Data analysis with Python and R are rapidly becoming essential skills for modern scientists. Therefore, we are offering courses to develop your scientific computing skills. Those courses are optional for LACDR PhD candidates.

At the New Year’s reception of the Faculty of Science on 6 January, it was announced that Annelien Zweemer, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research, has been awarded the ‘Discoverer of the Year 2014’ prize. Matteo Brogi, Leiden Observatory, wrote the best dissertation in 2014 and Dennis Claessen, Institute…

On an excavation site in Oegstgeest Leiden University archaeologists discovered a very rare silver bowl from the first half of the seventh century. The bowl is decorated with gold-plated representations of animals and plants and inlaid with semi-precious stones. The discovery suggests the existence…

Source: ChemMedChem (2015)

This thesis describes the importance of being able to control the selectivity of potential drug candidates.

From time to time, manuscripts that have remained hidden for centuries turn up in library collections and archives. In the archives of the 17th-century Bibliotheca Thysiana at the Rapenburg in Leiden, kept in the Leiden University Library, Rotterdam researcher Erik-Jan Bos discovered a hitherto unknown…

Heart failure is a major health care problem with high mortality.

Environmental scientist Alexander van Oudenhoven has been chosen as Discoverer of the year of the Faculty of Science. Vice Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl announced this during the faculty’s New Year’s Reception on 10 January. Biologist Changsheng Wu won the prize for best dissertation of 2016. Computer…

An interdisciplinary and innovative research group combining History, underwater archaeology, GIS and wood provenancing methods.

Over 4,000 visitors came to the seventh edition of the Night of Discoveries, a festival of knowledge and culture, on Saturday 21 September. On this the last summer evening of the year, the festival-goers were treated to over 170 acts on the theme of light and dark, making it a vibrant, busy, educational…

Who will be our Discoverer of the year 2017? Which one of these brilliant researchers deserves this prize for their efforts according to you? As of now, you can cast your vote.

Promotor: Prof.dr. R. Verpoorte, , Co-Promotor: Young Hae Choi

Students of the Faculty of Science have chosen Dennis Claessen (IBL) as the best teacher of last year.

With a large majority of votes, drug researcher Alireza Mashaghi Tabari was chosen Discoverer of the Year 2017 of the Faculty of Science. This was announced by Rector Carel Stolker during the faculty’s New Year's reception on 9 January. Computer scientist Kristian Rietveld became Teacher of the Year…

Scott Waitukaitus has been nominated by LION to be Discoverer of the Year 2017. Cast your vote now!

This project develops a scientific method to extract clinically relevant new information from patient forum websites that discuss patient experiences concerning e.g. medication, nutrition, co-morbidities, genetic factors etc.

The aim of this thesis was to develop novel treatment strategies for different types of eye melanoma utilizing zebrafish models. We first establish orthotopic and ectopic xenograft models for uveal and conjunctival melanoma by engraftment of the immortalized cells derived from these tumors into zebrafish…

Within this thesis the central stage is taken by the discovery and investigation of transglycosylation of sterols. First, investigation focuses on the development of a method to accurately detect and quantify glucosylated metabolites in biological materials.

An endoscopic camera was used to record images of reused medieval fragments on the inside of book bindings from the 16th and 17th centuries. The unique images were made as part of the project ‘FragmEndoscopy: An Innovative Way to Discover Hidden Heritage inside Early Modern Book Bindings’, funded by…

An international team of researchers led by Alice Booth (Leiden University, the Netherlands) have discovered methanol in the warm part of a planet-forming disk. The methanol cannot have been produced there and must have originated in the cold gas clouds from which the star and the disk formed. Thus,…

The British police discovered 39 bodies in the back of a lorry earlier this month. The refrigeration unit in which the bodies were found had entered the United Kingdom via Belgium.

Christmas is coming, which means that 'Our Talents and Discoveries 2016' has been distributed. This also means that it is time to vote for the 'Discoverer of the year 2016'. Each of the eight institutes nominated one researcher that excelled in the past year. Who is your favourite?

Former PhD student Annelien Zweemer was granted the C.J. Kok Award 2014, also known as “Discoverer of the Year”. A festive ceremony took place at the Faculty’s New Year’s reception on January 6, 2015.

