How correct are mathematical theorems? And is all the theory around them correct? To find out, mathematics student Dominique Lawson converted a mathematical theorem into computer language. ‘This allows a computer to understand the theorem and check whether the proof behind it is entirely correct.’ The…

The Leiden mathematics student Onno Berrevoets won the silver medal during the last edition of the International Mathematics Competition in Blagoevgrad in Bulgaria. During this prestigious competition between mathematics students worldwide, he was able to measure himself to the world top.

Prof. dr. Aad van der Vaart has been appointed as Scientific Director of the Mathematical Institute of Leiden University on Tuesday 15 September 2015. He succeeds prof. dr. Peter Stevenhagen who has been a dedicated Scientific Director of the Mathematical Institute as from 2007.

Last week Elsevier published the results of a survey among academy professors and teachers, asking what according to them was the best place to study in their profession. As for Mathematics, Leiden turned out to rank highest.

Come to IMAGINARY at Administration and Central Services (Rapenburg 70) and discover the beauty of mathematics. This exhibition is open to the public until 24 March.

The master specialisations Industrial Ecology and Mathematics ranked highest among the master specialisations in Leiden.

As of 1 May Gianne Derks is the new Scientific Director of the Mathematics Institute. Derks succeeds Hermen Jan Hupkes who temporarily assumed the role. Derks has been appointed for a period of four years.

As of 1 September, Michel Mandjes has been appointed full professor of Probability and Operations Research at the Mathematical Institute. He succeeds Frank den Hollander, who will retire on 1 October. ‘The combination of deep thinking on your own combined with working towards solutions together with…

In the last weekend of April, the tenth edition of the Benelux Mathematics Olympiad took place. The Dutch delegation won a total of 8 medals. The 17-year-old Nils van de Berg even obtained a golden one!

We perform multidisciplinary research at molecular, cellular, and organismal levels of animal biology to increase fundamental understanding of health and disease.

For the fourth time in a row, the Dutch University Selection Guide labelled the Leiden bachelor’s programme Mathematics as ‘Excellent’. Director of education Floske Spieksma: ‘Together we make this programme a success. It is good to see that our efforts are rewarded again.’

Ariane Briegel has been appointed Professor in the fìeld of Ultrastructural Biology within the Faculty of Science at the Institute of Biology from the 1st of December 2015. Her expertise is in using electron cryotomography to study how microbes sense and respond to their environment.

Promotor: S.J. Edixhoven

Nature uses a special class of histone proteins, histone variants, to modulate the properties of chromatin at defined genomic locations.

Developing a new way to measure marine biodiversity at high resolution, by listening to it.

Promotor: H.S. Overkleeft, Co-Promotor: B.I. Florea

We use DNA strands to stabilize few-atom silver clusters, which show unique optical and chemical properties. This thesis involves the study of these constructs for various applications.

How can you figure out which points lie on a certain curve? And how many possible curves do you count by a given number of points? These are the kinds of questions Pim Spelier of the Mathematical Institute studied during his PhD research. Spelier received his doctorate with distinction on June 12.

The deeper understanding of an organism's pathology is important for developing treatments. Over centuries of systematic research, clinical researchers have demonstrated that the more information they acquire about the cellular properties and their organisation in the tissue, the better they can understand…

Many organisations have a biased workforce, even though diversity has so many advantages. Australian and Dutch researchers, including Leiden psychologist Romy van der Lee, have developed a solution based on a mathematical model. They published their findings in PLoS One on 28 July.

As of 1 September, Pim Overgaauw is appointed as Institute Manager of the Mathematical Institute. The job is not new to him, as he has been ad interim institute manager since March 2022. For now, Overgaauw will be working for the MI three days a week, but it is expected that this can be extended to…

‘It was not always accepted, but I just wanted to be a researcher. Now, I am as happy as can be.’ It is one of the quotes from the International Women’s Day presentation for Biology students. Seven women, working as researchers and teachers at the CML, IBL, and Naturalis, shared their experiences with…

Mathematicians from Bordeaux, Leiden and Padua have been working together for 20 years. In 2004, they started a two-year mathematics master's degree in Algebra, Number Theory and Geometry (Algant). They celebrated the 20th anniversary of this consortium at the Algant graduation ceremony in Leiden.

