1,079 search results for “this week s discoveries” in the Staff website
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Can Parkinson's be stopped by unravelling protein fibres? Anne Wentink finds out with a Vidi grant from NWO
In brain diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, proteins clump together to form fibres. ‘Chaperone proteins’ unravel those fibres, but in the test tube biochemist Anne Wentink saw that this can also cause new problems. She is going to find out what happens inside cells to determine what a drug…
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Leiden's Austria Centre traveled to Berkeley, California for the Annual Convention of Austria Centers
The fifteenth Annual Convention of Austria Centers took place in Berkeley, California, USA in May 2023.
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Leiden’s BA Religious Studies programme ranked #1 in The Netherlands
The BA Religious Studies programme has been awarded the label 'Topopleiding' (Top Education) in the Keuzegids 2021.
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Dissertation: Is it One Nile? The complexity and diversity of the world's longest river
Abeer Abazeed, PhD-student at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, will defend her thesis on Wednesday april 21st. Four questions about her PhD-research ‘Is it One Nile? Civic engagement and hydropolitics in the Eastern Nile Basin’.
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'There's nothing more we can do for you' - New publication on harmful communication in oncology
PhD student Janine Westendorp and her colleagues conducted literature research on what patients with cancer and their loved ones perceive as harmful communication from healthcare providers. The results were published in the journal Psycho-Oncology and are released as a poster to distribute to healthcare…
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CJ Public Lecture: What is happening around Europe’s internal borders?
IAt the Criminal Justice Public Lecture on 20 April, Professor of Law and Society Maartje van der Woude spoke about her research into decisions and practice in relation to intra-Schengen border areas and the free movement of persons. The thinking behind the Schengen area is that where the external borders…
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Playing cards? It’s a good way to learn about your own leadership skills
If we want to solve the complex issues now facing us as people and as an organisation, leadership is an absolute necessity: and then not only from supervisors and managers, but from everyone. You can use the set of cards and the animation developed specially for this purpose to gain insight into your…
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Daniel Carter, PhD – ‘There's “money law” and there's “people law” and I've always been more interested in the latter.’
Not everyone benefits from the increased flexibility in the labour market. EU migrant workers engaged at the lower end of the employment spectrum are falling behind. According to Daniel Carter, the legal system is at fault and in his PhD thesis he explains the reasons why.
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Publish your paper or thesis in Faculty's own Inter-Section journal
Research
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Report presented at expert workshop on EU's proposed regulation on preventing and combatting child sexual abuse
Workshop brings multidisciplinary experts together to produce interdisciplinary outcomes on the EU’s Proposal for a Regulation to prevent and combat child sexual abuse.
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non-academic staff do an exchange: ‘We don’t know enough about each other’s worlds’
At a work meal HR Policy Adviser Petra Boerlage and Associate Professor Robert Stein got talking about the ‘worlds’ of academic and support staff: are they really that different, they wondered. And wouldn’t it be good if staff knew more about each other? The two put their money where their mouths are…
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Being an anthropologist in a big company ‘it’s interesting to look at the internal culture of a business'’
With her background in Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leonie Siepmans brings a unique perspective to the corporate world. Find out what an anthropologist does in a big company.
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PhD candidates: apply now for Una Europa's Heritage of Conflict Winter School
Research
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Rector Magnificus Hester Bijl on Palestine event: ‘Let’s have an academic debate with room for different perspectives’
There’s been a lot of commotion about the ‘Apartheid in Israel’ panel discussion being cancelled. The organisers, Students for Palestine, wanted to hold this at Leiden University’s Wijnhaven building in The Hague on 21 March. The Executive Board would only allow the event to go ahead if guarantees…
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From master’s thesis to scientific article: ‘Really strange that people are able to quote me now’
Vivian van der Linde completed her masters Crisis & Security Management in the summer of 2020 by writing a thesis on Dieselgate. Freshly graduated, she felt she wanted to do more with her research. But how do you go about that, having just finished studying? Together with her thesis supervisor Wouter Jong…
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CCLS Seminar
Lecture, Center of Computational Life Sciences
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LUCDH Winter Workshop & Teach the Teachers Workshop in Digital Skills (closed)
Course, Digital Skills Workshop
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Policing as the dominant theme in Saniye Çelik’s career: from police officer to Professor of Diversity and Inclusion
She started her career in the police force, walking the beat as an officer. Now she has been appointed Extraordinary Professor of Diversity, Inclusion and Policing at Leiden University. Things have come full circle for Saniye Çelik. ‘It's very special.’