This thesis focuses on data found in the field of computational drug discovery. New insight can be obtained by applying machine learning in various ways and in a variety of domains. Two studies delved into the application of proteochemometrics (PCM), a machine learning technique that can be used to…

Suzan Verberne is nominated by the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) to be granted the C.J. Kok Public Award, also known as the award for the ‘Discoverer of the Year’.

Cancer is considered the silent pandemic of the 21st century and the second leading cause of death worldwide.

Which brilliant scientist will be our Discoverer of the year 2018? Will it be a physicist, biologist, drug discoverer or an astronomer? Or an environmental scientist, a mathematician, chemist or computer scientist? As of now, you can cast your vote.

Leiden researchers, led by Sebastian Pomplun developed a new method to screen hundreds of thousands of molecules for drug discovery, using mass spectrometry instead of DNA tags. ‘We wanted to make drug discovery faster and more accessible.’

Glycosidases are important enzymes in the turnover of polysaccharides and glycoconjugates, and are involved in a range of human pathologies including genetic disorders such as Gaucher and Pompe disease, but also in various cancers.

What went on in 2016 at our University? What are we proud of? You can view the answers in our new photo brochure. Our new brochure 'About us' is available as well, with the most recent facts and figures. Both brochures are available in English.

Pectin is a plant cell wall polysaccharide made of mainly D-galacturonic acid (GA) subunits. The potency of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger to naturally secrete high amounts of pectinases to degrade pectin has been utilized for the industrial production of pectinases.

Auke-Florian Hiemstra is the Leidsch Dagblad Person of the Year 2022.

To mark the university’s 450th anniversary, the Leiden Discoveries science route has been updated and was relaunched on the Night of Discoveries. New signs in town and a revamped website tell Leiden residents and visitors the stories of the city’s spectacular discoveries.

‘One lecturer stood out in particular,’ said Dirk van Vugt, Chair of the Leiden University Student Platform (LUS), at the opening of the academic year. ‘Despite the hurdles of remote teaching, she managed to inspire her students with the aid of knowledge clips, challenges and topical lectures about…

Leiden academics Remco Breuker and Auke-Florian Hiemstra stand to win the title of Person of the Year.

Students of the Science Faculty of Leiden University have chosen Frank Takes, researcher and teacher at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science, to be the Teacher of the Year. Impressively enough, Takes also became the runner up Discoverer of the Year.

Fascinated by science since high school, Alireza Mashaghi Tabari is driven to explore new ways of thinking in medicine. With a strong academic network, he educates students and gives public lectures. For his research at LACDR, he won the C.J. Kok Public Award 2018, making him the Faculty of Science's…

Former PhD student Gerard van Westen was granted the C.J. Kok Award also known as “Discoverer of the Year”. A festive ceremony took place at the Faculty’s New Year’s reception on January 7, 2014.

Paul Adriaanse, together with eight other candidates, has been nominated in the administration law category for the title ‘Magna Charta Lawyer of the year’. The public will vote to decide the winner

Filamentous Actinobacteria, such as Streptomyces, produce a plethora of chemically diverse bioactive metabolites that have found applications across medicine, agriculture and biotechnology.

The editors of Biophysical Journal have selected a publication from Daniela Kraft’s group as the Paper of the Year 2017. The award recognizes an outstanding contribution by a young investigator.

Earlier this year, the public voted environmental scientist Paul Behrens Discoverer of the Year 2018. Behrens is an interdisciplinary scientist who wants to understand our impact on the planet. ‘Unfortunately, we are not doing enough. Huge changes are underway and we’re running out of time to avoid…

The Novel chemical modalities research group is headed by Assistant Professor Sebastian Pomplun. Sebastian started at the division of Medicinal Chemistry within the LACDR in September 2021. His lab develops technologies for the discovery of novel chemical modalities that can address challenging drug…

The Night of Discoveries will take place on 20 September in the area around Hortus botanicus Leiden, the Old Observatory, Pieterkserk, the Academy Building, Old School, the Faculty Club and the PJ Veth Building.

Maarten Schrama (CML) has won the Teacher of the Year Award 2021. During a lunch with fellow nominees, Schrama received a cheque worth 5,000 euros from student assessor Joost Barendse to spend on educational activities.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition caused by a dysregulated host response to infection, it is associated with significant morbidity, mortality, and with a high financial burden on global healthcare systems. Bacterial infections are the primary cause of sepsis, but the growing prevalence of antimicrobial…

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.