Marinus van Hekken is a PhD candidate at the Institute for History.

Why are mycobacteria such successful pathogens? And are there defence mechanisms in the body that help reduce an infection? To find out, Annemarie Meijer has been awarded the NWO Open Competition ENW-XL grant. She will not explore this quest alone. Five other leading Dutch research groups are participating…

Our research aims to understand the role of mycobacterial cell wall-deficiency in persistency and pathogenicity in Tuberculosis and to elucidate its molecular regulation for future drug targeting. For this we investigate and characterize cell wall-deficient strains from Mycobacterial species and establish…

On March 24, 2025, World TB Day, we (Annemarie Meijer (IBL), Matthias Barz (LACDR), and Simone Joosten (LUMC) hosted the symposium „A Dutch Perspective on Mycobacterial Infections“, which brought together the Dutch scientific community working on mycobacterial infections.

Suruchi Nepal, postdoc in the group of Coen van Hasselt at LACDR, was awarded an NWO XS project which aims to study the response to antibiotic treatment during a urinary tract infection (UTI). This knowledge will be used to determine how treatments of UTIs with antibiotics can be further improved.

My research is focused on the host-pathogen interplay during infection in Mycobacterium avium and comparing with better studied mycobacterial pathogens like M. tuberculosis and M. marinum. My work addresses two crucial processes in mycobacterial pathogenesis: the intracellular trafficking inside macrophages…

Dr. Bart O. Roep is Professor of Diabetology, Immunopathology & Intervention and Director of the National Diabetes Center of Excellence at the Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands and Visiting Professor of the Danish Diabetes Academy. He is also Founding Chair and Professor of Medicine…

A new AI model will soon be able to predict the risk of infection in postoperative patients. This will allow healthcare providers to take preventive measures and detect complications at an earlier stage.

The COVID Radar app is citizen science at its best. More than 200,000 users in the Netherlands are answering questions about their health and behaviour to help predict the development of the pandemic. Niels Chavannes, Professor of General Practice at Leiden University Medical Center, explains how the…

Cornelis H. (Ron) Hokke is professor of Glycobiology of Host-Pathogen Interaction and scientific staff member of the department of Parasitology at the Leiden University Medical Center

Preventing viral infections from being transmitted through blood transfusion and organ transplantation lies at the heart of the work of medical microbiologist and virologist Mariet Feltkamp and her team.

Tuberculosis bacteria survive by hiding in our immune cells. In her PhD research, biologist Salomé Muñoz Sánchez explores how boosting the body’s own defenses might outsmart this deadly pathogen. Her work reveals two key proteins that help immune cells destroy the bacteria.

Optimised antibiotic combinations can combat bacteria more effectively while also slowing the development of resistance. Scientists from five European countries are joining forces to identify such combinations and provide tools for others to do the same. The project is led by Professor Coen van Hasselt…

As part of the ZonMW Antibiotics resistance funding program, the LACDR cluster Systems Pharmacology was awarded €455.255 for a research project to develop novel clinical biomarkers for bacterial infections.

Maria Yazdanbakhsh is professor in cellular immunology of parasitic infections and is the head of the department of Leiden University Center for Infectious Diseases (LUCID) at LUMC. She engages in basic and clinical research to understand host-pathogen interactions at the molecular, cellular and population…

Mark van Buchem is Professor of Neuroradiology.

Cees van Kooten is professor in experimental nephrology and transplant immunology, head of the immunological research laboratory of the section nephrology of the department of internal medicine and part of the Einthoven laboratory of vascular and regenerative medicine. He is chair of the exam committee…

Frank Baas (25 februari, 1956) is Professor of Molecular Genetic Diagnostics and head of the laboratory for genome diagnostics (LDGA) of the Department of Clinical Genetics. He is also visting scientist at the Koch Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-founder of Regenesance…

When a baby is born too soon, every minute counts – and so does every decision. To reduce uncertainty in those critical moments, biopharmaceutical scientist Manchu Umarani Thangavelu dedicated her PhD to identifying molecular markers of preterm birth and neonatal infection.

