Dennis Botman / PhD student

Contact details

O2 building, room 01W58
d.botman@vu.nl

All life on earth, from bacteria to yeast and mammals to cancer cells, relies on sensing and adapting to changes. As a microscopy expert, I use various fluorescence techniques (e.g. widefield, confocal and super-resolution microscopy, but also flow cytometry) and develop and characterize fluorescent proteins (FPs) and biosensors (such as FRET and single-FP biosensors) to measure metabolism and signaling at a single-cell level. These tools can be used to identify essential genes or proteins, and processes in a cell. By altering these through genomic editing (CRISPR/CAS) or optogenetics, we can study cellular decisions and their impact on global cellular physiology, such as growth and stress resistance. Ultimately, my work translates molecular and single-cell level information on signalling and intracellular metabolism into a better understanding of overall cellular behavior.