It is the aim of this project to better understand how the physical properties of lipids influences the structure and overall barrier function of the skin.

uman skin equivalents (HSEs) are in vitro 3D-skin models that mimic many aspects of the native human skin (NHS) and can be a valuable tool.

Netherton Syndrome (NTS) is a rare genetic skin disease caused by mutations in the serine protease inhibitor Kazal-type 5 gene, which encodes the lympho-epithelial Kazal-type-related inhibitor. NTS patients have a profound impaired skin barrier function. Because SC lipids play a crucial role in the…

What role do parent-child interactions play in the development, maintenance and treatment of depression in young people?

This paper describes two synthetic lipid models designed to replace human stratum corneum (SC) in studies of the impact of volatile organic chemicals on the molecular organization of the skin barrier lipids.

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.

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether the lipid/protein ratio and the total dry SC mass per surface area are related with the skin barrier function of controls and AE patients.

The effectiveness of the skin barrier underlies the outer layer of the skin: the stratum corneum (SC). However, in several skin diseases this barrier is impaired. In two inflammatory skin diseases, atopic eczema and Netherton syndrome, an increased level of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) has been…

Source: British Journal of Dermatology, Volume 170, Number 6, pp. E18-E19 (2014) ISBN:0007-0963

Soil bacteria can produce a wealth of antibiotics that are new to us, claims Gilles van Wezel, Professor of Molecular Biotechnology at the Institute of Biology Leiden. His research group has developed a method that can rapidly identify and produce these unknown compounds.

Music from a compostable cello, photographs and scents of fungi and a woven tapestry. With her upcoming multimedia project Super Organism, visual artist Suzette Bousema enables people to experience the underground fungal network with all their senses. Environmental scientist Nadia Soudzilovskaia and…

Source: Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Volume 135, pp. S59-S59 (2015)

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Promotors: Prof.dr. G.R. de Snoo, Prof.dr. G.A. Persoon, Prof.dr.ir. H.H. de Iongh

Leaf-eating caterpillars greatly enrich their intestinal flora by eating soil. Even effects of plants that previously grew in that soil can be found back in bacteria and fungi in caterpillars. Researchers from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) and Leiden University write about this discovery…

Gubbens

A team of researchers has managed to recreate the most natural skin cream in existence. Using the DUBBLE beamline (Dutch Belgian Beamline) at the European Synchrotron Radiation produced on the basis of the information identified, has the same properties as vernix caseosa. This cream may have a therapeutic…

What are the global relationships between environmental conditions and abundance of distinct types of mycorrhizal fungi in soil and plant roots?

Even as a child, Jan Willem Erisman wanted to make things better. As a professor Environmental sustainability, he is therefore also very active outside the university. He is known as the nitrogen professor: in the media all the way to the House of Representatives, he explains the nitrogen problem. Recently,…

Plant Sciences' contribution to the Host-Microbe Interactions research theme is to dissect how microorganisms and microbiomes interact with the plant host and the insects on those plants, and how these insights may be harnessed to improve plant growth and health, by steering microbiome composition and…

After Columbus landed on the island of Hispaniola (present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic), the farming culture of the indigenous people quickly disappeared. This has been demonstrated by Leiden archaeologists and colleagues from other universities on the basis of soil research. Publication in…

Key publications of the Skin Barrier and Vaccination group.

Current research at the Skin Barrier and Vaccination group.

Promotor: P. J. J. Hooykaas Co-promotor: B. S de Pater

How do you fit two meters of DNA in a tiny compartment and at the same time are able to access the right parts of it at the right times?

Main challenges in skin vaccination are overcoming the stratum corneum (SC) barrier and targeting the antigen presenting cells (APC) in the epidermis and the dermis.

One of the objections to the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between Canada and Europe (Ceta) is that countries would be surrendering national sovereignty to multinationals which will obstruct effective climate policy. But compared to other trade agreements, CETA is an improvement.

A team of researchers at the Institute of Biology Leiden, in collaboration with scientists from Utrecht University, has discovered a novel approach to improve the production of antibiotics and enzymes in the soil bacteria Streptomycetes.

Our in-house human skin equivalents contain all stratum corneum (SC) barrier lipid classes, but have a reduced level of free fatty acids (FAs), of which a part is mono-unsaturated. These differences lead to an altered SC lipid organization and thereby a reduced barrier function compared to human skin.…

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

The mission of the Plant Science research programme is to contribute to the sustainable production of high quality crops, flowers and high-value bio-based products. This is realised by generating fundamental knowledge of basic biological processes related to development of plants and their interaction…

A semi-empirical version of the specific reaction parameter approach to density functional theory (SRP-DFT) has been remarkably successful at predicting dissociative chemisorption probability vs. incidence energy curves for reactions on metal surfaces. New quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) calculations on the…

Recently, the PhD thesis of Lolu Danso Eweje appeared entitled ’Development of human skin equivalents to unravel the impaired skin barrier in atopic dermatitis skin’.

Increasing above- and belowground biodiversity in arable leek cultivation to stimulate pest control by natural enemies.

Promotor: Prof.dr. M. Danhof, Co-promotor: E.C.M. de Lange