Physicist Martin van Exter works with light at nanoscale, at the forefront of nanocomputer research. But as Director of Education he also has a vision for physics teaching. Inaugural lecture 18 November.

Source: Nat Biotechnol, Volume 32, Issue 12, pp. 1213-22 (2014)

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

In a global effort, quantum computers are rapidly being developed. In the meantime, researchers have to learn how to write code for these devices, which are fundamentally different from conventional computers. A collaboration of scientists led by Google, and including physicists from Leiden and Delft,…

Hot astrophysical plasma is ubiquitous in the Universe, from comets in our Solar system to the largest scale structures -- the cosmic web filaments. These hot plasmas, with the temperature of a few millions of degrees, are often observed in the X-ray wavelength range.

Assessing the feasibility and legitimacy of the current model of global tax governance and the role of the OECD and EU in international tax law-making.

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

In the first part, we introduce a new condition, called toric-additivity, on a family of abelian varieties degenerating to a semi-abelian scheme over a normal crossing divisor.

With a Vici grant of 1.5 million euros, Professor of Mathematical biology Roeland Merks will look for ways to fix messy and leaky blood vessels in tumours. His research combines mathematical simulations and lab experiments in a unique way.

How is inflammation in tuberculosis controlled by interplay between autophagy and inflammasome signalling?

Promotor: A.H. Meijer, Co-promotor: B.E. Snaar-Jagalska

The design process of new buildings is extremely complex due to strict requirements. Computer models are used to create the designs. Scientists from LIACS developed advanced algorithms that help their colleagues at Eindhoven University of Technology to optimise these models.

Huub de Groot is professor in Biophysical Organic Chemistry. With his team he works in the field of photosynthesis and artificial photosynthesis. The molecular basis for photosynthesis is formed by protein complexes and organelles that contain chlorophyll molecules. The antenna systems herein capture…

Simulation is a formal scientific method used to develop, compare and test hypotheses (models). In the last few decades the use of simulation has increased dramatically in virtually all scientific disciplines, but is still limited in archaeology due to the technological barrier – coding skills. Starting…

If computers work on superconducting current, they won’t consume any energy. Leiden physicists have now gained control over a new type of superconducting memory elements. Publication in Nature Communications.

This thesis proposes multiple paths towards the development of a performance practice in Computer Music.

The long-held desire - to link structure directly to function and to explain molecular mechanisms based on basic chemical or physical principles - is finally coming closer, satisfying not only our scientific curiosity but also offering new solutions to the many challenges in the field of health, energy…

Europe's latest quantum computer is set to arrive in the Netherlands. The Dutch IT cooperative, SURF, which supports education and research institutions, has secured funding from the European EuroHPC programme to make this possible. Researchers from Leiden University will play a key role in the project,…

This dissertation provides a formal description of the relationship between diatopic/diachronic micro-variation and phonologization through analysis of the phonetic/phonological properties of unstressed vowel reduction and vowel insertion in two Northern Italian dialects.

In this paper, the authors outline how the UK and USA adopt the Chilean pension model without proper attribution, potentially distorting the lessons.

The objective of this project is the development of a new psychometric model, called the Generalized Squared Distance Logistic Model (GSDLM). This model is an evolution of older psychometric approaches (such as PARELLA, GHCM, and GGUM) and the Gaussian Ordination Models (GOMs) used in environmental…

This research project adresses the question how local and traditional European forms of parrhesiastic theater— events, actions, and performances staged by characters who courageously speak their minds through scenes of excess and laughter, that take place in public view and incite the spectator’s agency…

This dissertation addresses the different use of the same philosophical model: immanent teleology. In this work Aristotle, the founder of the study of final causes, is put in relation with the modern French evolutionary thinker Henri Bergson, the philosopher of time. The dissertation tackles the two…

Cholesterol influences many pathways, including serving as precursor for adrenal steroidogenesis. Imbalance of cholesterol levels has been implicated in several diseases including cardiovascular diseases and its underlying pathology, atherosclerosis.

Using EcoFab 2.0 devices and omics services at JGI, we will examine a plant growth promoting microbial community during interaction with different plant species.

PhD defence

Clearance is the most important pharmacokinetic parameter for drug dose selection. Pharmacokinetic information is typically first available in the adult population, and in general only limited pharmacokinetic data are available in children when drugs enter into the market. It is therefore of the utmost…

We use zebrafish as a model organism to study human development and disease as well as animal welfare and environmental impact.

Leiden physicist Julia Cramer receives 50 thousand euros in funding for 'Let's talk about quantum', a research project on communication about quantum computing. A project for high school students by education expert Henk Buisman is also included in the NEWA ELSA funding.

While African ground-based air quality measurements have struggled to gain national and continental footholds, satellite data, especially high-resolution measurements from the TROPOMI satellite, can provide not only continental coverage but lend new insights for regional to city-scale air quality issues…

Anthropologist Rodrigo Ochigame studies how AI is changing the practice of scientific research. From astrophysics to mathematics to climate science, they find that the adoption of new AI models is raising questions about what counts as reliable scientific evidence.

Quantum annealing belongs to a family of quantum optimization algorithms designed to solve combinatorial optimization problems using programmable quantum hardware. In this thesis, various methods are developed and tested to understand how to formulate combinatorial optimization problems for quantum…

Creation of a framework for environmental parameter estimation that benefits from the consistency of physics-based theory-driven models and the accuracy of the machine-learning-based data-driven models

Conventional food supplies procured from rural areas are increasingly vulnerable to disruptions caused by extreme weather, geopolitical instability, and logistical bottlenecks.

Learning how computers can process and describe images just like human beings do. It is one of the key elements of the research of Michael Lew, who sees Deep Learning as a promising way to achieve this goal. On the 1st of January 2021, he was appointed Professor of Deep Learning at the Leiden Institute…

The fact that scientists are increasingly better able to access molecular cell and tissue data also brings with it a new challenge: how can scientists find the information they need for research among the vast amount of data available?

We are living in an information era where the amount of image and video data increases exponentially.

Electrical signals travel like a wave through our neural pathways. The mathematical models for these movements could not yet properly describe all the biological properties of the nerves. PhD student Willem Schouten-Straatman changed this by improving the existing models. ‘I hope that one day we will…

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.

Why do climate models still prioritise economic indicators over human impact? In a podcast of Land & Climate, environmental scientist Inge Schrijver highlights a critical blind spot in how climate change is assessed.

This thesis deals with the use of sound in interactions in the context of participatory systems and data sonification. We investigate an interactive environment where participants perceive information of the data through sound elements.

The standard approach to build a quantum computer with Majoranas as building blocks is to convert them into qubits. However, a promising application of quantum computing—quantum chemistry—would require these qubits to be converted again into so-called fermions. Physicists from Leiden and Delft suggest…

The race to build the first quantum computer is still ongoing, but Morten Bakker has made big step forward in that process with qubits. A qubit is a unit of quantum information that can be produced in large numbers on chips. Qubits capable of exchanging photons (light particles) could be used in the…

By making two final network connections and entering a command, Martijn Ridderbos (Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board) , Geert de Snoo (Dean of the Faculty of Science) and Bart Hoogervorst (Head of Department Operations ICT Shared Service Centre) ceremonially booted up the university’s latest supercomputer,…