The research of this PhD project can be subdivided into two main disease areas: migraine and stroke. For both we will be investigating how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques can be used to study these afflictions, their (early) detection, and their potential treatment.

Aceruloplasminemia is a very rare, genetic disease accompagnied with iron accumulation that causes movement disorder and brain damage at early age.

Exceptional collaboration between physicians is needed to better understand and treat autoimmune diseases that cause inflammation in various organ systems.

Key publications of the Cardiovascular Pharmacology group

Patients with the same illness often receive the same treatment, even if the cause of the illness is different for each person. This represents a new step towards ultimately being able to offer every patient more personalised treatment.

By measuring proteins in tears, ophthalmologists can more easily diagnose dry eyes (Dry Eye Disease). Peter Raus, a Belgian ophthalmologist and PhD student at the Institute of Biology Leiden, developed a new method for protein determination in tear fluid. The technique is also promising for the early…

They can play a role in metabolic disorders and can break down tough plant fibers: β-glycosidases are enzymes that play many roles in nature. Fredj Ben Bdira changed these enzymes in order to enhance the production of clean energy and to improve the treatment of patients with metabolic diseases.

On 3 April, Professor Syed Faisal Ahmed from the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) will give his inaugural lecture ‘Strength in Numbers’. He will emphasise the benefit of registries to rare disease research.

Leiden Professor of Translational Rheumatology Hans Ulrich Scherer has one foot in the clinic, where he helps patients, and the other in the lab, where he supervises researchers. He bridges these two worlds in his hunt for autoimmune rheumatic diseases.

In order to optimize treatment, it is necessary to closely monitor and manage the patient’s health status by means of ‘precision diagnostics, personalized prognosis and targeted therapy’. The specialisation combines the techniques and applications of these sensing (monitoring) and stimulation techniques.…

Every year, an NWO PhD in the Humanities grant is awarded to a prospective PhD candidate at the Faculty of Archaeology. This year, the grant went to Maia Casna, enabling her to study respiratory disease in the past. ‘My hypothesis is that the rapid formation of cities in the medieval Netherlands, must…

Due to the increasing resistance to certain antibiotics, the life-threatening condition sepsis is becoming harder to treat. For her PhD project, Leiden pharmacologist Feiyan Liu used mathematical modeling to find out how antibiotics can be used more effectively to cure sepsis.

In this thesis, single-cell approaches were applied to characterize the impact of aging on the immunological B cell landscape in different models of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with the goal to identify and study new B cell-associated biomarkers and therapeutic targets to halt atherosclerosis…

A combination of two potential drugs gives hope of a 'super blockage' of an over-active immune system, Leiden researchers report in Nature. The breakthrough came from the crystallisation of a membrane protein.

The studies described in this thesis deal with glycosidases, in particular alpha-galactosidases.

Professor Thomas Hankemeier and his international research team HYPERMARKER have received a 10m-euro grant from Horizon Europe and UK Research and Innovation.

The availability of complete plant genome sequences together with the ever increasing amount of data on the molecular, cellular and physiological mechanisms of plant development require mathematical and computational models to obtain a complete overview of and generate new insights into the quantitative…

Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the world. One of its symptoms is the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta.

Eight young researchers from Leiden University have received a Rubicon grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This will allow them to conduct research at a top institute or university abroad.

It was the Night of Discoveries on Saturday 16 September: a summer encounter between art and science. Leiden researchers from various disciplines inspired the public with their quest to understand our world.

Treating atherosclerosis with an anti-inflammatory drug. Amanda Foks receives €499.987,00 from the Dutch Heart Foundation to investigate this over the next few years. She will join forces with Tian Zhao from the University of Cambridge. Together they receive 1 million for the research project.

Fake news about ‘patient zero’ and hyperbolic headlines warning about the ‘yellow peril.’ Leiden researchers have spotted fake news galore about coronavirus as well as racial stereotypes about the Chinese. How harmful is this?

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

Marlien van Mever delved into the analysis of tiny samples, cerebrospinal fluid from transgenic mouse models for example. She validated methods that can now be used to study brain diseases such as migraine and epilepsy. Van Mever will receive her PhD on 14 June.

Alireza Mashaghi and his research team have created a new framework to understand shapes of proteins and DNA. With this framework, many diseases can be understood better.

Thesis focused on uncovering the underlying mechanisms of the lysosomal storage disorders Gaucher's disease using chemical tools, biochemical assays and lipidomics.

Mapping of bacterial genomes to combat infectious diseases

The world is becoming clogged with plastic, with tiny plastic particles found everywhere, from the oceans’ depths to the mountain tops, soil, plants, animals and even inside us. The question is: what harm, if any, are they causing? In a new article on The Conversation, environmental scientists Meiru…

One and a half hectares of polder, a large volume of water, and a group of curious researchers from various universities and scientific backgrounds led by ecologist Maarten Schrama. These are the ingredients needed to answer the question: how do water retention areas affect nature, animals, and our…

The promising early results of an international study have shown that insulin-producing cells grown from stem cells can cure the disease. The new Cure One LUMC research centre aims to accelerate this breakthrough.

RARE-NL, a new collaboration between university hospitals, hopes to find treatments for rare diseases. Professor Teun van Gelder is representing the LUMC in the initiative.

Identifying natural plant-associated bacteria that provide targeted inhibition of pathogens through the production of antimicrobial peptides.

Which plant leaf characteristics are involved in thrips resistance in tomato?

According to the amyloid cascade hypothesis, accumulation of beta-amyloid (Aβ) peptides initiates the pathological cascade in Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Pharmacologist Amanda Foks is one of the ten talented scientists who received a Dekker grant from the Hartstichting. She receives €427,000 to find a way to rejuvenate immune cells to prevent infarcts. Foks was nominated as Discoverer of the Year in 2016.

Alireza Mashaghi from the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) will use state-of-the-art technology to investigate proteins that play a role in muscular dystrophy. His goal is to provide new insights for designing novel therapeutic strategies in the future. To accomplish this, Mashaghi receives…

Who will be affected by certain chronic diseases, and who will not? For 30 percent that depends on heredity factors, whereas no less than seventy percent is explained by external factors. A Dutch research consortium receives 18 million euros from the prestigious Zwaartekrachtsubsidies to study these…

When parking in reverse, your car skids off just a little, hitting the wall of the parking garage. On the car dashboard, a warning light immediately starts blinking. This technique from new cars can also be used for another purpose, namely in the treatment of Parkinson's disease patients.

The LUMC has become the first institution in the Netherlands to treat a patient with an autoimmune disease using CAR T-cell therapy.

Hans Ulrich Scherer is Professor of Rheumatology, in particular Translational Rheumatology. He wants to build bridges between research and clinical practice and between departments and organisations at home and abroad. Scherer will give his inaugural lecture next Friday. ‘To make progress, we have to…

The skin protects the body from unwanted influences from the environment as well as excessive water loss. The barrier function of the skin is located in the stratum corneum (SC).

On Friday 17 April Leiden Mayor Henri Lenferink will officially open the new Metabolomics Facility of Leiden University. The facility’s ultimate goal is to prevent disease and to improve health throughout the human lifespan.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from 15 departments at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) realised they could do more for patients if they joined forces. This is how the BEAT-COVID group has been able to rapidly gain knowledge about COVID-19, the role of the immune system and…