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

The database research community has made tremendous strides in developing powerful database engines that allow for efficient analytical query processing.

The aim of this work was to study the applicability of antigen-coated pH-sensitive microneedle arrays for effective vaccination strategies. Therefore, a model antigen (ovalbumin) was coated onto pH-sensitive (pyridine-modified) microneedle arrays to test pH-triggered antigen release by applying the…

Lecture, Tuesday Talks: Science Insights

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

The LOFAR radio telescope produces petabytes of data every year. Radio Astronomers use complex multi-step pipelines to process this data and produce scientific images.

How to ensure the environmental and economic benefits of circularity transition at macro-scale?

What are the life-cycle environmental impacts and risks to human health and ecosystems of a III-V/Si PV system? How can these be expected to change when the system is deployed at industrial scale? What are the most favourable recycling scenarios?

NimbleAI aims at solutions for ultra-energy efficient and secure neuromorphic sensing and processing at the edge.

Lecture

In this project innovative technology for photovoltaics cells is developed and analysis of ecological and health related risks are explicitly accounted for.

Urbanization brings benefits like housing and jobs but also challenges like biodiversity loss. CML's Urban research program uses science to create sustainable cities, focusing on the built environment (circular economy, urban mining) and enhancing urban nature for biodiversity and human benefits.

Researchers at LIACS are working to devise the computers of tomorrow that will be the backbone of the Cloud and Edge computing paradigms as well as the Internet of Things. In this respect, we are involved in research and development of high performance computing systems, embedded & real-time computing…

The focus of health care is rapidly changing. The need for maximum gains with minimal input requires tailored health care strategies and an ever more explicit evaluation of health benefits for the patient.

Koper

Many important topics in computer science, such as the correctness of software, the efficiency of algorithms and the modeling of complicated systems, depend on sound theoretical underpinnings. In the Theory group, we study these fundamental building blocks and develop verification methods to prove system…

Twenty years from now, the world population is estimated to be around 8.7 billion people, compared to the current 7.3 billion. In combination with the improvements in living standards and the corresponding growth in consumption, this will result in an enormous increase in the demand for food, consumables,…

The active learning ambition is based on the idea that knowledge is more likely to ‘stick’ when students are actively engaged with their learning and research. This active student participation has implications for how we teach: less consumption of knowledge and more efficient use of contact hours.

In this thesis it is posed that the central object of preference discovery is a co-creative process in which the Other can be represented by a machine. It explores efficient methods to enhance introverted intuition using extraverted intuition's communication lines.

With the advent of multicore processors and data centers, computer hardware has become increasingly parallel, allowing one to run multiple pieces of software at the same time on different machines. Coordination of these pieces is best expressed in a coordination language as an explicit interaction protocol…

The long-held desire - to link structure directly to function and to explain molecular mechanisms based on basic chemical or physical principles - is finally coming closer, satisfying not only our scientific curiosity but also offering new solutions to the many challenges in the field of health, energy…

PhD defence

About nine million people worldwide contract tuberculosis each year. Research into new treatment for this disease has received fresh stimulus with more efficient techniques and a new understanding of how the tuberculosis bacteria works.

The central theme of Rik Mom’s research group is to identify what the electrode-electrolyte interface looks like when electrocatalysis is taking place. Using specialized forms of Raman and X-ray spectroscopy, we study the chemical state and bonding environment of the electrode surface and near-surface…

For effective cancer immunotherapy by vaccination, co-delivery of tumour antigens and adjuvants to dendritic cells and subsequent activation of antigen-specific cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) is crucial. In this study, a synthetic long peptide (SLP) harbouring the model CTL epitope SIINFEKL was encapsulated…

Lecture

Promotor: Prof.dr. G.P. van Wezel, Co-Promotor: E. Vijgenboom

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

Artificial intelligence could help make the work of public sector organisations, professionals, policy- and decision makers more effective, more efficient, and ideally could make it more rationalised and evidence-based.

Multicopper oxidase, laccase, can efficiently reduce oxygen to water and are mostly used in the enzymatic biofuel cells.

How can prospective LCA be streamlined in a way that its practical application in research and technology development increases?

The development of new environmentally sound technologies is seen as a key route towards achieving sustainability.

In this thesis we have discussed several parameters that affect the electrochemical conversion of enviromentaly harmful molecules such as nitrates and carbon dioxide to more valuable and less deleterious compounds, in order to cast light onto the mechanism of the reaction to achieve an efficient and…

Optimization tasks in practice have multifaceted challenges as they are often black box, subject to multiple equality and inequality constraints and expensive to evaluate.

This dissertation consists of two parts, each of which considers a different research area related to random interval maps. In the first part we are interested in random interval maps that are critically intermittent.

The invention of neural networks marks a critical milestone in the pursuit of true artificial intelligence. Despite their impressive performance on various tasks, these networks face limitations in learning efficiently as they are often trained from scratch.

Promotor: K.J. Batenburg

Radiography is an important technique to inspect objects, with applications in airports and hospitals. X-ray imaging is also essential in industry, for instance in food safety checks for the presence of foreign objects.

Promotor: Prof.dr. E. Deprettere

Cyber security is one of the critical challenges in our inter-connected world. Organizations are being constantly targeted by adversaries. Various critical systems become exposed on the Internet. Users can find that their data has been stolen from a company that they were not even aware of.

Promotor: Prof.dr. J.N. Kok, Co-Promotor: W.A. Kosters

Using photosynthesis to generate energy, or using enzymes to effectively produce biofuel; Leiden chemists Huub de Groot en Hermen Overkleeft have both obtained an NWO TOP funding for their pioneering research. With the money they can take on new PhD students.

In-use stocks of products can be considered as intermediaries between human needs and the physical world.

In the thesis we demonstrated an 85% state transfer efficiency between two mechanical modes coupled to a common optical mode via stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) in the classical regime. We also showed possibilities to manipulate quantum states of the mechanical modes via STIRAP.

Promotor: H.W. Lenstra

Huub de Groot is professor in Biophysical Organic Chemistry. With his team he works in the field of photosynthesis and artificial photosynthesis. The molecular basis for photosynthesis is formed by protein complexes and organelles that contain chlorophyll molecules. The antenna systems herein capture…

A high performance computer or supercomputer owes its massive processing capacity to the fact that it chops a single overarching task into a whole series of smaller tasks. It simultaneously tackles each of those smaller problems.

Dynamic nuclear polarization with paramagnetic agents can enhance nuclear magnetic resonance signals by orders of magnitude. The mechanism of enhancement depends a.o. on the magnetic resonance properties of the agents used. Electron spin relaxation times at NMR relevant magnetic field/microwave frequencies,…