Since its discovery thirty years ago, it remained a mystery: how does the body’s own marijuana move between nerve cells in the brain? Mario van der Stelt and his research group have now uncovered the answer. This insight could aid the development of new treatments for pain and neurological disorders…

Four researchers from Leiden University have been awarded NWO Open Competition grants in the Science domain. This is for research into subjects such as immune cells in tumours, antibiotic resistance and magnetic semiconductors.

Sebastian Pomplun receives an ERC starting grant of 1.85 million Euros in five years. He wants to develop synthetic transcription factors that can enter cells and activate or deactivate specific genes. For example to disrupt cancer-related processes or to trigger the production of an important missing…

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…

‘’ And then the world changed forever ,welcome to the future’’. These are the words that Kausik Ray (President of the European Atherosclerosis Society) spoke when the worldwide first dose of inclisiran, a novel SiRNA based cholesterol lowering agent, was administered at the Cardiology lipid clinic at…

How has evolution shaped our curiosity? And how does that curiosity ensure that we now have the technological ability to discover whether we are alone in the universe? This was all covered during the celebration of Leiden University’s 449th Dies Natalis.

More than a course. That was the aim of the Leiden Tutoring programme. Through weekly tutoring lessons, students did not just earn five EC. They helped Dutch primary-school children from neighbourhoods with a low socioeconomic status.

A European team of astronomers has discovered the largest stellar black hole in the Milky Way. It is more than thirty times as massive as our sun and is located in the constellation of Aquila, about two thousand light-years from Earth. The astronomers stumbled upon the black hole by chance while preparing…

In a new piece for The Conversation UK, Michiel van Elk examines whether mystical experiences are essential to psychedelic therapy. 'If the field is to mature, it may need to move beyond the assumption that transcendence is the secret ingredient.'

During the 6th edition of the Graz Expert Meeting on Single-cell sequencing technologies in the cardiovascular field, held on September 15 and 16 in Graz, Austria, Jill de Mol from the group of Dr. Amanda Foks from the Division of BioTherapeutics received the award for best poster presentation.

How do organs work in the body, and how can we create mini-organs to study diseases and test new medicines? That’s the idea behind organ-on-a-chip technology. During his PhD, Flavio Bonanini worked on developing the best possible mini-livers. ‘Make them as simple as possible, and as complex as neede…

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.

Modified viruses can both kill cancer cells and activate the immune system. This is what an LUMC team discovered while researching a new prostate cancer therapy.

Leiden researchers, Professor Remko Offringa and co-applicants Salma Balazadeh and Frederic Lens received an NWO-XL grant (2.5 million euros). Together with researchers in Wageningen and Groningen, they will study the genetic and environmental drivers of woodiness. From plant to molecule, the groups…

This March, Jara Bouma, Cas van der Horst and Laura Heitman from the Division of Drug Discovery and Safety and Laura de Paus, Richard van den Berg, Anthe Janssen and Mario van der Stelt from the LIC joined forces to determine how some drugs can specifically target the cannabinoid CB2 receptor (CB2R)…

The winner of the 2022 Spring edition of the NWO Venture Challenge was announced during the Dutch Biotech Event. The innovative startup Iprotics has developed specific proteasome inhibitors that potentially treat multiple myeloma (MM) without the side-effects known from traditional proteasome inhibi…

The risk of a brain tumour recurring can be predicted more accurately by counting the number of immune cells in the tumour under a microscope. These are the findings from research conducted by LUMC, Erasmus MC and Heidelberg University.

Ten Leiden researchers have been awarded a Veni grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The grant, of up to 280,000 euros, will enable them to elaborate their ideas over a period of three years.

Rather than one key and one strong lock, biology often uses tens or hundreds of weaker links to bind parts together, such as cells membranes. This allows for selectivity and also reversibility: the binding can also be undone. Researchers first caught this phenomenon using spheres or colloids, and published…

To inhibit proteins that contribute to the growth of aggressive cancer cells, that’s the plan of Professor Bob van de Water and his team. They will receive over 700,000 euros from the KWF Dutch Cancer Society for their research. Researcher Maaike Vreeswijk and pathologist Danielle Cohen are affiliated…

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.'

Three researchers from Leiden University have been awarded a Starting Grant by the European Research Council. The subsidy will allow the researchers to set up their own projects and put together a research team.

With the aid of physics and a minuscule magnet, researchers have discovered a new structure of telomeric DNA. Telomeres are sometimes seen as the key to living longer. They protect genes from damage but get a bit shorter each time a cell divides. If they become too short, the cell dies. The new discovery…

Mini organs-on-chips allow us to study how diseases develop and how drugs work. Although the technology is not new, it is becoming increasingly advanced. PhD candidate Bart Kramer hopes it will eliminate animal testing in the future.

During the 2024 Frontiers in CardioVascular Biomedicine (FCVB) conference, which was held from April 12-14 in Amsterdam, Esmeralda Hemme from the BioTherapeutics division received the award for best moderated poster.