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Nobel Prize winner visited Leiden: 'We have hosted a scientific rockstar'
On 28 September the famous chemists Carolyn Bertozzi visited Leiden University to speak at the LED3 seminar. Just one week later, she was announced winner the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Leiden chemists Sebastian Pomplun and Hermen Overkleeft are fan: ‘We are extremely honoured to have hosted this…
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‘Homo sapiens is too arrogant: call us Homo faber, the toolmaker’
We need to dispel the arrogant and misguided idea that modern humans are superior to earlier human species. It is thanks in part to all our predecessors such as Neanderthals that we are who we are today. This is what Marie Soressi, Professor of Hominin Diversity Archaeology, will argue in her inaugural…
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Ethical guidelines to better regulate DNA research on human remains
Rapid developments in DNA techniques allow researchers to find out more and more about human genetics. An international group of scientists has drawn up five ethical guidelines to ensure that this DNA research is better regulated. Leiden archaeologist Marie Soressi – one of the signatories - explains…
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Singing parrots wanted: is our musicality unique?
Is our musicality unique? That’s what the Bird Singalong project aims to find out. And for that, they need the help of feathered friends from all around the world. ‘By researching how parrots learn songs, we also learn more about the origin of our own musicality.’ Do you have a parrot that can sing…
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How oak seedlings teach us more on dune restoration
What is the best way to restore dune ecosystems? The project TERRA-Dunes researches the role of soil microbes in the development of natural dune areas. Recently, the project went into a new phase: planting 412 oak seedlings grown in different type of soils.
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Stunning James Webb images show birth and death of massive stars
The James Webb Space Telescope continues to surprise us with stunning pictures, but of what exactly? Astronomer Nienke van der Marel shows with three images how massive stars lead short but explosive lives.
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‘Ultimately, the goal is to develop antibiotics for tuberculosis with a lower risk of resistance’
Tuberculosis stands as one of the most lethal infectious diseases worldwide. A significant challenge in combatting tuberculosis lies in the emergence of antibiotic resistance triggered by genetic alterations, commonly known as mutations. These mutations can diminish the responsiveness to antibiotics,…
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ERC Consolidator Grants for Leiden researchers
Five Leiden researchers have been awarded a Consolidator Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). This grant of up to two million euros will enable them to continue and expand their scientific research.
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Anoma van der Veere did Japanese Studies at Leiden University
Alumnus Anoma van der Veere did Japanese studies and talks in this interview about his studies in Leiden and his work as a researcher at the Leiden Asia Centre and as Japanese correspondent in Tokyo.
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Lockdown impacted brain development in young people
What effect did the lockdown have on young people? Leiden researchers started a study of this in the first year of the covid pandemic. They discovered an impact on the development of the brain areas involved in social behaviour. The researchers published their discovery in Scientific Reports at Nat…
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Leiden students develop highly contagious card game
Infecting each other with viruses and bacteria while protecting yourself with medicines and vaccinations. Sounds like a fun evening, right? Master students Life Science & Technology Rafael Jezior and Dennis de Beeld certainly think so. Together, they developed ImmunoWars: an exciting card game based…
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'Only when you give students freedom, exceptional results are possible'
It doesn't happen every day that the research project of a first-year bachelor’s student results in a scientific publication. And not only that, but as first author and on the cover of a leading physics journal. ‘We have given our lab education a thorough overhaul and it is paying off.’
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‘Look beyond your own discipline’
Good research means looking beyond disciplinary boundaries, said Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Remus Dame in his inaugural lecture on 10 May. Processes that take place on DNA shouldn’t only be researched in a test tube but also in living cells, for instance.
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Space telescope Euclid makes first test images - astronomers are full of anticipation
The two instruments of ESA's space telescope Euclid have taken their first test images. The first images indicate that the space telescope will achieve the scientific goals for which it was designed - and possibly much more. Euclid will create a 3D map of a third of the sky, allowing scientists to study…
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Shaping the future with stories from the past
An archaeologist as a modern-day shaman. An unexpected comparison Professor by Special Appointment of Public Archaeology Luc Amkreutz will make in his inaugural lecture.
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Versatile antiviral proteins discovered with supercomputer
A single tiny molecule that can destroy flu, corona, HIV and Zika viruses? Yes, it really does exist. Biophysicist Niek van Hilten, who will receive his doctorate on 14 September, contributed to this discovery.
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Paco Barona Gomez ready to work in Leiden: ‘Fundamental research creates opportunities’
Paco Barona Gomez is the newest associate professor at the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL). The Mexican researcher is fascinated by the evolution of natural products: compounds made by microbes, but also plants and animals. ‘It’s like we investigate chemical dark matter.’
