2,042 search results for “foreign fight” in the Public website
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Cancer vaccine packaged in minute particles
Leiden researchers have carried out successful tests using a new method of packaging a cancer vaccine in nano-particles. The new vaccine has induced a strong immune reaction in mice. The researchers believe that this method can make an important contribution to the treatment of cancer. Their findings…
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A unique defence: Bacteria lose cell wall in the presence of virus
Bacteria temporarily live without their cell wall if dangerous viruses are near. A remarkable feature, as the cell wall is a sturdy barrier against threats. Still, the discovery has a logical explanation ánd might be of a consequence for fighting pathogenic bacteria, according to Véronique Ongenae,…
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Rethinking drug discovery: Vidi grant for Laura Heitman
Laura Heitman has been awarded a VIDI grant for her innovative drug research. Heitman strives to optimize a drug’s binding kinetics at its target in order to ultimately fight diseases effectively. She even pleads for a paradigm shift in drug discovery.
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ERC Starting Grants for Cátia Antunes and Stijn Bussels
Dr Cátia Antunes, lecturer in economic and social history, Leiden University Institute for History, and Dr Stijn Bussels, who will come to Leiden in 2012-2013 to join the Leiden University Institute for Cultural Disciplines, have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant for their excellent proposals. The…
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The protection of competition interests in administrative law
On Wednesday 13 December at 13.45 hrs Jaap Wieland will defend his doctoral thesis entitled ‘De bescherming van concurrentiebelangen in het bestuursrecht’ (the Protection of Competition Interests in Administrative Law) at the Academy Building of Leiden University. His supervisors are Professor Willemien…
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Nose of E. coli zips open and shut
PhD student Wen Yang discovered how certain cell receptors in E. coli bacteria signal 'smells'. With the use of ice-cold electron microscopy microbiologists from Leiden gain more insight into how bacteria respond to their environment. Publication in mBio.
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Honours Conference 2024: why listening is valuable
An event where students from all honoursprograms meet, learn from each other and gain inspiration. That is the idea behind the Honours Conference, which took place at the end of February in the Old Observatory. The theme of the afternoon: why listening pays off.
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Clever variant of antibiotic bypasses resistance in bacteria
Biological chemist Nathaniel Martin is going to test an alternative antibiotic that can combat common resistant bacteria such as MRSA. For this purpose, he will receive 350,000 euros from the NWO's NACTAR programme. ‘We want to know how safe and effective our antibiotic is in a realistic situation.’
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Protecting children is what inspires Cleveringa professor Dettmeijer-Vermeulen
Corinne Dettmeijer-Vermeulen, the well-known legal expert and Leiden University alumna, was for many years the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence against Children. On 26 November she will deliver the Cleveringa lecture.
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The early Middle Ages a ‘golden age for the elderly’? Not quite!
According to a number of British historians, the elderly had a particularly high status in the early Middle Ages. A new book by Leiden cultural historian Thijs Porck sheds a different light on the matter: elderly people had to earn that respect first, and old age was often described in negative terms…
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New insights into chemical sensing of the human pathogen for cholera
The bacterium Vibrio cholerae is a serious threat to our health because it is the causative agent of cholera. Worldwide, over a billion people per year are at risk of cholera infection. New strains of V. cholerae are resistant to the multiple drugs used to treat cholera, meaning that new types of drugs…
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Disrupted movement makes macrophages more lethal to tuberculosis bacteria
Macrophages – the front line of our immune system – protect us from infections. But in the case of the tuberculosis bacteria, this often goes wrong. The group of Annemarie Meijer from the Leiden Institute of Biology has now discovered that macrophages in zebrafish are better able to eliminate tuberculosis…
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ERC grant to improve post-vaccination protection in low-income countries
Maria Yazdanbakhsh, Professor of Parasitology at the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC), has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant of 2.5 million euros. She will investigate why people in Africa and Southeast Asia respond less to certain vaccines than Europeans. Her goal is to find a solution for…
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'In an ideal world we would recycle everything'
Merijn Tinga hit the headlines in 2016 as the Plastic Soup Surfer. In force six winds, the Leiden biologist ventured across the English Channel on a hydrofoil kiteboard made from plastic bottles. Interview with this Leiden artist who is fighting the mountain of plastic waste and finding his feet as…
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Homicide rate drops, but not in criminal milieu
The annual homicide rate has decreased considerably since the 1990s. In their hunt for an explanation, researchers Pauline Aarten and Marieke Liem made a surprising discovery: if you divide homicides into categories, you find significant differences in the homicide rate. Publication in the European…
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Promising new technique to treat cancer receives NWO grant
Biological chemist Nathaniel Martin and his team received an NWO grant to examine how blocking a specific enzyme in our body, NNMT, could be helpful in the treatment of some cancers. Trials with mice have been promising, and together with the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Martin wants to take the next…
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Exhibition Maps: navigation and manipulation
Are maps objective or do they convey hidden messages that you would miss at first glance? A map is always a simplification of reality. Mapmakers reduce, distort and select. This allows the reader to be guided literally and figuratively. Leiden University Libraries (UBL) and the Museum Volkenkunde jointly…
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Military Necessity
On Thursday, 11 May 2017, Nobuo Hayashi will defend his PhD dissertation entitled “Military Necessity” at Leiden University’s Academy Building (Rapenburg 73). He will argue that military necessity denotes normative indifference in international law.
