The HOPES study is one of the largest investigations of this kind to date! By studying existing brain scans and data collected form over 4,000 14-25 year olds, the project team hopes to identify specific changes in the brain that make young people vulnerable to suicidal thoughts and behaviours.

‘Regenerative medicine’ explores ways to repair or replace damaged cells, tissues and organs with cell, stem-cell or gene therapy. It can lead to valuable breakthroughs in the treatment of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart problems and kidney diseases or muscle diseases.

Key publications of the Analytical BioSciences and Metabolomics group

Cardiovascular syndromes are the major cause of death in Western societies.

Promotor: Prof.dr. J. Kuiper, Co-promotor: Saskia C.A. de Jager

Promotor: Prof.dr. B. van de Water, Co-promotores: J.W. van der Laan, C.L.E. Siezen

Actinobacteria are Gram-positive bacteria that have a complex multicellular life cycle and are well known for their ability to produce a wide range of bioactive natural products (NPs).

Plants could be regarded as small chemical factories, which produce chemical substances via photosynthesis. If we can imitate photosynthesis in an artificial system, we can make clean fuels and materials out of sunlight and CO2. Huub de Groot is very close to designing a system of this kind.

The Spanish Society of Soil Science has chosen as the best thesis of 2015 (call 2016) in Spain to the CML-researcher Daniel Arenas Lago, for his research at the University of Vigo that expands and deepens in new knowledge about adsorption and retention of heavy metals in soils, an issue increasingly…

The Botany Laboratory is part of the Faculty of Archaeology, University of Leiden. Under the supervision of Dr Mike Field, research is carried out here on archaeo- and palaeo-botanical material including seeds and fruits, pollen and spores, and wood.

The Hague is alive with nature – you just have to look

PhD at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Golm – Germany

The Green algae Chara as model system for intra and inter cellular transport processes.

Increasing above- and belowground biodiversity in arable leek cultivation to stimulate pest control by natural enemies.

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

Emeritus professor at the Natural Products Laboratory, Institute of Biology, Leiden University - the Netherlands

How many species of plants, animals and fungi live in urban nature? in 2026 are Leiden, Leiderdorp, Oegstgeest and Katwijk observing and recording how many unique species there are, to put the state of urban nature on the map. Together everyone from May 1st till 30th of June will record every spider,…

The name ‘Jambi flora’ refers to fossil plants found as part of a rock formation from the Early Permian (296 million years old), located in the Jambi Province of Sumatra, Indonesia.

The study of orchid flowers, fruits, and inflorescences is crucial due to the remarkable diversity of orchid species and their unique adaptations to pollinators and seed dispersers. However, our understanding of the evolution and development of these organs within the orchid family remains limited.

This article describes the creation of an app that can help raise climate awareness and the action globally.

A management strategy has been developed for field margins to reduce pesticide drift to non-target areas and to promote biodiversity on arable land. To this end, 3 and 6 m wide strips along the edges of winter wheat, sugar beet and potato crops have been left unsprayed with herbicides and insecticides…

This thesis describes the functional analysis of the Arabidopsis AHL15 gene.

This book provides the answers, presenting clear insights into the current state of affairs and exploring future prospects.

Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria - South Africa

Understanding DNA repair mechanisms is essential for advancing plant biotechnology and crop improvement. This study investigates how double-strand breaks (DSBs), induced by CRISPR/Cas systems, are repaired in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, and how these processes influence Agrobacterium tumefaciens…

The mycorrhizal symbiosis is among the most widespread species interactions on Earth⁠. This thesis focuses on orchid mycorrhiza, a unique mycorrhizal type that has caught scientists’ attention for centuries⁠.

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is a major cereal crop that millions of subsistence farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) rely on. However, the scourging impact of the root parasitic weed Striga (Striga hermonthica, a.k.a. “witch-weed”) has remained a major constraint hampering the productivity of sorghum in…

The type-IV secretion system (T4SS) is a machinery able to transfer DNA and proteins between bacteria and in certain cases also to eukaryotic cells.

This thesis explores how bees and hoverflies are distributed across the Dutch landscape and how ecological and landscape factors shape their occurrence.

The thesis is about how auxin and AGC kinases regulate male fertility. The main AGC kinases studied in this thesis is PDK1, PDK2 and AGC1.5, AGC1.7.

Pectin is a plant cell wall polysaccharide made of mainly D-galacturonic acid (GA) subunits. The potency of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger to naturally secrete high amounts of pectinases to degrade pectin has been utilized for the industrial production of pectinases.

Inaugural lecture

The major aim is to determine the psychophysiological responses to stress and stress-management interventions and to examine the role of stress and stress-related psychophysiological mechanisms (e.g., cognitions, behaviors, and physiological stress responses) in both healthy and medical populations.

On this page you will find more information about the selected projects of the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Fund for 2022.

PhD defence

PhD defence

The Master’s programme Health, Ageing and Society trains its students to become academic Health, Ageing and Society professionals and engaged citizens who are competent and trained internationally and interdisciplinary. They are able to contribute to solutions for the challenges facing our ageing so…

Kidney failure is a serious issue because kidneys cannot regenerate themselves after injury. A possible solution consists of artificially growing healthy kidney tissue. To achieve that, scientists first need to understand kidney development during the earliest stages, in the fetus. Leiden researchers…

Factors affecting galanthamine production in Narcissus

Collaborators and advisors of the Plant BioDynamics Laboratory

For information about the programme, please contact one of the following persons.

To make the right clinical decisions or develop effective diagnostic tests and treatments, it is important to understand the underlying mechanisms of a condition or behavior.

In this thesis, the discovery and optimization is described of chemical tools to study the N-acylethanolamine (NAE) biosynthetic pathway.

If a new method has been developed to recognize and treat a (neuro-)psychological disorder or related behavioral factors, it cannot yet be used directly in clinical practice. First, the method should be evaluated, preferably in randomized controlled trials.

The focal point of the E&G specialisation is welfare states and markets. You develop your skills in economic reasoning, and conducting economic analysis, while learning about the role of government in creating, facilitating and controlling markets.

In the Public Management and Leadership specialisation within the Public Administation master's programme, you study such core themes as: leadership behavior in public organizations; decision-making by political leaders and top-level civil servants; and the changing interactions between government and…