It’s Not Easy Being Green – but we’re here to help! Do you want to live more sustainably but have no idea where to start? Are you interested in making the world greener and do you want to get to the bottom of hot topics? Or are you sceptical about climate change and do you want to hear about the…

We investigate the molecular basis underlying health and disease and provide answers to existing and emerging health problems. Within this theme, we study diseases ranging from rare genetic disorders to cancer and infectious diseases. We make use of a wide variety of model systems and pursue diverse…

The first year cohort of Leiden University College The Hague recently under took a local lesson which saw them collect 10200 pieces of plastic from their local communities. Of the total collected, 52% was plastic.

Adoptees in the Netherlands generally do not use more medication than their non-adopted peers.

LACDR is committed to incorporating sustainability into our education and research. By developing environmentally responsible innovations in drug research, promoting the awareness of the importance of sustainability with LACDR staff and students, and implementing sustainable daily practices within our…

Learning from nature and utilizing microbial biodiversity to identify and characterize enzymes for degradation and upcycling of plastics and other polymeric materials.

UNPLASTIC, a research project by Leiden University College The Hague (LUC) won the Dopper Changemaker Challenge 2019. LUC student Roos Kolkman represented UNPLASTIC during the semi-finals on Saturday.

At the entrance of the Van Steenis building you may now visit an exhibition on material culture. Unexpectedly, it does not display pottery or tools, but building materials. And recent ones at that! Check out the exhibition on Legos lost at sea, conceived and assembled by PhD candidate Maia Casna. ‘These…

The main aim of this thesis was to unravel the signaling and regulatory networks that drive tumor cell migration during breast cancer metastasis.

We investigate the physics and design of mechanical metamaterial, intricately sculpted materials with properties set by their architecture.

Living labs make it possible for citizens to participate in research for sustainable development of their environment. This way citizens, together with scientists and stakeholders, create local conditions for food production, healthy environment, and biodiversity.

Imitation is, perhaps more than ever, constitutive of human originality.

Diacylglycerol lipases (DAGLα and DAGLβ) convert diacylglycerol to the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol. Our understanding of DAGL function has been hindered by a lack of chemical probes that can perturb these enzymes in vivo.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens, a gram-negative plant pathogen belonging to the family Rhizobiaceae, is the causative agent of crown gall disease, which can affect many plant species including agronomically important ones.

The research at the Living lab attracts a great deal of press attention. Please find below a small selection of the many news reports that have been published. Also take a look at the Zembla programme about the Living Lab.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most prevalent cancer in males.

Epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity (EMP) and tumor cell migration play an important role in cancer progression, and an improved understanding of the mechanisms underlying these concepts is essential for developing new targeted approaches.

To support sustainable travelling in our university community, LUGO is excited to offer the Sustainable Travel Kit - designed to make eco-friendly international travel easier and more comfortable.

Engineering an efficient microbial enzymatic polyethylene degradation pathway via an innovative combination of biochemistry and computational biology tools for enzyme discovery and characterization.

Particle lab CERN gives the green light for the test phase of an experiment that aims to produce dark matter particles. Physicist Alexey Boyarsky is one of the initiators.

On 29 June 2017, Doris Dull-Zessner defended her PhD dissertation “Value Congruence in a Multinational Corporation”. The defence was at 12.30 hrs, in the Academy Building of Leiden University, Rapenburg 73. The supervisors are Professor J.A.A. Adriaanse and Professor J.I. van der Rest.

The research group headed by Leiden chemist Marc Koper has discovered a catalyst that minimizes the production of chlorine gas during salt water electrolysis. The invention can enable the direct production of hydrogen from seawater. The article has been published in the Journal of the American Chemical…

Microneedles are a promising tool for the painless administration of vaccines through the skin. But, are these minuscule needles really effective? PhD student Pim Schipper of the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research investigated various factors of vaccination via the skin and discovered, among other…

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

The research presented in this thesis makes use of small molecules (as H2 , D2 and O2 ) on well-defined single crystal surfaces (flat Pt(111), flat Cu(211) and curved Pt(111)) to elucidate the role of surface structure and degrees of freedom in the reactant in specific surface reactions.

