Bachelor's students
BACHELOR PROJECTS
Students with a background in chemistry or physics are encouraged to explore the possibilities of doing a Bachelor research project at the Van 't Hoff Laboratory.
Below you can find brief descriptions of the Bachelor research projects that can currently be completed in our group.
If you are interested in a project or topic, please contact the student coordinator Geert Schulpen for more information.
At the moment, we do not have many projects available for bachelor students. Projects for the fourth period of this academic year will be published in March. Below one can find about some of our projects we provided in the last years to bachelor students. Do you want to learn more about the projects we can offer to bachelor students or do you have a special request for doing an internship, please contact Geert Schulpen directly to explore the different possibilities.
Quantitative transcription regulation
Transcription is the process by which a gene segment on DNA is copied into messenger RNA. This involves different types of proteins, such as the transcription machinery (RNA polymerase) and regulatory proteins (transcription factors).
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Experimental Thermodynamics of Electrodes for Desalination
Original thermodynamic experiments will be carried out to characterize the efficiency of electrodes used to produce potable water via capacitive desalination of salty water. Theory predicts that the efficiency decreases rapidly above a threshold value of salt concentration.
Colloids on Nematic Liquid Crystal-air Interfaces
Colloids are particles that have a size roughly between 10nm and 1 µm. These particles are relatively light, such that they are influenced by molecules bumping into them, while also being relatively big, such that it is easier to image them compared to (small) molecules. By changing the environment of the colloids, the interactions between the colloids can be changed. A particularly interesting environment is the interface of a molecular nematic liquid crystal, a liquid in which the rod-like molecules are oriented in the same general direction. Depending on the orientation of the molecules in the liquid crystal, the colloids form different structures.
Note: This was a project shared with the SCMB group (colloid.nl).
Centrifugal Assembly of Colloidal Polymers via Microfluidic Twisting
Colloidal molecules are model systems for real molecules because of their ability to form directional bonds and their movement via Brownian motion. The main goal of this project is to fabricate colloidal polymers via microfluidics. Colloidal polymers have previously been self-assembled by lock-and-key interactions, DNA mediated hybridization between patchy colloids, and magnetic field induced dipolar interactions.