This research group, headed by Miranda van Eck, focusses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Cardiovascular disease constitutes a major health issue worldwide. Although significant knowledge has been obtained on the development of atherosclerotic…

Vitamin A or retinol is essential in embryonic development, the visual cycle and the immune system.

Which metabolites of sponge are influenced by individual environmental or biological factors?

The research described in this thesis has, using the zebrafish as a model system, shed new light on the intricate relationship between TB and DM2, in particular on the role of leptin, SHP-1 and glucocorticoids.

Metabolic diseases are a burden on the European population and health care system. It is increasingly recognised that individual differences with respect to history, lifestyle, and genetic make-up affect disease progression and treatment response. A Systems Medicine approach, based on computational…

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide.

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.

Sphingolipids are important membrane compounds with a variety of functions. In mammalian cells, different enzymes are involved in the metabolism of sphingolipids, but interruption of this metabolism process leads to different diseases.

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death worldwide. The most important risk factor for developing this disease is high cholesterol levels in the blood.

Accelerating the diagnosis and personalising the management of inherited metabolic diseases.

Cardiovascular diseases are still a major concern for the global health.

The aim of this thesis is to expedite and ensure the systematic accuracy of clearance scaling from adults to paediatric patients, with a special focus on drugs undergoing hepatic metabolism.

Filamentous Actinobacteria, such as Streptomyces, produce a plethora of chemically diverse bioactive metabolites that have found applications across medicine, agriculture and biotechnology.

This thesis focuses on two processes involved in fighting infections: metabolism and immune cell motility and navigation.

The progressive loss and degeneration of dopaminergic neurons is a major pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD). The onset and progression of PD can be triggered by multiple risk factors, for instance, genetic mutation, environmental exposure, and aging.

Promotores: T. Hankemeier; R. Berger, Co-promotor: R.J. Vreeken

Atherosclerosis is the main underlying pathology of cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis is caused by an immune response which is directed against (modified) lipoproteins which accumulate in the vessel wall.

Acute cardiovascular clinical events such as myocardial infarction and cerebral stroke represent the major cause of death in Western societies. These pathologies are primarily resulting from atherosclerosis, a progressive condition characterized by the accumulation of lipids, immune cells, and fibrous…

From descriptive to physiological models that can predict oral absorption and elimination of CYP3A substrates across the pediatric age range.

The power of personalized nutrition lies in being able to conduct clinical research on healthy people while capturing metabolic markers sensitive to the impact of environmental and metabolic stressors (e.g. diet, changing sex hormones and the menstrual cycle).

Growth and development affect the metabolism of drugs administered to neonates, infants, and children.

This thesis investigates the relations between metabolism and anatomy through the use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).

Some examples of research questions include: What framework of circular strategies should local practitioners use? How should practitioners organize their monitoring of the circular economy activities in the region of interest? What are the main products that have the most circular potential in the…

This thesis describes biochemical investigations of glucocerebrosidase (GBA), the lysosomal β- glucosidase that is deficient in Gaucher disease (GD).

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.

How can we develop new chemical biology tools and approaches to understand and interfere with glucosylceramide metabolism in relation to Gaucher disease?

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…

Quantifying physical activity (using accelerometers) and combining the frequency and intensity of activities with health data (brain MRI, traditional clinical parameters and metabolomics) is of utmost importance to monitor mobility and health among older individuals and study health promotion during…

Leiden biotech startup Azafaros has successfully completed a funding round, raising 25 million euros of investments for developing treatments of rare metabolic disorders. The company holds exclusive license to a library of novel patented compounds discovered by experts from Leiden University.

The work in this thesis describes the fundamental role of Lkb1 as a conductor of metabolism-related processes in zebrafish larvae.

Bacteria are highly complex and diverse organisms that have adapted to survive in ecological niches ranging from the most extreme to the most heterogeneous environments.

Genes predict whether you have a propensity for an illness but environmental factors often have the last word: nutrition, air pollution, lifestyle, stress. The exposome as both culprit and chance. Large-scale research is being carried out into this at Leiden. Thomas Hankemeier, Professor of Analytical…

On 1 March, Lennart Schada von Borzyskowski will start on a tenure track position at the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL). With a focus on the natural and synthetic biochemistry of environmental bacteria, he wants to apply their features to health and sustainability issues.

Promotor: Prof.dr. R. Verpoorte, Co-Promotores: N.R. Mustafa, A.E. Schulte

Can the pink-pigmented microbe Methylobacterium extorquens be genetically engineered to convert the sustainable raw material methanol into antibiotics?

PhD defence

Pharmacogenetics is nowadays increasingly incorporated in the clinic to better predict pharmacokinetics and optimize dosing regimens of drug treatments. While this approach has been successful and improved our prediction of drug metabolism, drug levels within patients may still commonly deviate between…

Exploiting metabolic vulnerabilities to identify anticancer compounds in zebrafish synthetic lethality screens.

The outbreaks of AIDS and COVID-19 showed clearly how infectious viruses can influence people’s lives. Investigating the changes in the host metabolism may provide a paradigm shift to consider immune-metabolic interactions as therapeutic targets.

PhD at Université de Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens - France

TRANSVAC is a collaborative infrastructure project funded by the European Commission (EC), initially under the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) and currently under Horizon 2020. The project is a joint effort of leading European groups working in the field of vaccine development, and is coordinated by…

The overall aim of CAM-PaC is to contribute to solving the socioeconomic and health challenges of PDAC by an integrative and systematic functional analysis of pancreatic cancer candidate genes. CAM-PaC will develop novel cellular and animal models, as well as novel strategies to analyse and integrate…

Medical Biochemistry is a section of the Leiden Institute of Chemistry at Leiden University. The section is headed by Prof. Dr. Hans Aerts.

Through metabolism, biochemical processes give rise to the complexity of life. Acquired and inborn errors in metabolism underlie many diseases occurring in man. The challenge for present day medical biochemistry is to find, and integrate, pieces of information at molecular, cell and organismal level…

Can we establish a new quality control system for herbal medicines that is based on bioactivity rather than a few abundant chemicals?