Op 3 mei jongstleden werd de 10e Niko Tinbergenlezing georganiseerd. De lezingen werden dit jaar verzorgd door Steven Pinker en Rivke Jaffe. De beelden van de lezing van Steven Pinker zijn nu online terug te kijken en daarnaast is er een fotoreportage gemaakt.

Het was feest in restaurant Tabú. Decaan Mark Rutgers kreeg daar het eerste exemplaar van LEAP overhandigd, een journal waarin masterstudenten van de Faculteit Geesteswetenschappen zelf wetenschappelijke artikelen publiceren om zich voor te bereiden op een wetenschappelijke carrière.

Mycorrhizas are symbiotic associations between soil fungi and most plant species.

Promotor: A. Kros

This dissertation explores how Large Language Models (LLMs) can effectively and responsibly contribute to complex decision-making processes. By combining AI and human intelligence, Hybrid Intelligence (HI) emerges, allowing the strengths of both humans and machines to be utilized.

Voltammetry plays a crucial role in modern scientific research by offering valuable insights into the electrochemical properties of materials, with wide-ranging applications in fields such as materials science, energy storage, corrosion studies, and sensor development.

Whilst government’s ability to design ‘context-specific’ regional innovation policy is generally assumed to depend on the region’s decision-making power, the aim of this study is to investigate how regional government matters. In order to open up the black box of policy design, the study develops a…

Het onderzoek in de cluster Algebra, meetkunde en getaltheorie slaat bruggen tussen abstracte theorie en de wereld van algoritmen en toepassingen.

Cardiovascular disease is a major global burden and atherosclerosis is the main underlying pathological process.

The Vallesian, 11.1-9 Ma, was a special time in the Vallès-Penedes basin near Barcelona, where a biodiversity hotspot existed. Europe had a subtropical climate, with rhinos, forest giraffes, lions, hyenas, flying squirrels and primates.

Bacteria have the ability to alter their morphology in order to adapt to changing environments.

Promotor: Prof.dr. J.A. Bouwstra, Co-promotor: A. El Ghalbzouri

There is accumulating evidence for an increase in severe global drought events. In particular, Europe experienced several severe droughts in 2003, 2015, and 2018 (unprecedented in the past 2,110 years). Such droughts have caused serious and far-reaching impacts on terrestrial ecosystems.

Promotor: S.M. Verduyn Lunel, Co-promotoren: M.F.E. de Jeu, S.D. Silvestrov

Within the field of astronomy, understanding how galaxies grow and evolve from the Big Bang to the present day is a challenging and complex question.

Promotor: T.H. Oosterkamp

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.

In this thesis, we aimed to better understand the underlying mechanisms involved in TNBC progression and metastasis formation and discover new targets to reduce breast cancer related deaths.

We developed the bitterling as a unique, well-studied model organism in the area of the evolutionary ecology of brood parasitism. The bitterling-mussel relationship, interspecific mussel host preference, and mussel gill structure are studied in detail, to help understand the developmental adaptation…

Death in all types of melanomas is generally caused by metastasis. Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most common intraocular melanoma, there are currently no (patient-derived) animal models that faithfully recapitulate metastatic dissemination of UM.

This research delves into a region of space known as the interstellar medium (ISM), which is essentially the area between the stars filled with gas and dust.

Striga hermonthica, commonly known as witchweed, infests major cereal crops in Sub-Saharan Africa causing severe yield losses and threatening the livelihood of millions of resource poor farmers.

This work describes the use of click-to-release chemistry to get spatiotemporal control over immunocytokine activity. Until now, immunocytokines (cytokines coupled to a tumor-targeting-moiety) remained active throughout the body, being able to bind their respective receptors, causing mild to severe…

The research described in this thesis centered on retaining exo-β-glucosidases implicated in health and disease, in particular the human inherited lysosomal storage disorder, Gaucher disease (GD).

Barrier function is the natural role of the skin. The lipid matrix present in the outermost layer of the skin, the stratum corneum is important for this function.

This thesis describes a study from both a theoreticaL and an experimental point of view.

Promotor: A. Achúcarro Co-promotor: A. Boyarsky

In the first part, we introduce a new condition, called toric-additivity, on a family of abelian varieties degenerating to a semi-abelian scheme over a normal crossing divisor.

Cathodic corrosion is a relatively unknown phenomenon that can severely etch metallic electrodes at cathodic (negative) potentials.

Promotor: Prof.dr. P. Stevenhagen, Co-promotor: B. de Smit

This work is dedicated to interpreting in cohomological terms the special values of zeta functions of arithmetic schemes.

In light of climate change, it is crucial to determine whether plant species can adapt to future climates to avoid extinction. Plants adapt to various conditions by altering their functional traits, such as leaf size or photosynthetic rate. Some traits appear linked and vary together between species,…

The availability of indicators based on social media has opened the possibility to track the online interactions between social media users and scholarly entities.

The molecular mechanisms that instigate a healthy cell to become malignant are fueled by (epi)genetic alterations in so-called driver genes.

Membrane fusion is a vital process in living organisms and is mediated by zipper-like proteins.

Tin electrodeposition applications have rapidly evolved in the past 25 years.

Promotor: J.M. van den Broek Co-promotor: M.C. de Vries

Cardiovascular diseases are among the most frequent causes of death in the world. The main underlying pathology of cardiovascular diseases is the development of atherosclerosis in the medium and large-sized arteries.

The field of exoplanet research is rapidly advancing through the development of new technology, observing techniques, and post-processing methods.

An Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) is a highly luminous region at the center of a galaxy, powered by the accretion into a supermassive black hole and emitting energy from radio waves to gamma rays, often outshining the host galaxy.

Promotor: G.P. van Wezel

The study of orchid flowers, fruits, and inflorescences is crucial due to the remarkable diversity of orchid species and their unique adaptations to pollinators and seed dispersers. However, our understanding of the evolution and development of these organs within the orchid family remains limited.

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.

Patterned detectors are an existing technology that can be found in almost all color cameras.

A New Technology-Based Firm (NTBF) is a significant enabler of job creation and a driver of the economy through stimulating innovation.

Healthy aging is one of the prime goals in today's society and atherosclerosis is among the greatest causes of morbidity in elderly. Cardiovascular disease patients receiving treatment are often of advanced aged and have an aged immune system, which limits translating experimental findings to the pa…

Promotor: Jan van der Greef; Co-promotors: Mei Wang; Eduard van Wijk

Stars and planets form within cold, dense clouds of gas and dust drifting through interstellar space. Although dust makes up only a small fraction of this material, it plays a key role in shaping the chemical evolution of these environments.

This thesis describes the design, characterization and application of dextran based crosslinked network.

Astronomical observations of cold regions in the universe show a rich inventory of ices. Part of these ices may end up on planets like our own, but in that journey they will be exposed to considerable amounts of radiation.