Laboratory of Molecular Biology

The Laboratory of Molecular Biology has several research groups that are active at different areas of plant molecular biology. Their research programs aim to understand fundamental processes of plant biology and to use this fundamental knowledge in applied projects. Advanced techniques based on fluorescence microscopy are used in many of the ongoing projects in order to be able to study processes within cells.

Interim chair holder

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The Medicago genome provides insight into the evolution of rhizobial symbioses

Legumes (Fabaceae or Leguminosae) are unique among cultivated plants for their ability to carry out endosymbiotic nitrogen fixation with rhizobial bacteria, a process that takes place in a specialized structure known as the nodule.

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Our Research

Since its origin in 1972, the department of Molecular Biology has made major contributions to the development of molecular biological technology for fundamental and applied research. Over the past three decades students conducting research at our department have found positions in a wide variety of research areas including medical research, plant and animal sciences and biotechnology.

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News

Two Vidi Grants

Wouter Kohlen and Wilma van Esse received both a Vidi Grant. Their projects re entitled “To multiply you must divide” and “Flowering time genes branching out” respectively.

EPS-TKI Talent Fellowship

Jordi Floriach-Clark was awarded an EPS-TKI Talent Fellowship. He will carry out the research as a PhD student.

Bacterial invasion of plant cells

During the Rhizobium-legume symbiosis Rhizobium bacteria are taken up into the cytoplasm of nodule cells, where they are hosted in new organelle-like membrane compartments, called symbiosomes. The intracellular accommodation of bacteria in plant cells is unique to the nodule symbiosis and somewhat resembles the invasion of human and animal cells by pathogenic bacteria.

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