, as it…

Promotor: Prof.dr. E.J.J. Groenen, Co-Promotor: M. Huber

Multicellular giant algae Chara species have been widely used in physiological studies for decades.

Atoms and molecules are the basic units of matter. If we keep dividing a bar of gold or a glass of water into smaller parts, at the end we are left with a single gold atom or a water molecule.

Promotors: Prof.dr. J. Zaanen, Prof.dr.ir. H. Hilgenkamp

There is an urgent need for more physiologically relevant cell culture methods to guide compound selection in pre-clinical stages of the drug development pipeline.

This thesis focuses on using liposomes in two different treatment strategies; vaccination (or immunotherapy) and delivery of a small molecule, and in two different disease models; cancer and atherosclerosis.

Promotie

The thesis describes the use of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, in continuous wave and pulse modes, to address the interaction of α-Synuclein (αS) with membranes and the aggregation of αS.

Het logo van de Universiteit Leiden, met letters zo klein als een bacterie. Wetenschappers van het LUMC en het Instituut Biologie hebben het kleinste logo ooit van onze universiteit gemaakt. Een grapje met een serieuze ondertoon: met de nieuwe microscoop waarmee het logo is gemaakt, kunnen zij nog gedetailleerder…

Promotor: Prof.dr. H.J.M de Groot, Co-Promotor: A. Alia

Promotor: Huub J.M. de Groot, Co-promotor: Francesco Buda

Een bacterie supersnel bevriezen, om de structuur van buiten en binnen natuurgetrouw in beeld te brengen. Hoogleraar Ultrastructuurbiologie Ariane Briegel kwam speciaal hiervoor naar Leiden: de Universiteit Leiden is een van de weinige instituten wereldwijd waar de benodigde apparatuur beschikbaar is.…

Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) is an ubiquitous part of oil refining that ensures that fuels are cleaned of impurities and environment release of pollutants such as SOx and NOx gasses are minimized.

In my research, I used a comparative wood anatomical approach to address wood evolution of the (largely) tropical flowering plant families Apocynaceae and Sapotaceae.

Promotor: R. Tijdeman, Co-promotor: H.J.J. te Riele

Bacteriophages, or phages for short, are the most abundant biological entity in nature. They shape bacterial communities and are a major driving force in bacterial evolution.

Promotor: H.J.M. de Groot

Promotor: J.W.M. Frenken

During post-embryonic development into adults, animals face an environment that fluctuates constantly. For example, in nutrient availability, temperature, and osmolarity (e.g., salt concentration).

De Nobelprijs voor Scheikunde 2017 is uitgereikt aan Jacques Dubochet, Richard Henderson en Joachim Frank, voor hun ontwikkeling van de cryo-elektronenmicroscopie. Met deze techniek kunnen biomoleculen in 3D in beeld gebracht worden, legt hoogleraar Ultrastructuurbiologie Ariane Briegel uit.

Een internationaal team met onderzoekers uit Leiden heeft ontdekt hoe een bacterie een intern systeem heeft herschikt om grip op beweging te krijgen. Gecontroleerde beweging is heel belangrijk bij het binnendringen van een gastheer, met mogelijk ziekte tot gevolg. Publicatie op 27 april in Nature Co…

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

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.

Food security is challenged by a growing global population and by climate change. Drought and soil salinity are considered the most important ones that inhibit crop yield and distribution. Worryingly, climate change is predicted to increase not only their frequency and severity, but also their co-occurrence,…

This thesis systematically studies the physicochemical properties of non-planar, propeller-shaped, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The synthesis of several so-called propellerenes is described on a gram scale, using optimized procedures aimed at using less hazardous reagents and reducing the amount…

Promotor: Prof.dr. P.G.L. Klinkhamer, Co-Promotor: T.J. de Jong

This thesis describes the synthesis, analysis of various tetrazine bearing compounds and use in bioorthogonal chemistry.

The work in this thesis demonstrates how to obtain an atomic-scale picture of a diverse set of complex surface structures observed using STM, under disparate conditions.

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…

Lezing, Tuesday Talk

Onderzoekers vanuit verschillende vakgebieden werken samen om oplossingen te bedenken voor maatschappelijke problemen.

Promotor: K.E. Schalm, Co-promotor: S.S. Lee

Inverse problems are problems where we want to estimate the values of certain parameters of a system given observations of the system. Such problems occur in several areas of science and engineering. Inverse problems are often ill-posed, which means that the observations of the system do not uniquely…

Electrons in a crystal lattice have properties that may differ from those of a free electron in vacuum.

De Europese Unie heeft tien miljoen euro geïnvesteerd in het zogeheten iNEXT-Discovery consortium. Het consortium wil innovatief structureel biologisch onderzoek beter toegankelijk maken voor Europese onderzoekers. Ook het Netherlands Centre for Electron Nanoscopy (NeCEN) maakt deel uit van iNEXT-Disovery,…

'Het Nederlands Centrum voor Elektronen Nanoscopie (NeCEN) is een mooi voorbeeld van een faciliteit die op nationale schaal toegang biedt tot de laatste ontwikkelen op het gebied van cryo-elektronen microscopie', dat schrijft Sriram Subramaniam, een vooraanstaand leider in deze tak van sport, in het…