Biology is one of the four top educational programs at Leiden University according to the national “Guide to Universities” (Keuzegids Universiteiten).

In this research we have studied how teaching graphing formulas by hand (i.e. sketching a graph of a formula) could promote grade 11- and 12-students’ symbol sense.

On Monday the 8th of December, the annual symposium of the IBL will be organized at the main building of the LUMC Leiden. This year’s theme is “Integrative Biology towards Healthy Communities”.

An external visitation committee gave the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) an outstanding assessment. In terms of research quality and relevance to society, the IBL gets the highest score: excellent. The increase with five new female professors also receives praise from the committee.

Gijs van der Velden has one of the best study results in his first college year of all science studies. With that, he won the Young Talent Incentive award and received 500 euros of the Koninklijke Hollandse Maatschappij der Wetenschappen (KHMW). The biology student remains quite nonchalantly. ‘Of course,…

An article about our Mathematical Institute (MI) appeared on 23 June in the University newspaper Mare.

Can bacteria be engineered to convert methanol into valuable chemicals with high efficiency?

Latent variable modeling of students' solution strategies and performance

Develop a prototype combined chemical-microbial enzymatical process for the sustainable, green recycling and revalorization of polyamides and polystyrene

Some examples of AI-research done at Leiden.

Can furan-based resisn be degraded by microbial enzymes in combination with mild pre-treatment?

The research project ‘Adaptive Semi-Strong Ecosystem Dynamics’ of Prof.Dr. Arjen Doelman is selected for funding as one of the 7 research projects within the program Mathematics of Planet Earth (MPE) of NWO.

On November 29, Stéphanie van der Pas receives the ASML Graduation Prize for Mathematics at the Royal Holland Society of Sciences (KHMW) in Haarlem. She proved that a new method to choose a research model works better than the usual standard method.

Not all problems are easy to solve, but with enough bright minds, you make progress step by step. ‘The kind of problems I am interested in have been occupying mathematicians for over two millennia,’ says theoretical mathematician David Lilienfeldt. In September, he started at the Mathematical Institute…

Vera van Noort has been appointed Professor in the field of Computational Biology within the Faculty of Science at the Institute of Biology from the 1st of February 2017. Van Noort’s expertise is in bioinformatics and her research focuses on the computational analysis of large-scale biological data…

On February 24, 2017, the Institute of Biology Leiden organised the first edition of the Biology Career Event. The career event for third year bachelor and master students was well received by the attendants. ‘I felt that the presenters and people doing the workshops were really trying to help us get…

150 new Biology students have arrived in Leiden. This is more than ever and we seem to settle among the big three Universities for Biology in the Netherlands.

On Thursday the 24th of November, Tseard Hoekstra and Jeroen Ververs (members of the delegation Holland Rijnland), Geert de Snoo (Dean Faculty of Science), Martina Vijver (CML), Herman Spaink (Scientific Director IBL) and Klaas Vrieling (IBL) explored possibilities for collaborations between companies…

Biology student Britt van Kasterop has received a Holland Society Young Talent Award for her excellent results in the first year of study. The online awards ceremony took place on 30 November.

Ziyang Gao received the Stieltjes Prize from Koen Becking, chairman of the Executive Board, for his thesis 'The mixed Ax-Lindemann theorem and its applications to the Zilber-Pink conjecture'.

The winner of the highest scientific distinction in mathematics, an explanation for wine tears and much more mathematical theory and application. From 8 to 12 July, 550 mathematicians will meet in the center of Leiden to discuss differential equations.

The European Union has invested ten million euros in the so-called iNEXT-Discovery consortium. The goal of this new consortium is to enable European researchers to extend innovative structural biology research. The Netherlands Centre for Electron Nanoscopy (NeCEN) is also part of iNEXT-Disovery, which…

At the European Girl’s Mathematical Olympiad, which took place from 9 to 15 April in Florence, Italië, Gabriëlle Zwanenveld (17) from The Hague won a silver medal. Christel van Diepen (17) from Arnhem and Anouk Egging (17) from Deventer both won a bronze medal. The fourth team member, Floor Beks (16)…

Bacteria are everywhere. They are the most abundant organisms on earth and impact all aspects of our lives. They determine our health and shape our environment. Ariane Briegel, professor of Ultrastructural Biology, freezes bacteria super fast to gain a true-to-nature image of the internal and external…