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Freedom: what does it mean?
On 5 May we celebrate freedom, a basic human right that should not be taken for granted. We asked international students and staff what it means to them.
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Leadership Blogpost: Does the leadership style of male and female country leaders explain their success during Covid-19?
The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged political leaders worldwide, bringing discussion about leadership in times of crisis. In various media outlets, a recurring topic has been the relationship between the gender of a country’s leader and the success of his or her Covid-19 approach. Especially female…
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‘Investment risk is holding back energy transition’
The present market regulations make it extremely risky to invest in green energy, and this is impeding the fight against climate change. This is what Oscar Kraan writes in his dissertation. PhD defence on 25 April.
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Rie and her Gentlemen
Rie Schild-de Groen watched over ‘her’ Gentlemen, the residents of the ‘t Heerenhoeckje (Gentlemen’s Corner) Minerva house at Rapenburg 110, like a mother hen for 70 years. She was moved by the stories of residents who had lost loved ones to cancer. Jaap Koster and a few other former housemates helped…
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How the lessons learned from Afghanistan were soon forgotten
The mission in Uruzgan Province in Afghanistan was a formative experience for Dutch soldiers in which many lessons were learned. But most of those lessons have already been forgotten.
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Call for abstracts: Virtuous suffering: New perspectives on the Ethics of Suffering for Critical Global Health and Justice
Can suffering be positive? Currently dominant discourses, primarily voiced through human rights activism and humanitarianism, maintain the opposite: suffering, mentally and physically, has to be avoided and where it exists, it has to be reduced.
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From sensation to a sense of purpose: the draw of the far right
What makes people in the Netherlands join radical and far-right groups? PhD candidate Nikki Sterkenburg followed several activists. ‘Some feel it is their duty to defend the Dutch nation.’ PhD defence on 19 May.
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Even stockpiling can be social behaviour
The Netherlands has also announced special measures to fight SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. These measures have at times caused questionable behaviour, such as stockpiling or charging exorbitant sums for masks. But the intentions behind this seemingly antisocial behaviour are not necessarily bad, says Professor…
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Quantum optics for asylum seekers
The Clinical Epidemiology department at the LUMC has set up a series of lectures for asylum seekers. The series has become a huge success.
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Medicine development is hunting magic bullets
Medicines are becoming increasingly precise and innovative, but at the same time increasingly expensive. With their innovations, it is up to universities to increase competition, thus causing prices to drop. This is what newly appointed Professor of Biomolecular Analysis Hubertus Irth argues. His inaugural…
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Eduard Fosch-Villaronga awarded ERC Starting Grant
Eduard Fosch-Villaronga from Leiden University has been awarded a Starting Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). This grant of 1.5m euros enables talented early-career scholars to start their own pioneer project, lead a research team, and implement their best ideas at the frontiers of their…
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Important but not easy: interdisciplinary research
In the academic world interest in interdisciplinary research is growing. It can help to solve the big challenges of our times. But starting a research project that covers several disciplines is not always easy. This was one of the conclusions at a Young Academy Leiden (YAL) symposium. What are the c…
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Can we live longer? Leiden physicist makes discovery in protective layer in genes
With the aid of physics and a minuscule magnet, researchers have discovered a new structure of telomeric DNA. Telomeres are sometimes seen as the key to living longer. They protect genes from damage but get a bit shorter each time a cell divides. If they become too short, the cell dies. The new discovery…
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Jet Bussemaker: ‘Health care is a social matter, not just a medical one’
Why are we unable to address health-care inequality? This was the topic of the inaugural speech of Professor Jet Bussemaker on Friday 15 February 2019. She analysed why current policy does not suffice when it comes to protecting vulnerable groups and fighting inequality. She proposed an agenda that…
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International conference 'Who determines the security (research) agenda?' 9-10 November: registration open
The Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) organizes the ISGA Conference ‘Who determines the security (research) agenda’ on 9 - 10 November 2016 in The Hague, the Netherlands.
