Promotor: Prof.dr. E.F. Smets

Pectin is a plant cell wall polysaccharide made of mainly D-galacturonic acid (GA) subunits. The potency of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger to naturally secrete high amounts of pectinases to degrade pectin has been utilized for the industrial production of pectinases.

In our research protein translocation from Agrobacterium into yeast and plant cells is studied to obtain fundamental insights in the translocation process

Promotie

Het gaat niet goed met de biodiversiteit in Nederland. Hoogleraar Natuurlijk Kapitaal Koos Biesmeijer combineert onderzoek met praktische adviezen: van het vergroenen van industrieterreinen tot oplossingen die geïnspireerd zijn op de hightech-natuur. Oratie op 9 maart.

In the Schouwburgstraat, LUGO is currently redesigning the back-garden in order to increase biodiversity and make it a more beautiful space. Throughout October 2023 until March 2024, we will be making changes to the garden with our team of volunteers.

Increasing the efficiency of gene targeting (GT) as a genome editing tool in plants has been an important goal in plant biotechnology.

Promotores: Prof.dr. T.H.W. Bäck, Prof.dr. M. Bongards (Cologne University)

In de Hortus botanicus Leiden bloeit de Jadevine (Strongylodon macrobotrys). Drie weken geleden begon de plant meerdere bloeitrossen te produceren, waarvan de eersten intussen in volle bloei staan.

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: W. Jiskoot, Co-promotor: A. Hawe

The theoretical explanation of cosmic acceleration is nowadays one of the biggest puzzles in cosmology.

This thesis seeks to combine two different research topics; Multi-Objective Optimization and Complex Network Analysis.

The studies presented in the work show the potential of the integrative use of biophysical data in defining the structural basis of protein interactions.

We present an extensive study of methods for exactly solving stochastic constraint (optimisation) problems (SCPs) in network analysis. These problems are prevalent in science, governance and industry.

In this Yearbook you will find some fascinating examples of what was done in 2021, not only by ourselves, but also by our international colleagues.

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

Promotor: C.J. ten Cate

Humans perceive the real world through their sensory organs: vision, taste, hearing, smell, and touch. In terms of information, we consider these different modesalso referred to as different channels of information or modals.

Combinatorial games are games for two competing players, moving in a turn-by-turn fashion, in which there is no chance nor hidden information⁠. Chess, checkers and the simpler tic tac toe are well-known examples of this class of games, as well as game of go⁠.

Promotor: Jelle S. Kaastra Co-promotor: Jelle de Plaa

Announcement of the publication of Vamping the Stage: Female Voices of Asian Modernities, the first book-length study of women, modernity, and popular music in Asia (University of Hawai'i Press, 2017).

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…

Promotores: Prof.dr. M. Danhof, Prof.dr. D.R. Stanski

Promotores: F.H. van Lunteren, F.P. Israel

Promotor: S.M. Verduyn Lunel, Co-promotor: S.C. Hille

Promotores: J.N. Kok, H.J. Hoogeboom

Stars like the sun are born in large molecular clouds existing from gas and dust. During the formation process, the chemical composition of the material can be altered drastically by the changing physical conditions.

Overall dispersion in LCA as result of inherent uncertainties, spread and unrepresentativeness.

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.

In this Ph.D. thesis we study the interaction of low energy electrons with thin materials, namely layered materials (graphene, hexagonal boron nitride, molybdenum disulfide) and organic films. At these low energies the quantum mechanical wavelength of the electron wave function is in the order of a…

Climate change is one of the largest challenges faced by humanity. To combat this research into alternatives to fossil fuels is ongoing. Dihydrogen is considered a good alternative fuel, since its burning only forms water.

Promotor: Prof.dr. M. de Jong

Promotores: H.S. Overkleeft, G.A. van der Marel, Co-promotor: B.I. Florea

Promotores: T.H. Oosterkamp, N. de Jonge

Planten zou je kunnen zien als kleine chemische fabrieken, die via fotosynthese chemische stoffen produceren. Als we fotosynthese kunnen nabootsen in een kunstmatig systeem, kunnen we schone brandstoffen en materialen maken uit zonlicht en CO2. Huub de Groot is heel dicht bij het ontwerpen van zo’n…

Ziekteverwekkende bacteriën zijn steeds vaker resistent voor de huidige antibiotica. De vraag naar nieuwe antibiotica wordt daarmee steeds groter. Professor Gilles van Wezel zoekt naar nieuwe vormen van antibiotica in goede bacteriën die in de grond leven.

Does a high quality prairie restoration in an urban/agricultural landscape provide invertebrates necessary for a sustainable ecosystem?

Promotor: P.J.J. Hooykaas, Co-Promotor: E.J. van der Zaal

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

Mycoheterotrophy is a particular mode of life in which plants obtain carbohydrates from their associated fungal partners, instead of by using photosynthesis.

The mycorrhizal symbiosis is among the most widespread species interactions on Earth⁠. This thesis focuses on orchid mycorrhiza, a unique mycorrhizal type that has caught scientists’ attention for centuries⁠.

The type-IV secretion system (T4SS) is a machinery able to transfer DNA and proteins between bacteria and in certain cases also to eukaryotic cells.

Aspergillus niger is an important industrial producer of organic acids and enzymes producing large amounts of spent fungal biomass.

De afdeling Environmental Biology (CML-EB) houdt zich bezig met vraagstukken rondom biodiversiteit en natuurlijke hulpbronnen op het platteland in westerse en niet-westerse gebieden.

Op 16 juni heeft Kirsten Leiss van de Universiteit Leiden de tweede Jan Ritzema Bosprijs gewonnen. Deze prijs werd door de Koninklijke Nederlandse Plantenziektekundige Vereniging (KNPV) uitgeloofd voor de beste presentatie van de dag, tijdens de voorjaarsbijeenkomst ‘Recente ontwikkelingen in de Gew…

De schatkamers van de Leidse Universiteitsbibliotheek en Naturalis hebben prachtige historische collecties met gedroogde planten en botanische tekeningen. Tinde van Andel, bijzonder hoogleraar Geschiedenis van botanie en tuinen, onderzoekt deze collecties.

Milieuwetenschapper Nadia Soudzilovskaia heeft de prestigieuze, internationale Bessel-Forschungs-prijs van de Von Humboldt-stichting gewonnen. Deze Duitse prijs wordt uitgereikt aan uitmuntende buitenlandse wetenschappers die middenin hun carrière staan en samenwerken met Duitse onderzoekers. ‘Het is…