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New book by Lydie Cabane explores how the South African state bureaucracy reacts to disasters
Lydie Cabane, Assistant Professor in Governance of Crises at the Institute for Security and Global Affairs, recently published the book The Government of Disasters. In this book Lydie explores how the South African state bureaucracy reacts to disasters.
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With 30 million dollars, this consortium aims to tackle tuberculosis
Thanks to a clever research method, progress is being made in the quest for better tuberculosis medications. Within an American consortium that received a 30 million dollars grant, Leiden researcher Rob van Wijk plays a significant role. ‘The next breakthrough in tuberculosis research will come much…
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Atherosclerosis resembles an autoimmune disease. Marie Depuydt graduated on this topic, with honours
In addition to cholesterol and high blood pressure as risk factors for atherosclerosis, we may need to address our own immune system to prevent a heart attack or stroke. Marie Depuydt revealed which cells exactly reside in the atherosclerotic plaque that narrows an artery. The presence of a diverse…
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Leiden Classics: Bibliotheca Thysiana, a 17th century time machine
From once controversial scientific works and historical bibles, to personal shopping lists and clothing bills. The 17th-century Bibliotheca Thysiana and the archive of the collector Johannes Thysius exhibit both the intellectual and everyday life as it was three hundred years ago. Now a brand-new digital…
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FLAMINGO: dark matter, ordinary matter, and neutrinos in the biggest cosmological simulation ever
Not only dark matter, but also ordinary matter and dark energy are tracked in the largest ever cosmological computer simulation ever. In the FLAMINGO simulations, you can see virtual galaxies and clusters of galaxies emerging over the course of billions of years. This is no easy task: with more than…
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Programme to teach school pupils about stress proves effective
Recent studies have shown that Dutch secondary school pupils experience a great deal of stress from school work, and between 2001 and 2007 the number of adolescents experiencing school stress even doubled. The study carried out by Simone Vogelaar focuses on stress factors and the effectiveness of the…
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Archaeologists in action: stories from the field
During the summer, staff and students of the Faculty of Archaeology travel to all parts of the world, initiating or joining fieldwork projects. Read some of our students' stories here!
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Dust cloud from two colliding ice planets dims light of parent star
For the first time, an international group of astronomers have seen the heat glow of two ice giant planets colliding. They could also observe the resultant dust cloud move in front of the parent star several years later. Led by Leiden astronomer Matthew Kenworthy, they monitored the star's brightness…
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When you know how your brain works, you better understand who you are
On Sept. 29, Lara Wierenga, together with graphic designer Dirma Janse, presented their new book Atlas of our Brain. In the presence of fellow scientists and other interested parties, they shared some of the stunning illustrations and mind-boggling facts that can be found in the book.
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Combating antibiotic resistance together
Antibiotic resistance is a common problem among patients. The European Project TIPAT trains pharmacologists, microbiologists and immunologists of six universities in interdisciplinary thinking. The ultimate goal is to develop better treatment guidelines to combat resistance. Coen van Hasselt of the…
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Virtual reality in hospitals
Elise Sarton is using her inaugural lecture to give her field of anaesthesiology a chance to take the limelight for a change.
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Biology brothers write book about nature and adventure in Eastern Europe: 'I didn't know there live pelicans in Romania'
With a self-converted red camper van, biologists and twin brothers Kevin and Marvin Groen go on a nature adventure in Eastern Europe. Together, they search for wild animals, beautiful nature and places to sport. From a long search for a bear in the Slovakian wilderness to the discovery that pelicans…
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LUMC researchers: high levels of lipids in blood protect against allergies
People with relatively high levels of lipids in their blood are less likely to develop allergic conditions such as eczema and asthma. These lipids cause genes that play a key role in allergic reactions to be less active. Researchers from the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) have published an…
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Spinoza and Stevin Prizes for three Leiden professors
Three Leiden professors have recently been awarded the most prestigious scientific accolade in the Netherlands: Maria Yazdanbakhsh and Marc Koper have been awarded a Spinoza Prize and Judi Mesman a Stevin Prize. They received their prizes on 13 October.
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No holiday plans? Go on a virtual trip this summer!
‘Walking around in a new environment activates our brain’s learning centre. This allows us to learn better, even once we’ve returned to a familiar environment.’ This is the conclusion drawn by neuroscientist Judith Schomaker in her recent publication in Neurobiology of Learning and Memory.