The stratum corneum (SC) plays a fundamental role in the barrier function of the skin. The SC consists of corneocytes embedded in a lipid matrix.

Promotor: H.S. Overkleeft, J. Neefjes, Co-promotor: M. van der Stelt

The Translational Immuno-Pharmacology group works on translating the efficacy of anti-infective therapy from preclinical (e.g. in vivo) to clinical, and is led by Rob van Wijk. Infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, are in constant need of new therapies that work better, faster, and with less risk…

Source: Mol Psychiatry (2015)

For effective cancer immunotherapy by vaccination, co-delivery of tumour antigens and adjuvants to dendritic cells and subsequent activation of antigen-specific cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) is crucial. In this study, a synthetic long peptide (SLP) harbouring the model CTL epitope SIINFEKL was encapsulated…

Antibiotics are a class of medicine most people take for granted. But pathogenic bacteria are becoming more and more resistant to our antibiotics, and this poses a great challenge for future treatments. There is thus a great societal need to identify new molecules that can address new targets and be…

Enabling volume-restricted metabolomics using next-generation microscale analytical tools.

BACKGROUND: Explant human skin equivalents (Ex-HSEs) can be generated by placing a 4mm skin biopsy onto a dermal equivalent. The keratinocytes migrate from the biopsy onto the dermal equivalent, differentiate and form the epidermis of 1(st) generation Ex-HSEs. This is especially suitable for the expansion…

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether the lipid/protein ratio and the total dry SC mass per surface area are related with the skin barrier function of controls and AE patients.

Source: Eur J Med Chem (2015)

New drugs for use as tuberculosis (TB) treatment are needed due to the constrains of classical antibiotics against TB and the rise of antibiotic-resistant strains, making TB a harder and harder disease to treat.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disorder characterised by various epidermal alterations. Filaggrin (FLG) mutations are a major predisposing factor for AD and much research has been focused on the FLG protein.

Designing and synthesizing high-affinity ligands for a given drug target have always been among the more important challenges in the drug discovery process.

Microglia support the central and peripheral nervous system by forming the first line of defense against hazardous events. Microglia are increasingly acknowledged as critical players in neurodegenerative diseases, highlighting them as potential therapeutic targets.

Conference

Plant Sciences' contribution to the Bioactive Molecules research theme is to identify new plant bioactive molecules, and unravel their mechanisms of action in plant development or health, and the regulatory networks and (bio)synthetic pathways required for their production.

What if you could watch a CT scan live, instead of analysing the images afterwards? If it is up to the Leiden mathematician Jan-Willem Buurlage, that will soon be a reality. He is developing methods to make the algorithms behind 3D scans faster. Quite a challenge: ‘Just like mathematicians, computers…

Matthias Barz has been appointed full Professor of Biotherapeutics Delivery at the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR).

Optimised antibiotic combinations can combat bacteria more effectively while also slowing the development of resistance. Scientists from five European countries are joining forces to identify such combinations and provide tools for others to do the same. The project is led by Professor Coen van Hasselt…

What is 'teaching excellence' in Higher Education? Which different teaching excellence training, promotion and reward schemes exist across Europe? How can a common European teaching scheme look like? The e-NOTE project led by Leiden University seeks to answer these question in cooperation with five…

An overview of our infrastructure at the SPP division:

We are aiming to develop novel technologies to allow better sample preparation or coupling of analytical methods to (i) analyse ultra small samples, (ii) to analyse more metabolites in a quantitative manner and/or (iii) increase the sample throughput.

The aim of this thesis was to develop aluminium salt-based nanoparticles that may ultimately be used as adjuvant in human vaccines.

All living systems are assembled from nature’s repertoire of small, medium, and large organic molecules. This theme focuses on the study, discovery and development of novel bioactive compounds obtained from biodiversity. We aim for new insights into the role of these molecules in the natural environment,…

This thesis focuses on the development of sample-preparation methods for small amounts of samples and applying the developed methods to muscle tissues to investigate the mechanisms involved in sarcopenia.

