Bacteriophages are viruses that can kill bacteria and are a promising alternative for the treatment of antibiotic resistant bacterial infections. Recently we discovered that bacteria have accumulated defense mechanisms to avoid phage killing. Fortunately phages have developed counter defense mechanisms. In this project we want to combine these counter defense mechanisms and create a phage that is able to infect a broader range of bacteria with different defense mechanisms. Broadening the activity of bacteriophages is an important step in the clinical application of phage therapy

The Turing Way Book Dash - Dutch Hub event aims to facilitate Dutch contributions to The Turing Way handbook, an open educational resource promoting reproducible, ethical, and collaborative data science practices. This event provides a platform for Dutch researchers to both learn from and contribute to existing practices within The Turing Way. By organising a Dutch Hub, individuals involved in research processes can leverage established resources and organizational models, enriching their own research communities while contributing to a broader global initiative in advancing open science principles.

Quantum devices hold a promise to revolutionize modern electronics, but they are extremely sensitive to imperfections even of a size of a single atom. By using ideas from computational design this project identified how to make spin- and topological qubits (building blocks of a quantum computer) that function robustly even in presence of disorder. The developed software and approach can be applied to a broad range of quantum applications.

Since proteins sustain virtually all cellular functions, an encompassing knowledge of proteins is imperative for both a fundamental understanding of biology and for biomedical applications. Yet, partly due to the unavailability of suitable techniques, we still lack much basic knowledge about proteins, for example on their post-translationally modified composition or on the conformational dynamics that underlie their function. In ProPore, we propose to develop new nanopore technologies to tackle the two major challenges in protein analysis at the single-molecule level: (i) to extract sequence information of proteins, and (ii) to reveal and quantify the dynamics that drive protein function. Nanopores are powerful single-molecule sensors that are now used in DNA sequencing devices that are revolutionizing the life sciences. We aim to develop a number of mutually complementary nanopore devices that provide new routes towards single-molecule identification and sequencing of proteins, with several radical innovations to address the significant challenges involved. We propose to establish nanopore systems that can count and identify folded proteins, unfold proteins to ‘fingerprint’ them, and pioneer schemes to scan a linearized protein through a pore to sequentially read amino acids and post-translational modifications along the peptide backbone. Moreover, while it is well known that proteins adopt multiple 3D conformations and dynamically change their interaction partners, it remains largely unclear how proteins kinetically proceed through such distinct molecular states and thus give rise to protein function such as enzyme catalysis. In turn, this limits our ability to design efficient enzymes for biotechnological applications or to develop biomedical solutions that address protein (mal-)function in our cells. New nanopore devices offer unique opportunities to measure such dynamics at the single-protein level and resolve fast conformational changes over long observation times. Specifically, we will develop new single-molecule traps that can hold a single unlabeled protein for hours to interrogate its conformational dynamics at a resolution of microseconds, and we will apply these traps to unravel the function of various protein systems. The project will be carried out by a team of three PIs at different stages of their careers who bring in diverse complementary expertise as world-leading pioneers in nanopores and single-molecule dynamics. Interrogating proteins one-by-one by resolving their sequence and functional dynamics provides extraordinary potential to radically advance our understanding of proteins, the core players of our cells. Next to fundamental new insights, this research is expected to contribute to practical applications from medical diagnosis to industrial biotechnology.

A novel integrated electricity storage and conversion solution is investigated. The durable Ni-Fe battery and alkaline electrolyser, or ‘Battolyser’, is integrated in one device for the first time to come to higher efficiency and lower cost. The battery-electrolyser fulfils two different demands: electricity short term storage and power to synthetic fuels long term storage. The device can take in peaks of electricity, supply electricity at high demand, and supply hydrogen and oxygen as feedstock for chemical industry. The research concerns the development towards optimal energy and power density, as well as increasing the energy efficiency even beyond our initial >81%.