Enzymology and Molecular Biology

Amsterdam, the capital of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe. These days the city has a population of just over 790.000 inhabitants and is the largest city in the country. Amsterdam is located in the province ‘Noord-Holland’, situated in the west. It is one of the most popular destinations in Europe, receiving more than 4.5 million tourists annually. With its universities, academies, and research institutes, along with more than 40 museums, numerous theatre’s, and entertainment venues, Amsterdam is the country's leading cultural centre. In addition, the city is famous for its historic homes, laid out in a pattern of concentric segments in the shape of a fan and built on piles driven through an upper layer of mud into the firm, sandy bottom up to 18 meters below. All told, some 6,750 buildings dating from the 16th  to 18th centuries are crowded into an area of 2,000 acres, dissected by 160 canals (grachten), themselves home to numerous houseboats. Many picturesque bridges link the city's 90 islands, eight of them old wooden bascule bridges, including the Magere Brug (Mager Bridge), one of the city's most frequently photographed. Amsterdam is on Central European Time (CET), which is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), plus 1 hour. The warmest months are from June to August, with temperatures between 20 – 27 degrees Celsius. There are rarely extreme temperatures in Amsterdam. The air is relatively humid and fog is common in autumn and spring. The weather in Amsterdam is fairly mild during wintertime. However temperatures can drop below freezing. The chance of extreme cold is sporadic. On some days there may be snow fall.