Viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) is a group of acute diseases caused by highly infectious viruses including Ebola, Lassa, Dengue viruses. Its high mortality rate poses high risk to public health, however, studies on VHF have been hampered due to the non-availability of proper models and incomplete knowledge…

Promotores: H.A. Udo de Haes, H.H.T. Prins, Co-promotor: H.H. de Iongh

Vitamin A or retinol is essential in embryonic development, the visual cycle and the immune system.

The rapidly increasing commercial application of metallic nanoparticles within products will inevitably enhance the amount of NPs being released into soil.

Promotores: Prof.dr. W.J.G.M. Peijnenburg & Dr. M.G. Vijver

Promotores: Prof.dr. G.A. van der Marel, M. van Heel

Promotores: E. van Dijk, G.R. de Snoo. Co-promotor: H. Staats

Lysosomal acid glucosylceramidase (GBA1) is a lysosomal enzyme that degrades glucolipids with its main substrate being glucosylceramide (GlcCer). Defects in the GBA1 gene lead to glycosphingolipidosis Gaucher disease (GD), in which the hydrolysis of GlcCer is impaired and therefore, it accumulates in…

In a typical glycosylation reaction, a donor is activated to form a (variety of) electrophilic species which can react with a nucleophilic acceptor, following a reaction mechanism having both SN1 and SN2 character.

Promotor: H.P. Spaink, A.H. Meijer Co-promotor: R. Marin-Juez

Promotores: Prof. dr. G.R. (Geert) de Snoo, Dr. E. (Ester) van der Voet

Promotores: W. Th. F. den Hollander, M.O. Heydenreich

This thesis describes the use of a combined approach of computational and experimental techniques to gain novel insights to understand the glycosylation reaction and its reactive intermediates.

Promotor: J.P. Abrahams, Co-promotor: T. Grüne

Every organisms in the tree of life faces the same challenge: the length of its DNA exceeds the volume of the cell it needs to fit in. Several strategies have evolved to solve this problem, one of them being the expression of proteins that bind and organize the DNA.

Protein–protein complexes are formed via transient states called encounter complexes that greatly influence the formation of the stereospecific complex.

Promotor: G.R. de Snoo

Promotor: Prof.dr. M. Ubbink

PNEC-pro is a user-friendly screening tool for professionals dealing with the assessment of surface water quality. The tool calculates local, watertype specific no-effect concentrations (PNEC) of copper, lead, nickel and zinc based on biotic ligand models (BLMs).

This thesis describes the design and synthesis of fragments of various cell wall carbohydrates of the Streptococcus species, including the branched Group B-specific antigen (GBC) of Group B Streptococcus, glycerol phosphate (GroP) modified group A carbohydrate (GAC), and the O-acetylated type 1 capsular…

Promotor: Jaap Brouwer, Co-promotor: Remus Th. Dame

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…

Electron microscopy has become an extremely important techniquein a wide variety of elds.

This thesis describes the use of bioorthogonal proteins in immunological settings. It provides an introduction towards the field of protein modification, which was used throughout the thesis for the expression of proteins containing unnatural amino acids.

Promotor: D. Bouwmeester, Co-promotor: D. Kraft

Glycosidases (GHs) are enzymes responsible for the degradation of carbohydrates and play many roles in human health and pathophysiology. Often, abnormal levels of glycosidase activity are markedly linked to human pathologies.

Promotores: G. Persoon, R. Schefold

Natural resources often stretch across borders that separate modern nation states. This can create conflict and limit opportunities for regulated consumption of their goods and services, but also provide opportunities for joint multinational efforts that exceed single country capabilities.

Schistosomiasis is an acute and chronic disease caused by blood dwelling parasitic trematodes of the genus Schistosoma, and it is classified as the second most socioeconomically devastating parasitic disease, second only to malaria.

Promotor: Prof.dr. J.P. Abrahams, Prof.dr. M. van Heel

Dissolution processes – next to aggregation processes - play an important role for fate prediction and environmental risk assessment of metal-based nanoparticles (MNPs). It is challenging to predict the kinetics of the dissolution process of MNPs in complex systems such as we can find in in vivo and…

Promotor: W.T. de Groot

A key step in the synthesis of oligosaccharides and glycoconjugates is the formation of the glycosidic bond.

Several single-stranded RNA viruses make use of Xrn1-resistant RNAs in their 3’ untranslated regions of their genome RNAs in order to increase their pathogenicity.

This Thesis focuses on the design and synthesis of ADP-ribosylated compounds that can be applied in biological studies.

This thesis addresses the challenge of sustainable urban development by analyzing the interplay between green and grey infrastructure to optimize resource use and ecosystem services.

Plastics have become an integral part of modern society due to their versatility and durability.

Bij onderzoek naar geneesmiddelen zou meer gebruik moeten worden gemaakt van data science. Dat zegt Gerard van Westen, postdoctoraal onderzoeker bij het Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR). ‘Als je betere medicijnen wilt hebben, moet je starten bij data.’

Hoe detecteren bacteriën signalen uit hun omgeving en hoe passen ze zich daaraan aan? Die vraag intrigeert Ariane Briegel, hoogleraar Ultrastructuurbiologie. Met behulp van nieuwe technieken produceert ze driedimensionale beelden, die nieuwe informatie geven over het zintuiglijke systeem van bacteri…

De Leidse hoogleraren chemie Hermen Overkleeft en Hans Aerts hebben, samen met hun collega Huib Ovaa van het Nederlands Kankerinstituut, 2 miljoen euro gekregen van NWO voor biochemisch onderzoek. Het onderzoek kan leiden tot nieuwe behandelingsmethodes voor verschillende ziektes.

Het onderzoek van Mario van der Stelt naar de rol van ons lichaamseigen marihuana werd breed uitgemeten in de media. De stof anandamide, die Van der Stelt onderzocht, blijkt ervoor te zorgen dat we herinneringen aan een angstige gebeurtenis vergeten. Onder andere BNR, Nemo Kennislink en het Leidsch…

Bodembacteriën kunnen een schat aan antibiotica maken die nieuw voor ons zijn, stelt Gilles van Wezel. Zijn groep ontwikkelde een methode om die onbekende verbindingen snel te identificeren en te produceren. In Chemistry & Biology laten de onderzoekers zien dat de aanpak werkt.

In hoeverre hopen nanodeeltjes zich op in planten en dieren, en welke eigenschappen van de deeltjes spelen hierbij een rol? Willie Peijnenburg, hoogleraar Milieutoxicologie en biodiversiteit kreeg een Marie-Curie beurs toegekend om onderzoek te doen naar de milieueffecten van nanodeeltjes.

Promotie

Afweercellen houden tuberculosebacteriën onder controle door ze af te breken. Leids biologe Annemarie Meijer en collega’s ontdekten welk eiwit hiervoor de aanzet geeft. Dat eiwit (DRAM1) is mogelijk geschikt voor nieuwe medicijnen, schrijven ze in Cell Host & Microbe.