The goal of hit and lead optimization is to optimize suitable chemical starting points that can modulate a drug target. The methods and technologies used are similar to those in Hit Discovery, but once the compound has shown activity in an animal model, it moves from 'hit' to 'lead.'

Chemotherapy, but without hair loss or extreme fatigue. It may be possible if the toxic drug only becomes active where it is ‘switched on’ by light. Matthijs Hakkennes has helped bring that idea closer to reality and obtained his PhD cum laude. ‘I received many thank-you emails from China and Bangla…

The Botany Laboratory is part of the Faculty of Archaeology, University of Leiden. Under the supervision of Dr Mike Field, research is carried out here on archaeo- and palaeo-botanical material including seeds and fruits, pollen and spores, and wood.

To truly understand complex regions such as the Middle East and Asia, you have to know their culture, history and local societies inside out. Driven by curiosity for other cultures, the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies (LIAS) provides an understanding and analysis of current and historical…

There are currently two projects in Coptic Studies that are supported by the NVIC. Both are directed by Dr. Karel Innemee and both take place in the Wadi Natrun.

As part of your application procedure for the bachelor’s programme Archaeology, you are asked to complete an Online Matching module. By watching a number of video lectures and answering questions about them, you will discover whether the programme fits your expectations. You will also answer a number…

Inspiring and relaxed – these are qualities that describe the Netherlands perfectly. At the same time, there is much more to say about the country. For instance, according to the 2018 UN Human Development Index, the Netherlands is ranked tenth among the best countries to live in.

IIAS promotes critical, humanistic, and collaborative work on, with, in, and beyond Asia.

The tree-year bachelor's programme in Archaeology is a many-sided programme in which you study societies, cultures, and human behaviour from the past, aiming to reconstruct and revive them. Dive into the development of human societies all over the world, from the Netherlands to the Mediterranean, and…

On Wednesday 11 June 2025 Steffie van Gompel successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

The ARTIVES project studies imaginaries of diversity portrayed by artists in Lisbon and Rotterdam in their films, performances and (oral) literature with the aim to explore their transgressive potential of opening up possibilities of thinking differently about migration-related diversity. Their stories…

The Life in Custody (LIC) Study comprises a large-scale research project into prison climate and the quality of prison life in Dutch prisons.

Shiʿi Islam

In the last decade, the redox interconversion between metal thiolate and disulfide compounds has been extensively investigated for copper, but not for other transition metal ions.

On 11 November 2021, Evelien Campfens defended the thesis 'Cross-border Claims to Cultural Objects'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. N.J. Schrijver and Prof. W.J. Veraart (VU Amsterdam).

Promotor: A.P. IJzerman

The Sport Data Center (SDC) consists of the data science disciplines of Leiden University and Technical University Delft, combined with the sport science branches of the Amsterdam Institute for Sport Science and the Sport Engineering Institute of the Technical University of Delft.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading global cause of mortality. Endothelial dysfunction, an early reversible stage of CVD development, is marked by decreased nitric oxide production linked to Ca2+ influx in endothelial cells.

Scientific integrity is an essential element in the PhD trajectory and is addressed in several different settings.

Promotoren: G.F.A. Kersten, W. Jiskoot, Co-promotor: J-P. Amorij

Source: J Med Chem (2015)

Kohei Suzuki is Assistant Professor at Institute of Public Administration. This study carries several important implications for understanding the policy impacts of a graying population and for studies of the welfare state, in general.

Promotor: G.P. van Wezel

In this article, Gerrit Dijkstra and Jos Raadschelders from the Institute of Public Administration, argue that Bosnia-Herzegovina survives so far on the basis of negative legitimacy.

The research program of the QO group has three leading themes: Optical Physics, Quantum Optics, and Photon-Matter Interactions. We work mostly at the boundaries between these themes with entanglement as a bridging and binding agent.

The thesis describes the use of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy, in continuous wave and pulse modes, to address the interaction of α-Synuclein (αS) with membranes and the aggregation of αS.

This thesis focuses on enhancing predictions of central nervous system drug exposure using the LeiCNS-PK3.0, a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model.

The plant hormone auxin regulates plant growth and development through polar cell-to-cell transport-generated maxima and minima. PIN FORMED (PIN) auxin efflux carriers determine the direction of this auxin flow through their asymmetric placement on the plasma membrane (PM).

Polymyxins are clinically used antibiotics, discovered in mid-20th century. Once abandoned due to excessive nephrotoxicity, they are now used increasingly to address infections caused by multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria.In this thesis, we describe the development and synthesis of analogues…

Promotor: M. Danhof Co-promotor: O.E. Della Pasqua

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

The aim of the research presented in this thesis was to develop new methods forchallenging systems in liquid-state NMR using paramagnetic effects generated by thetwo-armed probe CLaNP-5.

On 11 February 2020, Clara van Dam defended her thesis 'Guidance documents of the European Commission in the Dutch legal order'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. W. den Ouden and Prof. J.E. van den Brink (UvA).

Promotor: Prof.dr. M. Ubbink

Supervisor: Gerard van Westen

Despite the history of studies on methanol formation from CO2, the dominant elementary reaction steps that constitute the chemical mechanism for this catalyzed process are not determined.

Source: Eur J Med Chem, Volume 101, pp. 681-91 (2015)

Promotores: Prof.dr. W.J.G.M. Peijnenburg & Dr. M.G. Vijver

The objective of this study was to investigate the expression and function of GRHL2 in different breast cancer subtypes.

There is concern about the threat that nanoplastics (NPs) may pose to both wildlife and humans. This thesis explores the mechanisms of toxicity of polystyrene nanoparticles (PS-NPs) in chicken embryo.

FitDis! is designed to ease the determination of binding energy and oligomeric state of coiled coil peptides. It allows direct fitting of concentration dependent thermal peptide unfolding curves measured for instance by CD–spectroscopy.

Pseudomonas Aeruginosa is a Gram-negative bacterium which can form biofilms, increasing its resistance against antibiotics and the host immune system. Polysaccharides are an integral part of this biofilm, one of these polysaccharides is called Psl. PslG is a glycosidase, able to cleave this polysaccharide,…

Due to their central physiological roles in living organisms, retaining beta-glycosidases have been the subject of tremendous research efforts to examine their structure/function relation using numerous biophysical and biochemical approaches.