The transition to flowering is one of the most important developmental switches in a plants life cycle and has been studied in detail at the physiological, genetic, and molecular levels. The small globular protein FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) has shown to be the key signalling molecule integrating various environmental and endogenous signals into a flower-inducing signal. A frontier and challenging research topic is to unravel FT?s molecular mode of action. Previous work showed that FT moves from the leaves to the shoot apical meristem, where it interacts with the bZIP transcription factor FD, leading to FD activation and the induction of flower formation. Though, how FT modifies FD and which other proteins are involved in FT?s functioning is not understood. We aim to identify chemical compounds that impinge on FT activity, facilitating the understanding of FT?s molecular mode of action and giving the opportunity to identify compounds that can inhibit or mimic FT?s function in flowering. FT belongs to the phospatidylethanolamine-binding domain protein (PEBP) family and structural analysis revealed the strong conservation of the ligand binding domain pocket of this class of proteins. Mamalian PEBPs have shown to be important signalling molecules and a number of small chemical compounds has been identified interfering with PEBPs functioning. We will use this information as basis to screen for novel chemical compounds acting on FTs activity. Subsequently, through creative chemical design and organic synthesis a structure-activity relationship study will be conducted in order to obtain insight in the way FT functions and for optimal perturbation of its function. In parallel, we aim to identify the protein complexes in which the FT protein is active. For this we will use a novel synergistic approach combining proteomics and small molecule chemical tagging technologies. Our last and most challenging goal is to identify a FT mimicking chemical agent, which will facilitate the further elucidation of FT?s functioning, and which is also of interest for future applications. Our complex research question and cutting-edge chemical-genomic approach demands an interdisciplinary research team, which is for a large part covered by the applying organic chemistry and molecular plant development research groups. The complementary and synergistic effects will be strengthened by the international contacts within the research fields studying flower formation and applying chemical biology.

Many criminal cases, that affect people financially and emotionally, remain unsolved, because current analysis is not providing enough intelligence. In this project we aim to develop two different tools to enhance the effectivity and efficiency of crime scene investigation. First one is an innovative rapid test to determine whether a trace sample contains sufficient DNA that enables suspect identification. Second tool is a microfluidic device to establish at the crime scene if biological traces belong to the same individual (victim/suspect). With this we aim to increase the trust and confidence of citizens in government and law enforcing agencies.

Food safety in Europe is based on a deep molecular understanding of potential contaminants and assured by a network of sophisticated measurements in specialized laboratories. However, there is increasing pressure on the global food system by drivers like climate change, growing world population, dietary transformations and circular economy. This is expected to lead to the increasing occurrence of unknown or unexpected biological toxins in our food, which poses significant risks to human health. In order to be better prepared, this project aims at unraveling the complexity of a family of key toxins, and investigating how to effectively monitor them.

In this project, the Albada and Heskamp groups develop a general concept to significantly improve targeted cancer therapy with short time-to-clinic starting from any antibody. The proposed concept involves the installation of a temporary masking moiety close to the antibody binding site, which is selectively cleaved in the tumor micro-environment. As a result, drug delivery will be more selective towards the tumor versus healthy tissue, resulting in a favorable therapeutic window.

Solar energy will play a large role for the energy transition. More efficient solar cells are urgently needed to reduce the area required. Singlet fission is a way to make solar cells much more efficient. During singlet fission, a high-energy photon is converted into two particles of lower energy, called triplet excitons. This means that a solar cell can generate twice as much current from high-energy light. In this project we investigated ways to enhance the transfer of the triplet excitons into a conventional silicon solar cell. We found a robust way for transfer, yet the efficiency still needs improvement.