Academia Vitae in the Netherlands is pleased to introduce two excellent undergraduate (semester- or year-long) programs in the liberal arts: Freshman Year and Study Abroad.

Academia Vitae is a new (2005) Dutch university in historic Deventer that focuses on the liberal arts. Its curriculum stresses the study of classical works in the sciences, humanities, and arts in small seminars with inspiring teachers. While immersed in the exquisite environment of our campus, students are stimulated to integrate their interests with their studies and connect what they learn with their own questions.

Freshman Year at Academia Vitae is an international pre-academic year (also known as a “gap year”) that gives students a solid foundation for the academic years that loom ahead. Students also can join the program only for one semester. The program is targeted towards ambitious high school graduates (VWO, IB, or equivalent) who wish to have a European academic foundation before making a definite choice of what and where to study. It provides a solid intellectual basis upon which to further their studies, and answers the important questions of its age group: Who am I? What am I good at? What do I really want to study? (See www.academiavitae.nl/freshman for details.)

Study Abroad Program is orientated towards undergraduates enrolled at universities elsewhere. It comprises one semester of courses tailored to those who seek cultural adventure while engaging in rigorous academics. Students learn about Europe, its history, its culture, its politics. What makes European societies so different from the United States and again so similar? Reading original sources of Western and Eastern civilizations are integral to the program. (See www.academiavitae.nl/abroad for details.)

For information about sholarships contact the Addmission Office at freshmanyear[at]academiavitae.nl

The rapid spread of antibiotic resistance among bacteria is one of the major problems of the coming century. This urges for an understanding of the mechanisms by which antibiotic resistance is transmitted. Conjugal DNA transport via type IV secretion systems is one of the main causes responsible for this spread, but little is known about the mechanism that governs conjugal DNA transport. In Gram-negative bacteria, the DNA has to cross four membranes, which makes it difficult to study DNA translocation by in vitro methods. However, such studies will be instrumental to reveal mechanistic features of this transport process.

Recently, an F factor conjugation-like DNA secretion system has been described in pathogenic Neisseria gonorrhoea. Remarkably, this system exports the DNA directly into the medium without the need for cell-to-cell contact. Since here only two membranes have to be crossed, this system is ideal to set up an in vitro DNA translocation system.

The aim is to reconstitute the DNA transport reaction both with inner membrane vesicles and proteoliposomes reconstituted with purified components. For this purpose, components of the DNA translocase will be identified and overexpressed. Interactions between subunits of the DNA translocase, located in the cytoplasm, inner membrane, periplasm and outer membrane will be analyzed using immunoprecipitation, co-purification, blue native electrophoresis, surface plasmon resonance
and further molecular biological, biochemical and biophysical techniques.

PhD Studentships DNA Transport in Neisseria Gonorrhoeae, University of Groningen, Netherlands … read more »

A 4-year position for a PhD student is available in the Auditory Periphery Lab in the Dept. of Neuroscience of the Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The student will record from single auditory nerve fibers of Mongolian gerbils and, in a later stage, of the Leopard frog. The setup for neural recordings from the gerbil is operational. Recordings from the frog will be performed at UCLA, California during a 4-month collaboration project with Dr. P. Narins.

Applicants should have an M.Sc. in Biology, Medicine, Biophysics, or equivalent, with a demonstrable interest in Neuroscience research. Affinity with quantitative techniques is required. Experience with electrophysiological techniques is preferred.

More details of the project can be found on our lab page http://beta.neuro.nl/research/vanderheijden/.
More information on the Dept of Neuroscience can be found at http://www.neuro.nl/.

Mail your application including a CV and the names of one or two references to Dr. Marcel van der Heijden, m.vanderheyden[at]erasmusmc.nl