The environment around us
Stoepplantjes: the hidden garden in the cracks under our feet
My main research subjects are urban flora and citizen science. I am working on a citizen science project called 'Stoepplantjes' where we map out where and what different pavement plants grow in cities and towns, together with citizens. With this data I'd like to eventually see if we can advice municipalities on how to improve urban nature and biodiversity in their villages and cities. Additionally, we want to see if participants of the Stoepplantjes project will develop more attention for urban flora.
To touch or not to touch… the plastic soup of Leiden
From diaries and condoms to COVID-19 self-tests and fish hooks, Liselotte Rambonnet researches the litter floating in the canals of Leiden together with amazing volunteers during weekly Plastic Spotter clean-ups. Liselotte will tell you everything about their clean-up adventures from their most expensive find to the current sources of local pollution they are tackling. This activistic biologist successfully forced the city of Leiden to switch from single-use cups to reusable deposit cups with her initiative Canal Cups.
Behind the Scenes of a COVID Infection
His main research interests are infectious diseases and pathogen-host interactions. From 2017 to 2019, he worked in the field of malaria diagnostics at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, and since 2019 he is pursuing a PhD in virology in the department of Medical Microbiology at Leiden University Medical Center under a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network fellowship. His PhD projects aims at characterizing the interaction between coronaviruses proteases and host proteins.
Xavier Martianez Vendrell
PhD Candidate
Leiden University Medical Center
