Biomolecular Sciences

Modern society faces a number of demanding challenges going forward. Safe, stable food & crop production and developing novel treatments for diseases in aging or infection are priorities. Next to this, we also need to find novel solutions for emerging problems, such as broad antibiotic resistance or nitrogen fixation in our soils.

With a thorough understanding of molecular and cellular processes and a focus on fundamentals, we will be better positioned to innovate and develop biotechnological solutions or treatments to these issues. Moreover, today’s biomolecular scientists are increasingly exposed to huge volumes of data from high-throughput methods which require a critical scientific approach. To this end, it is vital that molecular and cell biology graduates are well-prepared to enter the lab within an interdisciplinary Life Sciences research community.

Teaching in the program takes the form of lectures, research tutorials, work groups, demonstrations, lab visits, lab and computer practicals, as well as onsite training and mentoring.

In the first year you will follow the obligatory courses Protein Science, Fundamentals of Bioinformatics, From Genome to Function and Cell Structures and Function in the first two periods. In period 3 you will start to tailor your program to you yourself by choosing an optional course. An internship (see below) of five months will complete your first year.

In the second year you will learn about the Lifecycle of Research Projects and do more courses of your own choice. We offer sets of courses along a specific theme, but here you will also have the opportunity to combine courses from different themes. You complete your program with a second internship or bioinformatics project.

In the program you will do two large research projects (internships). One is always an experimental (wetlab) internship and the second project can be another experimental (wetlab) internship or a Bioinformatics/Data analysis project. These projects can be performed under the mentorship and guidance of a researcher of your choice. We also encourage our students to consider going abroad or in industry for their internship. Our lecturers can help you with finding a suitable lab through their own extensive research networks.

In addition, over the two years, you will follow a series of workshops on strengthening your academic skills and preparing yourself for the job market.

Some examples of current research topics in the biomolecular field

· A new method to fight tuberculosis

After a period of relative calmness, tuberculosis seems to be on the advance again, causing currently some 2 million casualties per year. Mycobacterium tuberculosis excretes different proteins all playing a role in disease development. Knowledge about the underlying mechanisms of excretion can be applied in the development of new drugs to fight the bacteria.

· Regulation of gene expression

It is a miracle how a single fertilized egg cell develops into a complex organism and how undifferentiated stem cells can be assigned to take their role in this process. Expression and regulation of genes in eukaryotes is controlled by transcription factors, but in addition there is also post-transcriptional control. Unravelling these regulatory networks will open up huge possibilities in biomedical and biotechnological research.

· Virus-induced cancer

Do viruses play a role in the development of cancer? Research from the VU University in Amsterdam suggest that they indeed do. These findings are important for the development of new cancer therapies.

· Busy traffic within cells

Within our cells, there is ongoing and busy traffic of nutrients, organelles and signalling compounds, driven by motor proteins. In order to visualize, count and track these motor proteins and figure out how they cooperate in their job advanced new microscopy methods have been and still need to be developed.