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Fact-checking from the local council to the European Parliament
‘Timmermans says more Polish workers are staying in Poland, but there aren’t any figures to back this up,’ was the headline of NU.nl news website during the European elections in 2019. This was after Nieuwscheckers, the fact-checkers at Leiden University, had checked a statement by PvdA politician Frans…
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Black Theatre alive and kicking in South Africa
Black Theatre, activist theatre by and for black South Africans, flourished under apartheid. However, according to Francis Rangoajane, the democratisation of South Africa has in no way diminished the importance of this art form. PhD defence 16 November.
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The chemistry behind cancer drugs: searching for fewer side effects
PhD candidate Dennis Wander searches for the best of both worlds. That is to say: a cancer drug that is effective and also has minimal side effects. To this end, he makes new molecules inspired by two existing medicines. And not without result: ‘We have created a new variant that is very promising.’…
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Upcoming activities by PhDArts candidates
Upcoming activities by PhDArts candidates Basma Hamdy, Danne Ojeda Hernandez and Joost Grootens
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Building bridges between science and business
The scientific world is under increasing pressure from all directions: the money that society invests has to show clear returns. ‘The best thing we can do is to go along with this development,' says Ivo de Nooijer, Director of Luris, Leiden University's valorisation institute.
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Judith Naeff researches Arab ideals and disappointments with Veni grant
University Lecturer on Middle Eastern cultures Judith Naeff, associated with the Faculty of Humanities, will receive a Veni grant of 250,000 euros. This will allow her to carry out research into Arab documentary and fiction.
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Horizon Europe BIAS & AEQUITAS sister projects join forces to understand the impact of AI on workers
Leiden University's eLaw Center's BIAS Project and the Universidad de la Laguna's AEQUITAS project will collaborate to develop a deeper understanding of AI technologies' impact on workers and inform policies accordingly.
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18 billion animals a year: they die, but never end up on our plate
Each year a staggering 18 billion chickens, turkeys, pigs, sheep, goats, and cows either die or are killed without making it onto someone's plate. Environmental scientists Juliane Klaura, Laura Scherer, and Gerard Breeman were the first to calculate this number on a global scale. 'Reducing these numbers…
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Cheating graphs: a lesson in statistics without arithmetic
Missing legends, illogical connections or three-dimensional graphs. There are many ways in which data can deceive. Five students took up the fight against misleading statistics. Their lesson series can now be found online.
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Four Leiden consortia awarded large NWO grants
No less than four Leiden research teams have been awarded a grant by NWO. On 27 July NWO honoured 21 applications in the Open Competition ENW-XL. NWO awards the grants to consortia in the exact and natural sciences who are doing unconnected fundamental research that is 'driven by curiosity'.
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Honorary doctorate for child rights activist Graça Machel
Mozambican politician and child rights activist Graça Machel will receive an honorary doctorate from Leiden University for her commitment to the rights of women and children in Africa and elsewhere. She will be awarded the honorary doctorate on the Dies Natalis, the University’s foundation day, on 8…
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Dario Fazzi becomes professor by special appointment: ‘We live in an era of tremendous ecological challenges’
Historian Dario Fazzi is the new professor by special appointment at the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies (RIAS), a strategic partner of the Faculty of Humanities. He starts on 1 September and will combine his new position with his current teaching duties at the Institute for History.
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A quick call on the war in Ukraine: 'Putin has made a diplomatic end almost impossible'
The war in Ukraine is entering a new phase with the announcement of a partial Russian military mobilisation and the intention to annex four Ukrainian regions. Why is Putin making these decisions just now and what consequences will they have for the course of the war? We talk to professor and Russia…
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From Rapenburg Radio to #Snorona: Leiden University students in a time of coronavirus
Leiden University announced on 19 March 2020 that there would be no more face-to-face teaching for the rest of this academic year. That was a big decision with big consequences, but students in Leiden are staying positive and trying to make the best of it. Read on to be inspired by how Leiden students…
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Birds around airports may be deaf and more aggressive
Birds around airports are more aggressive and sing as if they have hearing loss. Collaboration between researchers of Manchester Metropolitan University and the Institute of Biology Leiden has led to surprising new findings about the impact of anthropogenic noise on birds around airports. Publication…
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The Dutch take no action after climate interventions
Climate interventions do not lead to more climate action among Dutch, but they do raise awareness about climate change.
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Lockdown stress milder than expected, but vulnerable families hit harder
During the ‘intelligent lockdown’ in the Netherlands this spring, the respondents in a Leiden study reported a mild increase in their stress levels. This extra stress could have a negative effect on families, particularly if parents already had psychological problems before the corona crisis.