On November 1st, Min Liu succesfully defended her doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Min on this great result.

How do animals choose their partners? The answer is simple: it’s all about quality. While humans tend to wear clothes that happen to be in fashion, animals do nothing without a reason. Behind beautiful plumage or a deafening roar is only one message: I am in great shape. The evolutionary courtship displays…

Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are mechanical waves that travel along the surface of a material and find many applications in modern technologies due to the ease of excitation on piezoelectric substrates via interdigital transducers (IDTs).

Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease are the most common neurodegenerative disorders. Unfortunately, no effective treatments are currently available to halt the progression of these neuroinflammatory diseases [1].

In this dissertation, electrophysiological (EEG) and behavioural measures are used to investigate how allophonic tonal variants and sub-phonemic features are processed during Mandarin and Dutch speech production, visual processing of written words and reading aloud.

Synthesis and application of chemical biology tools to study immunomodulatory signaling lipids.

Cell adhesion signaling

Promotor: H.P. Spaink, A.H. Meijer Co-promotor: R. Marin-Juez

Do offshore windfarms affect the local biodiversity of the pelagic fish community and are fish deterred or attracted by sounds?

On the 28th of June, Laura Smorenburg successfully defended a doctoral thesis. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Laura on this achievement!

Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is the second most common type of breast cancer.

Promotores: A.H. Meijer, H.P. Spaink

In previous studies at our laboratory it was demonstrated that drug exposure of HepG2 cells can lead to an altered TNFα-induced NF-κB oscillatory phenotype, concurrent with a synergistically increased sensitivity for TNFα-induced apoptosis.

Exploiting the Ecological Role of Natural Products as Novel Biocontrol Agents (LIPQUORUM): The central aim of LIPQUORUM is to unravel the intricate interkingdom signaling mechanisms between the Bacillus subtilis species complex and the devastating fungal pathogen Sporisorium scitamineum.

Promotor: Prof.dr. P. Hooykaas, Co-promotor: Dr. R. Offringa

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.

Animal Sciences’ contributions to the Biodiversity & Evolution research theme include evo-devo research, the evolution of cognitive and behavioural traits, and the evolutionary mechanisms of stress adaptation. This research involves both indoor and outdoor studies.

This article examines how motivational signals in job advertisements relate to public employers’ recruitment success.

Lipid signaling is an essential biological event/process in a plethora of pathophysiological conditions. The underlying idea of this thesis is that many of the roles and the complex interplay of the individual signaling lipids in inflammatory processes and related conditions in health and disease is…

This thesis focuses on the role of chemokine receptors CXCR3 and CCR2 in the inflammatory process and infection control using the zebrafish model.

Source: Mol Psychiatry (2015)

The cannabinoid CB2 receptor (CB2R) represents a promising therapeutic target for various forms of tissue injury and inflammatory diseases. Although numerous compounds have been developed and widely used to target CB2R, their selectivity, molecular mode of action and pharmacokinetic properties have…

Diacylglycerol lipases (DAGLα and DAGLβ) convert diacylglycerol to the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol. Our understanding of DAGL function has been hindered by a lack of chemical probes that can perturb these enzymes in vivo.

Handbook of Signal Processing Systems is organized in four parts. The first part motivates representative applications that drive and apply state-of-the art methods for design and implementation of signal processing systems; the second part discusses architectures for implementing these applications;…

1. What is the exact role of PIN proteins in PAT? 2. How is PIN polarity established, and how is it modulated by AGC kinase-mediated phosphorylation? 3. What is the role of the AGC kinase, as modulators of PAT, in translating environmental signals, such as gravity, light or mechanical stress, to plant…

The emergence of complex diseases resulting from abnormal cell-cell signaling and the spread of infectious diseases caused by pathogens are significant threats to humanity. Unraveling the dynamic mechanisms underlying cell-cell signaling and infectious disease spreading is crucial for effective disease…

On 23 March a Sonology concert took place in the Arnold Schönbergzaal at the Royal Conservatoire, dedicated to Gabriel Paiuk’s The Construction of an Imaginary Acoustic Space, a composition for ensemble and electronics performed by New European Ensemble.

Promotores: C. J. ten Cate; M. A. Ainslie. Co-promotor: W. Slabbekoorn

IBL-researcher Phil Elks in the group of Annemarie Meijer won the Cell Observatory Publication of the Year 2013. He received the award for his paper in PLoS Pathogens, showing that activation of hypoxia signaling protects against mycobacterial infection.

Animal Sciences’ contributions to the Development & Disease research theme include the mechanisms and evolution of embryonic development, the development of cognitive mechanisms, and animal models for understanding mechanisms of human disease.

The Construction of an Imaginary Acoustic Space, a new work by ACPA PhD Candidate Gabriel Paiuk was premiered last Saturday at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg. The piece was commissioned by the österreichisches ensemble für neue musik for their second yearly concert series.

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is the substrate used for the introduction of the ubiquitous and highly dynamic PTM in which either one or multiple adenosine diphosphate ribose (ADPr) moieties are covalently attached to a nucleophilic side chain of an specific amino acid in the target protein…

DNA carries various forms of information. Out of these forms of information the most well-known is classical genetic information.

The PID-directed shift in PIN polarity has been broadly accepted as one of the essential mechanisms for the regulation of auxin transport polarity.

This thesis considers multi-prover commitment schemes whose security is based on restrictions on the communication between the provers.

This project is funded by the Dutch Cancer Society. The project will be part of an ongoing research line aimed at identifying mechanisms of cancer therapy resistance and metastasis. In this project, it will be investigated how the Grainyhead family of transcription factors controls therapy response…

Promotor: B. van de Water

This dissertation examines what network in the human brain is involved in the perception of prosody and whether activity within this network is modulated by the personality trait alexithymia.

Physicists have studied the astrophysical neutrino signal as reported by the IceCube collaboration from a different angle with their ANTARES detector. The Milky Way centre was an obvious prime suspect to be a source, but this hypothesis is now only closer to debunked than confirmed. Publication in Physical…

While the interim ruling passed down by the International Court of Justice did not order a ceasefire, it did state that Israel must take all measures to prevent further victims and genocidal acts in Gaza. South Africa brought the case as it alleges that the war in Gaza constitutes a violation of the…

Promotor: M.A.G.J. Orrit

For the first time, a group of international and interdisciplinary researchers led by Karline Janmaat and her former MSc Student Chirag Chittar, have tested the several hypotheses on music simultaneously in a modern foraging society during their daily search for tubers – their staple food. They found…

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

Promotor: Prof.dr. M.A.G.J. Orrit

Promotor: Prof.dr. H.P. Spaink Co-promotor: Dr. B.E. Snaar

Geometric phases lead to a nontrivial interference result when an electron's different quantum mechanical paths choices encircle a magnetic coil in an Aharonov-Bohm experiment.