Walter Gam Nkwi is Assistant Professor at the Institute for History.

Alies Jansen is a PhD candidate in Global Transformations and Governance Challenges at the Institute for History at Leiden University. In 2025, she is a visiting researcher in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Jan Sleutels is a Senior University Lecturer at the Institute for Philosophy.

I obtained my PhD in 1991 at the Leiden University after which I was appointed assistant professor at the Institute of Biology, Leiden University to study secondary plant metabolites in plants and their interactions with herbivores. I did spent a one-year postdoc at the University of Lille 1 (1994)…

During my PhD at KU Leuven (Belgium, 2000–2005), I explored evolutionary and ecological patterns in the wood anatomy of flowering plants. As a postdoctoral researcher (2005–2010), I expanded my focus to functional anatomy, allowing me to link wood anatomical traits to drought tolerance. This integrative…

Jelena Prokic is an Assistant Professor in Computational Linguistics at the Leiden University Centre for Digital Humanities (LUCDH) and Leiden University Centre for Linguistics (LUCL). Since September 2024, Jelena Prokic has also been the Head of the Digital Humanities and AI Lab at the Faculty of H…

Lecture

A number of young researchers recently took part in a knowledge mission to Indonesia, aiming to build a lasting relationship with the country. How did they find the trip, what did they do, and how are they creating new connections with scientists in Indonesia?

Didactics

On 11 March, pharmaceutical company Janssen received approval to launch its corona vaccine on the European market. This made Janssen the fourth company to be given the green light by the European Medicines Agency. As Lead of the Janssen Campus in the Netherlands, Biology alumnus Bart van Zijll Langhout…

A new class of polymers has been used in patients for the first time. The compound is the first new drug solubilising agent in decades. Introduced in 2014 by chemist Matthias Barz from Leiden University, it offers a unique alternative to current options.

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…

The LUMC has become the first institution in the Netherlands to treat a patient with an autoimmune disease using CAR T-cell therapy.

An impressive 12 researchers from Leiden University have been awarded an 800,000-euro grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). This will enable them to develop their own line of research over the next five years.

Five consortia within the Perspectief programme that include Leiden researchers have received funding to start their research projects. These projects focus on (further) developing technological innovations, with societal and economic impact at their core.

Webinar with Q&A

Adam Cohen in Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and was until 2018 CEO of the Foundation Centre for Human Drug Research (www.chdr.nl). CHDR is a leading institute involved in early drug research in collaboration with LUMC and Leiden University. He is a physician at the department of Nephrology of L…

Matthias van Osch is professor in Radiology, experimental cerebrovascular imaging and he is vice-director of the C.J. Gorter Center for high field MRI. in 2016 he was awarded with the innovational research incentives scheme VICI “Breaking through spatial, temporal and physiological boundaries in brain…

Olaf Dekkers is professor internal medicine, chair of the scientific board internal medicine at LUMC and visiting professor at the department clinical epidemiology in Aarhus, Denmark.

• Professor in statistical methods for observational (clinical) epidemiological research • Member of the Dutch Health Council

Gerhard Burger (M.Sc.) is a PhD student at the Division of Drug Discovery & Safety

Rudolf W. Poolman is professor of orthopaedic surgery by special appointment in Healthcare Evaluation in the LUMC and OLVG Amsterdam.

Ferry A. Ossendorp is Professor Molecular Vaccin Biology and head of the Tumor Immunology group in the department Immunology of the Leiden University Medical Centre. He is also member of the Scientific Board of the Dutch Cancer Society KWF.

For her research into complex family problems, an assistant professor in Forensic Family and Youth Care Studies Sabine van der Asdonk has won the Gratama Science Prize 2021, a prize for talented young researchers from the universities of Leiden and Groningen. The jury praised Van der Asdonk’s excellent…

Packages of DNA strands containing silver, measuring just two or three nanometres in size. Leiden physicists Donny de Bruin and Dirk Bouwmeester create these packages, which can enter living cells on their own. They then activate the silver with light, causing the cells to break down. This could, in…

Sander van Kasteren only noticed some small, subtle changes since he was appointed professor on 1 May. Still, he has to get used to the idea, even though he had been working towards the professorship for a few years. ‘I don't quite see myself as a professor yet.'

Chemist Tobias Bauer discovered ways to improve drugs by encapsulating them. Packages with iron nanoparticles, for example, can stimulate immune cells. Bauer will receive his PhD on 9 June.

Before researchers can develop targeted drugs, they need to know exactly how a disease works. Biochemist Bert Beerkens created molecules that allow them to find out. He used caffeine as the basis for new molecules that enable research into certain receptor proteins on cells.

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…

Should criminal law have a greater role in protecting this democracy? In his inaugural lecture, Professor Jeroen ten Voorde urges caution.

About one and a half million people worldwide die each year from tuberculosis. For thirty years, therapy with antibiotics has been the same, while it takes far too long and can lead to resistant pathogens. Leiden researchers from four institutes are now joining forces to develop more effective and efficient…

How do you engage students? Sander van Kasteren knows how to do that like no other. ‘He compares immune cells to Pokémon and doesn’t just give information; he tells stories,’ students say about their favourite lecturer, Sander van Kasteren. The Professor of Molecular Immunology passionately teaches…

Researchers at Leiden University have created a unique model that mimics how disease develops after a dengue infection. This 'dengue-on-a-chip' model helps them study the virus more effectively. The timing is crucial, as climate change is causing dengue to spread worldwide.

Three fundamental research projects at Leiden in physics, chemistry and medical science have received funding from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). They involve research on magnetic fields in the universe, the role of myeloid cells in cancer immunotherapy and the evolution of ancient proteins.

Transferring poo from healthy donors to the intestines of chronically ill people has beneficial effects on these recipients’ gut bacteria, also in the longer term. This is the conclusion of research by the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and the Netherlands Donor Feces Bank (NDFB).