Alumnus Peter Burger – along with his colleague Alexander Pleijter – is the face of fact-checking in the Netherlands. ‘My degree led straight to this.’

Two things are needed to produce fuel from sunlight: an antenna that harvests light, and a light-driven catalyst. The most efficient antennae contain bacteria. An international team headed by Huub de Groot imitated them and discovered how they function.

Her book ‘Veel valse hoop’ (Much False Hope) about the persecution of the Jews in the Netherlands was immediately hailed as a seminal work. German historian Katja Happe gave the Cleveringa Lecture on 26 November. She is fascinated by what makes people take a stand.

The Confederation of Laboratories of Artificial Intelligence Research in Europe (CLAIRE), Europe’s grassroots organisation of scientists and experts in Artificial Intelligence, announces the opening of administrative offices across Europe.

Han de Winde will step down as a member of the faculty board of the Faculty of Science from 1 September 2018. De Winde had been vice–dean at the faculty since 2013. As director of education he was responsible for the bachelor's and master's programmes at the faculty.

The Sustainability Research Cluster fosters dialogue and collaboration among anthropologists and sociologists researching aspects of socio-cultural, ecological, and economic sustainability in and affiliated with the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology. It also seeks to stimulate…

The LUGO team is part of the Administration and Central Services department of the university, with it falling under the Strategy and Academic Affairs department. Naturally, it falls into the sustainability team of the University, which consists of two full-time employees alongside the LUGO Team. The…

The mission of our group is understanding how science communication works to improve the interaction between science and society. We believe better science communication can improve our society and engage many different groups with science, also improving science.

To get an idea of the science communication products and research that is possible, a few examples of student projects of recent years are shown below.

The bacterial cell wall is a nearly universal structure that offers protection and gives the cell its shape. However, environmental stressors, such as cell wall-targeting antibiotics and hyperosmotic conditions, can induce bacteria to shift to a wall-deficient state. It is unknown whether the lack of…

The moment is there: LUGO can finally announce the winner of the Sustainability Award 2020!

A place where scientists and students from Leiden University and residents of The Hague come together to create innovative solutions for sustainable living in the city: that's what the Sustainable City Lab aims to be. When we talk about "sustainable living" we think of many different things. For example:…

The project seeks to develop an eco-design framework for single-use medical devices and packaging

In human cells, a meter-long DNA is condensed inside a micrometer-sized cell nucleus. Simultaneously, the genetic code must remain accessible for its replication and transcription to functional proteins.

The moment is there: LUGO can finally announce the winner of the Sustainability Award 2020!

Promotor: Prof.dr. E. Smets, Dr. M. Stech

Is it possible to synthesize industrially relevant compounds in a sustainable manner through the use of light-capturing cyanobacteria?

Making an impact by creating solutions for the challenges of the future. That’s what we do through our education and research in biodiversity and sustainability, artificial intelligence, complex networks, new medicines, quantum technology, and galaxies.

PhD defence

The Israel-Palestine conflict regularly sparked intense debates in university lecturer Noa Schonmann's classes. She decided to start a podcast with journalist Rajaa Natour to teach her students to have deep and difficult conversations in a nuanced way.

Hydrogen fuel cells are expected to be pivotal in the energetic transition towards renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. However, their industrial scalability is severely hindered by the high cost and degradation rate of platinum catalysts, one of their key components. Addressing this…

After nearly five years as President of the Executive Board, Annetje Ottow will be stepping down from the role as of 1 September. During her time as President, she helped shape the university’s strategic direction, strengthening its regional, European and international profile. Sustainability, and dignity…

Leonie Vreeke is ready to start a new 5-year project to develop a stepwise treatment specific to very shy young children. Her proposal was granted by ZonMw with nearly € 600.000,-. A PhD student and a research assistant will be appointed to execute this project, together with societal partners such…

In an op-ed and an interview in Dutch newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’, Reijer Passchier, Assistant Professor in Constitutional Law at Leiden University and Professor of Digitalisation and the Democratic Constitutional State at the Open University, stresses that Europe needs to take radical steps to tackle…