During the 36th Scientific CardioVascular Congress, which was held last November in Amsterdam, Marie Depuydt from the BioTherapeutics division received the 2nd prize in the WCN research competition for her work (Vereniging Werkgroep Cardiologische centra Nederland (WCN)).

A new LUMC study has changed our understanding of how cells work. Researchers have discovered that the CFAP20 protein acts as a kind of ‘traffic controller’ on DNA. Without this protein, chaos ensues, potentially causing cancer. Their findings have been published in the prestigious journal Nature.

Nathaniel Martin, Professor of Biological chemistry, wondered what would happen if you take an antibiotic that has been known for 70 years and try to improve it with the latest tools of modern chemistry. Turns out it can become up to a hundred times more potent and prevent the growth of some drug-resistant…

A new treatment for atherosclerosis showed promising results in isolated cells but proved to be less effective in initial animal tests. Bachelor student Biopharmaceutical Sciences Willemijn van der Heijden aimed to understand why. She investigated whether the formation of a protein layer around the…

Biophysicist Alireza Mashaghi and his collaborators are taking up the fight against muscular dystrophy: genetic disorders that cause muscle weakness. They want to inhibit the clumping of proteins that results in toxic aggregates. For this, the team receives 550,000 euros from Health Holland. The team…

Fungi germinating in the lungs of patients. Doesn’t sound too nice, does it? Luckily, humans can deal with this normally, and we are able to clear the infection before anything comes to harm. However, in people with health issues, Aspergillosis can cause a lot of damage, especially if the fungus becomes…

How do you know if a drug will actually work? The Leiden-based spin-off Omivera is developing a new technology that could provide clearer answers. The young company received a seed investment from the investment fund UNIIQ to support its development.

One in two people will be diagnosed with cancer. World Cancer Day on 4 February raises awareness of the impact of this devastating disease. Leiden University is conducting various studies aimed at preventing and controlling cancer. Below are just a few examples.

PhD defence

Some bacteria, it turns out, have proteins much like ours that organise the DNA in their cells. They just do it a bit differently. This is revealed by new research from biochemists at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry and the Max Planck Institute for Biology. The discovery helps us better understand…

A cancer pill, preferably without severe side effects, is something we’d all welcome. Is it a matter of time before such a pill is a reality? We put this question to three Leiden researchers and asked how they themselves are contributing to new cancer treatments.

Recently, Bram Slütter, Amanda Foks and Ilze Bot all individually obtained an ERA4Health research grant from the CARDINNOV 2023 program. In this program, which is co-funded by the EU and in the Netherlands by ZonMW, 17 consortia consisting of 3-5 European academic partners were selected for funding…

Leila Akkari was appointed Special Professor of Cancer-immune interactions at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC) on 15 December. Akkari is a researcher at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI), where she studies the relationship between cancer cells and the immune system, with a particular focus…

On November 25th, BPS students Bart van Lieshout (right) and Scott Engels (left) received Dr. Saal van Zwanenberg Research Prizes from the KHMW. This annual prize is awarded to students who have written a master's thesis in the pharmaceutical and medical sciences field.

The transcription factor MYC is a master regulator implicated in the majority of human cancers. Despite its central role, MYC has long been considered "undruggable" by small molecules, lacking binding pockets and featuring disordered regions. While larger biomolecules could potentially disrupt MYC function,…

Human cells are protecting their proteins from unfolding and aggregating. That's what biophysicist Alireza Mashaghi and his team discovered after seven years of in-depth research into the folding mechanisms of proteins. With an unprecedented approach, the team was able to study the folding of a single…

A breakthrough from the PhD research of medical chemist Elmer Maurits may help patients with autoimmune diseases and blood cancer in the future. But bringing a discovery from the lab to the clinic is not so easily done. Thanks to NWO's Venture Challenge, Maurits and his team will receive ten weeks of…

On Tuesday evening 22 August, our very dear colleague Jo Hermans passed away. Jo had been ill for some time, but continued to enjoy life in good spirits until the very end. He meant a great deal to Leiden University and will be remembered with fond memories by many.

From academic freedom to security and medical breakthroughs: during Leiden University’s 451st Dies Natalis, the speakers reflected on the role of universities in a world of social and geopolitical tensions.

When internist Christian Blank made his very first discovery, his field of immunotherapy was the underdog of cancer research. Now, over 20 years later, Blank has been appointed Professor By Special Appointment of Internal Medicine for his clinical research into immunotherapy and will give his inaugural…

Joey Zuijdervelt

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…

‘Children’s rights are somewhat of a poor relation’, says Professor of Law and Health Mirjam Sombroek-van Doorm. In her inaugural lecture, she will emphasise how more attention needs to be paid to children’s rights in current thinking on law and health.

From global warming to the decolonisation of knowledge. At the EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) in Leiden over 500 speakers from 60 countries have come together to discuss the big themes of our times. Why have the delegates come?

A flu virus could cause a pandemic. And then we would be poorly armed because flu viruses are starting to become resistant to flu medications like Tamiflu. Chemist Merijn Vriends successfully worked on an improved version of such medications. He will be awarded his doctorate on September 12th.