Researchers from the Netherlands Cancer Institute, the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and Oncode have created a tracking system that can reveal how often cells have divided. This allowed them to find a yet undiscovered population of immune cells: young memory cells that behave like stem cells.…

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) has elected 16 new members, including two academics from Leiden: virologist Meta Roestenberg and Arabist Petra Sijpesteijn.

PhD defence

Leiden professor of Cellular Immunology of Parasitic Infections Maria Yazdanbakhsh receives the prestigious NWO Spinoza Prize this year. This, in many ways, border-crossing scientist contributes with her research to more effective vaccines against parasitic infections and better medication for inflammatory…

More than 1.3 million people worldwide die of tuberculosis (TB) each year, making research on its prevention and control essential. Researchers from various disciplines in Leiden are studying TB. A symposium on 24 March will highlight different activities in the hope of boosting nationwide collabora…

A COVID-19 vaccine that specifically instructs the immune system to produce T-cells rather than antibodies is shown to provide good protection in a mouse model, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) researchers report in Nature Communications. According to them, the alternative vaccine may offer a…

No less than four Leiden research teams have been awarded a grant by NWO. On 27 July NWO honoured 21 applications in the Open Competition ENW-XL. NWO awards the grants to consortia in the exact and natural sciences who are doing unconnected fundamental research that is 'driven by curiosity'.

PhD defence

Is it a coincidence that three chemists from the same department have each independently received a ZonMw grant? 'No,' the researchers agree in unison. 'The role of chemistry in medical biology is becoming increasingly important, and we’ve worked hard to make this happen.'

Researchers from Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) have discovered how malaria parasites escape the immune system of mosquitoes. The so-called QC enzyme changes proteins on the outside of the malaria parasite such that the immune cells are unable to recognise the parasite. As a result, the parasite…

Current position (4 d/wk, from mid 2013): director, Center for Infectious Disease Control of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (CIb-RIVM – Bilthoven), an agency of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. Additional position (1 d/wk since 2013, full-time in period 1999-2013):…

Eric J. Snijder is professor of molecular Virology and head of the Section Research of the Department of Medical Microbiology of Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC). He is also a member of the Permanent Science Committee of LUMC and board member of the LUMC research profile area Immunology, Infection…

Alexander E. Gorbalenya is Professor of Medical Microbiology, in particular virus bioinformatics and Head of Virus Evolution and Bioinformatics lab in the Research Section. He is also visiting Professor at the Faculty of Bioengineering & Bioinformatics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.…

Edmond H.H.M. Rings is professor of Pediatrics and chair of the department of Pediatrics at the Willem-Alexander Children’s hospital of the Leiden University Medical Center. He is also professor of Pediatrics and chair of the department of Pediatrics at the Sophia Children’s hospital of the Erasmus…

Leo Visser holds a position as Professor of Infection Diseases with specific interest in Travel Medicine. Leo Visser is head of the Department of Infectious Diseases and deputy director of Internal Medicine Residency Program at the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC). Leo Visser is Member of the…

Hendrik Veelken is Professor of Internal Medicine, specifically Haematology, and chair of the Department of Haematology. He is director of the LUMC stem cell transplantation programme. In addition, he holds the function of chairman of the LUMC Oncology Centre.

Annemieke Geluk is professor of immunodiagnostics of mycobacterial infectious diseases, leprosy and tuberculosis. Additionally, her research group at the LUMC functions as the national reference centre for routine serological diagnosis of leprosy, and provides this service also in Europe.

Marlies Reinders is professor of Internal Medicine and since October 1st 2024 Member of the Board of Directors of Leiden University Medical Centre and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Leiden.

Thorbald van Hall is professor experimental tumorimmunology at the Department of Medical Oncology in the LUMC. His expertise concerns resistance of tumors to immunotherapy.

Karin de Visser is professor in Experimental Immunobiology of Cancer (specifically of the tumor microenvironment) at Leiden University and affiliated with the department Immunohematology and Blood transfusion at Leiden University Medical Center. She is also senior group leader at the Division of Tumor…

Biological agents are micro-organisms such as bacteria, parasites, moulds, viruses and their waste products. This category also includes genetically modified variants (GMOs). These agents may form a risk for your health, which is why we apply a number of legal and other guidelines to prevent people…