Policy options for sustainable protein consumption in the Netherlands

The Master's programme Industrial Ecology is jointly organised by Leiden University and Delft University of Technology.

Intensified Protein Structuring for more sustainable foods: Development of the up-scaled Couette Cell for the production of meat replacers

To meet the increasing need for protein-rich food of an ever growing population, plant-based proteins are being utilized in meat products as replacements for animal-based proteins. Legumes such as soy can serve as an alternative protein source, by featuring both high protein content (36%) and protein functionality (gelation). Nowadays various...

Solid-state nanopores for probing DNA and protein

Solid-state nanopores are small nanometer-scale holes in thin membranes. When used to separate two chambers containing salt solution, any biomolecule passing from one chamber to the other is forced to pass through the pore constriction. An electric field applied across the membrane is used to create an ionic current and electrophoretically drive...

Elucidating the mechanism and parameters influence of the gas phase (air bubbles) in the separation of oil from a complex oil-in-water emulsion

The destabilization of a hexadecane, water, and baker’s yeast (O/W/Y mixture) emulsion by aeration and formation of a clear oil layer was investigated. The role of the air bubbles to destabilize the emulsion and form a clear oil layer was observed on previous research, but not investigated further until the current research. Initial hypotheses...

Single-molecule studies of the twisted, knotted, and broken genome

This thesis describes a series of single-molecule experiments aimed at understanding the physical properties of DNA itself and the proteins that interact with it. We developed and applied sensitive techniques that allowed us to directly probe the conformation and interactions of individual DNA molecules and proteins. Magnetic and optical...

Solid-state nanopores for scanning single molecules and mimicking biology

Solid-state nanopores, nanometer-size holes in a thin synthetic membrane, are a versatile tool for the detection and manipulation of charged biomolecules. This thesis describes mostly experimental work on DNA translocation through solid-state nanopores, which we study at the single-molecule level. In particular, we demonstrate length-wise ...

Multimodal Interface for DNA Alignment of Sequences

Major research efforts in Bioinformatics include sequence alignment, gene finding, genome assembly, protein structure alignment, protein structure prediction, prediction of gene expression and protein-protein interactions, and the modeling of evolution. To perform these specific tasks different tools are used. Using these tools separately is a...

Statistical mechanics of protein solutions

We study theoretically thermodynamic properties of spherical globular proteins in aqueous solution with added monovalent salt. We show how one can determine an effective interaction potential between the proteins from experimental data as a function of salt concentration and we apply this to the protein lysozyme at a solution pH of 7.5 and ionic...

Protein stabilisation and controlled particulate production by supercritical fluid drying

Carbon dioxide was used as a drying medium for the preparation of micro-size powders from aqueous solutions in a high-pressure spray-drying process. This technology was shown to be an alternative to traditional drying processes that could be successfully used for the dry formulation of therapeutic proteins, the preparation of stable amorphous...

Bioseparations using surfactant-aided size-exclusion chromatography

In most bioprocesses one or more chromatographic steps are used in the purification of the product. Size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) is often one of these chromatographic steps. It is based on the difference in size and shape of the components to be separated and is used for the separation of molecules with a near identical chemical...