Esther Nolte-‘t Hoen joined the Infection Biology group

Our former master student Dave Lifka joined the Strijbis group as a PhD student. Dave will work on bacterial infections at the respiratory surface. Welcome back, Dave!

Today we had a nice lunch with the lab in “Het Oude Tolhuys”. Great food and good company. We really missed this type of lab outings during the corona pandemic. We hope our social committee will be able to organize more outings in the future.

On July 5th, our PhD student Yvette Luijkx successfully defended her thesis entitled “Exploring the dynamic role of L-fucose and a-L-fucusidases in the cross talk between gut bacteria and host”. A very nice and fruitful collaborative project together with the lab of Dr. Tom Wennekes. Due to the corona measures, the “hybrid” defense ceremony was

We welcome our new PhD student Shaofang Xu to the lab. Due to the corona pandemic, her starting date was later than anticipated, but we’re very happy that she made it to Utrecht. She is funded by CSC and will start working on bacterial invasion of epithelial cells. Great to have you on board, Shaofang!

The Transmembrane Mucin MUC1 Facilitates β1-Integrin-Mediated Bacterial Invasion. Li X, Wubbolts RW, Bleumink-Pluym NMC, van Putten JPM, Strijbis K.mBio. 2021 Apr 6;12(2):e03491-20. doi: 10.1128/mBio.03491-20.PMID: 33824202 At the intestinal host-microbe interface, the transmembrane mucin MUC1 can function as a physical barrier as well as a receptor for bacteria. MUC1 also influences epithelial cell morphology and receptor

The department of Biomolecular Health Sciences of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Utrecht University is looking for a new Professor to head the Infection Biology group to follow in the footsteps of Jos van Putten who recently retired. Until the position is filled, Associate Professor Karin Strijbis is appointed as interim head of the

Development of a 1,2-difluorofucoside activity-based probe for profiling GH29 fucosidases. Luijkx YMCA, Jongkees S, Strijbis K, Wennekes T.Org Biomol Chem. 2021 Apr 7;19(13):2968-2977. doi: 10.1039/d1ob00054c. Epub 2021 Mar 17.PMID: 33729259 GH29 α-L-fucosidases catalyze hydrolysis of terminal α-L-fucosyl linkages with varying specificity and are expressed by prominent members of the human gut microbiota. Both homeostasis and

After many years as a passionate scientist and supporting mentor Professor Jos van Putten officially retired on February 18th. We surprised him with online celebrations and in the afternoon, he received a royal distinction called a “lintje” for his contribution to science and society. We wish Jos a happy retirement but we’re sure he will