This project explores the decline of shifting cultivation in Northeast India. What is the impact on society of people’s deepening engagement with markets and the state?

Living systems scale from unicellular microbes to complex multispecies communities that constantly change over time. Within the theme Development & Disease, we enhance our fundamental understanding of development and homeostasis of living cells and systems. We analyze the normal situation and how stresses…

The mission of the Plant Sciences cluster is to contribute to the sustainable production of high-quality crops, flowers and high-value bio-based products, and to contribute to the maintenance and restoration of biodiversity in natural ecosystems. This is realised by generating fundamental knowledge…

best phd theses of the faculty of science Leiden - physics, chemistry, computer science, biopharmaceutical sciences, biology, industrial ecology, environmental sciences, astronomy, mathematics. thesis

Various companies in the plant biotech industry will test a recent Leiden discovery in their crops. The ‘Pol Theta’ technology is developed in Leiden and makes it possible to reduce undesired side effects during genome engineering of plants.

Through our research, we aim to enhance both scholarly understanding and practical knowledge in sustainability governance, while making meaningful contributions to the public debates on these critical issues. To achieve this goal, we embrace diversity in our research topics, methodological approaches,…

Increasing the efficiency of gene targeting (GT) as a genome editing tool in plants has been an important goal in plant biotechnology.

Striga hermonthica, commonly known as witchweed, infests major cereal crops in Sub-Saharan Africa causing severe yield losses and threatening the livelihood of millions of resource poor farmers.

Farming practices, food production, and the agricultural potential of the Late Bronze Age (1600-1200 BCE) Argive Plain, Greece

Microbiome composition of the spermosphere and the rhizosphere of wild and modern bean accessions grown in an agricultural and a native soil from Colombia was characterized by metagenomics and cultivation-dependent approaches.

In this article, published in Brill’s Encyclopedia of the Religions of the Indigenous People of South Asia Online, Erik de Maaker posed three questions. How can the persistence of the community religion, albeit marginalized, be explained? What role is left for the practices, objects, and beliefs associated…

Promotor: P.J.J. Hooykaas, Co-Promotores: P.B.F. Ouwerkerk, M. Wang

Plant-microbe interaction resulted in different physio/chemical responses by host plant and interacting rhizobacteria.

Corrie Bakels & Hans Kamermans (eds) (2009)

Mission: The Environmental Biology department aims to increase the scientific understanding of how current and emerging anthropogenic threats affect biodiversity and ecosystem services. Through this understanding they facilitate strategic management of natural resources by addressing urgent challenges…

Irna Hofman defended her thesis on 10 January 2019.

Promotor: P.J.J. Hooykaas, Co-Promotor: E.J. van der Zaal

The book ‘Pesticides and the Environment’ gives a transparent overview of facts and figures concerning pesticide use in the Netherlands and the impact of pesticides on the environment.

Which plants in the Mediterranean garden were already known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, and how were they utilized?

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.

Dr. at the Department of organic chemistry, Wageningen University - the Nederlands

Promotor: Prof.dr. G.R. de Snoo, Prof.dr. G.A. Persoon

This is a joint PhD of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Leiden University and the Evolutionary Ecology Group at Antwerp University.

This thesis explores how bees and hoverflies are distributed across the Dutch landscape and how ecological and landscape factors shape their occurrence.

The thesis is about how auxin and AGC kinases regulate male fertility. The main AGC kinases studied in this thesis is PDK1, PDK2 and AGC1.5, AGC1.7.

PhD defence

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (AMT) has abundantly been used for scientific research for identifying valuable traits.

A neolithic settlement on the Dutch North Sea coast c. 3500 CAL BC.

Promotores: Prof.dr. T.H.W. Bäck, Prof.dr. M. Bongards (Cologne University)

Material Culture, Settlements, and Landscapes from the Mediterranean to Western Asia

Promotor: G.R. de Snoo, W. Kustiawan, Co-promotor: H.H. de Iongh

Why do plants produces always produced so many slightly differing metabolites within a particular chemical class?

In recent decades, climate change has led to more frequent and severe drought events, causing serious consequences such as increased forest mortality and significant crop yield losses. Understanding how drought affects plants, especially economically important herbaceous species, is crucial for predicting…

Making an impact by creating solutions for the challenges of the future. That’s what we do through our education and research in biodiversity and sustainability, artificial intelligence, complex networks, new medicines, quantum technology, and galaxies.

In the master’s specialisation Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology at Leiden University students are trained by experts in the areas of molecular biology, microbiology, plant genetics, cellular imaging, animal disease models, and various –omics technologies and the corresponding bioinformatics.

In this project, we will study the genetic and environmental drivers of woodiness and stem lignification at the level of plant‐to‐gene‐to‐molecule.

We depend on nature for so many things: from clean water, wood and food to carbon absorption, water purification and coastal protection, as well as for relaxation, inspiration and identity. Nevertheless, our modern world putting increasing pressure on these ecosystem services. Leiden researchers investigate…

Research how ‘custom’, ‘traditions’ and ‘heritages’ take on new meanings in the uplands of South and (mainland) Southeast Asia.

We investigate water quality and want to understand the effects of human interference on aquatic biodiversity.

For a first time the atlas maps the soil biodiversity of the entire planet, and provide s comprehensive analysis of human-induced threats to soil organisms and soil functioning, facilitating development of new policies to protect soil and soil organisms.

How do plants lure microscopically small 'support teams' into their roots for protection against diseases? And what functions are activated in the microbes and the plants?

We investigate the processes underlying the patterns. We aim to explain biodiversity by investigating the distribution, function, development, and evolution of body forms, as well as physiological and behavioural variety among species. We collaborate with those specialized in describing, archiving,…

Kirsten Leiss, at the IBL since 2001, is developing new ways of crop protection in order to decrease the use of pesticides: As a model she uses the thrip, a tiny insect which causes economic losses worldwide by silver- and growth damage and virus transmission to vegetables, fruits and flowers.

How does the soil we grow our vegetables in, affects the health of our gut? And does a healthy soil gives crops a better quality and taste? These are some of the questions Soil ecologist Emilia Hannula and a big consortium will work on. With an NWO-KIC grant of 1.8 million, CML, IBL, FGGA, the LUMC,…

Smallholder farms in tropical regions can double their crop production by 2030 compared to 2015, a study finds to which José Mogollón (Institute of Environmental Sciences) contributed. But to achieve this, the farmers must increase the input of phosphorus beyond what is currently foreseen. The study…

Two Leiden research projects that focus on increasing the biodiversity of Dutch production systems for food and ornamental horticulture have started thanks to funding from the Dutch Research Council's KIC research programme.