This thesis represents a comprehensive investigation into the control of cancer stemness and metastatic initiation using a combination of advanced zebrafish xenograft models and in vitro assays.

Diacylglycerol lipases (DAGLα and DAGLβ) are responsible for the biosynthesis of the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) in the brain and peripheral tissues. Selective DAGLβ inhibitors have been proposed as a potential treatment for inflammatory diseases with reduced potential for central…

Sustainable energy from wind and solar is most readily available near the sea.

With increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and their detrimental effect on the global climate, modern society needs to push for more renewable energy sources. Storing widely accessible and abundant solar energy in chemical bonds in the form of molecular fuel via artificial photosynthesis…

Humanity stands at a pivotal juncture, facing the dual challenge of environmental sustainability and rapid population growth, projected to exceed 11 billion by century’s end.

IBL researchers use the facility to study a wide range of wildtype and transgenic plants, including Arabidopsis, tomato, barley, rice, lettuce, radish, ornamentals, and various trees. Research also involves the interaction between plants and various microorganisms and insects, providing valuable insights…

Promotor: Prof.dr. K.J. Batenburg

Lysosomal acid glucosylceramidase (GBA1) is a lysosomal enzyme that degrades glucolipids with its main substrate being glucosylceramide (GlcCer). Defects in the GBA1 gene lead to glycosphingolipidosis Gaucher disease (GD), in which the hydrolysis of GlcCer is impaired and therefore, it accumulates in…

The Plant BioDynamics Lab (PBDL) is a laboratory dedicated to experiments designed to develop and validate quantitative mathematical models of dynamical processes in biology. The principal objective of developing these models is to make quantitative predictions about these processes.

Edited by linguists Jenny Audring (Leiden University) and Francesca Masini (University of Bologna), this is a unique handbook with a focus on morphology theories rather than morphological data. It covers a wide array of morphological theories, from traditional twentieth century models to current theoretical…

Mining time series is a machine learning subfield that focuses on a particular data structure, where variables are measured over (short or long) periods of time.

Promotor: M.T.M. Koper, Co-promotor: J.B.F. Juurlink

Simulating human language understanding on the computer is a great challenge. A way to approach it is to represent natural language meanings in logic, and to use logical provers to determine what does and does not follow from a text. What logic is best to use and how natural language meanings are best…

Linde Desmaele explores how the United States is recalibrating its stance on European unity amid growing strategic competition with China.

In this thesis we explore machine and deep learning approaches that address keychallenges in high dimensional problem areas and also in improving accuracy in wellknown problems. In high dimensional contexts, we have focused on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations.

On 11 November 2021, Mariana Gkliati defended the thesis 'Systemic Accountability of the European Border and Coast Guard'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. P. Rodrigues and Prof. L. Besselink (UvA).

The Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) of Leiden University proudly establishes the Blaise Pascal chair. The chair applies for one year and is meant to strengthen the cooperation of the Leiden computer science research with foreign institutes.

To contribute to the body of knowledge aiming at a better coverage of ecosystem service assessment in LCA studies, this thesis dives into the challenges of incorporating existing ecosystem service methods within the impact assessment phase of the conventional LCA framework.

Science is typically a patchwork of research contributions without much coordination. Especially in clinical trials, the follow-up studies that we do fail to be the most promising.

This article researches the public perception of terrorist attacks by measuring the importance the public assigns to attributes of terrorist attacks.

Key publications of the Biologics Formulation group

On the 23d of May, Sanne Rotmeijer successfully defended a doctoral thesis. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Sanne on this achievement!

Can we make quantum devices from quantum surprises? And can we explore and build life from the nanoscale up?

Electrocatalysis allows for storing electricity or converting it into chemical bonds, producing chemical building blocks and fuels using renewable resources.