This doctoral thesis is an effort to understand how lipid phase-separation induced by diacylglycerol analogues in lipid-based nanoparticles affects their in vivo behavior, leading to specific nanoparticle-protein communications and selective cell targeting.

There is an urgent need for more physiologically relevant cell culture methods to guide compound selection in pre-clinical stages of the drug development pipeline.

In condensed matter systems electron-electron interactions, negligible in everyday metals, can dramatically alter the electronic behavior of the system. Examples of such altered behavior include high-temperature superconductivity and modulation of the electron density.

This thesis comprises the development of reproducible synthesis procedures for two-dimensional materials (composed of boron, nitrogen and carbon) on different metallic surfaces.

In this thesis, bioorthogonal chemistry is combined with correlative light-electron microscopy to selectively label and study pathogenic intracellular bacteria within the host immune cell.

Materials with strongly correlated electrons show some of the most mysterious and exotic phases of quantum matter, such as unconventional superconductivity, quantum criticality and strange metal phase.

Bacteria have the ability to alter their morphology in order to adapt to changing environments.

Bacterial chemosensory arrays are protein assemblies that are the key structural and functional component for motile bacteria to sense their internal or environmental chemical signals.

This thesis focuses on using liposomes in two different treatment strategies; vaccination (or immunotherapy) and delivery of a small molecule, and in two different disease models; cancer and atherosclerosis.

Promotor: Prof.dr. J.W.M. Frenken

The research in this thesis is focused on tomographic reconstruction based on two imaging modalities in electron microscopy.

With the powerful electron microscopes at NeCEN we study abnormalities in cells of blood vessels in cardiovascular disease, the interaction between pathogens and hosts in infectious diseases, molecular processes that cause cancer and the interaction between drugs and target proteins. Drug development…

Physicist Daniël Geelen has developed a new microscope that uses low-energy electrons. Those are less harmful to biological and organic materials. Geelen defends his PhD thesis on May 31st.

Promotor: J.W.M. Frenken

Promotor: J.P. Abrahams, Co-promotor: T. Grüne

This thesis describes a study from both a theoreticaL and an experimental point of view.

There are several training oportunities within the cell observatory

During post-embryonic development into adults, animals face an environment that fluctuates constantly. For example, in nutrient availability, temperature, and osmolarity (e.g., salt concentration).

Research groups in the Biological & Soft Matter Programme unravel mechanisms in biological processes and develop novel bio-inspired soft materials.

The CMCB brings together a diverse range of unique expertise in microbial cell biology. Members of the CMCB investigate both model and non-model organisms, bacteria and archaea, pathogens and non-pathogens.

The CIGR brings together a diverse range of unique expertise in genome research rooted in biology, chemistry and physics. Members of the CIGR investigate genome folding and genome transactions. An important aspect is direct as well as long term relevance for medicine. The available expertise extends…

NL-BioImaging AM is a distributed research infrastructure aimed at promoting progress in the most cutting edge microscopy technologies and providing open access to these technologies to a broad community of academic and industrial users. All Netherlands bio(medical) microscopy centers participate.

To understand how the brain works, it is essential to map it out in detail. This appears to be possible with a microscopy technique in which Leiden physicists excel. This breakthrough could significantly advance the human quest to understand brain functions.

This thesis describes the synthesis, analysis of various tetrazine bearing compounds and use in bioorthogonal chemistry.

In this Ph.D. thesis we study the interaction of low energy electrons with thin materials, namely layered materials (graphene, hexagonal boron nitride, molybdenum disulfide) and organic films. At these low energies the quantum mechanical wavelength of the electron wave function is in the order of a…

The work in this thesis demonstrates how to obtain an atomic-scale picture of a diverse set of complex surface structures observed using STM, under disparate conditions.

On this page you can find the current vacancies at the Van der Molen research group.

In most applications, electrocatalysts exhibit a large surface area to volume ratio, for example using nanoparticles.

Our research in the area of safety sciences aims to increase the mechanistic understanding of cellular toxicity of drugs and, in a broader sense, chemicals.

STM scanning experiments on poorly conducting materials are challenging, and can cause a distortion effect. A new model corrects for this effect, allowing physicists to better study materials in their quest to understand unconventional superconductivity. Publication in Physical Review B as Editor’s…

Lecture

PhD defence

The logo of Leiden University, with letters as small as a bacterium. Researchers from LUMC and the Institute of Biology have created the smallest logo of our university ever produced. It is a piece of fun with a serious real-world application: the new microscope with which the logo was made allows scientists…

Hydrogen fuel cells are expected to be pivotal in the energetic transition towards renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. However, their industrial scalability is severely hindered by the high cost and degradation rate of platinum catalysts, one of their key components. Addressing this…

The use of a new type of detector has generated a strong improvement in the resolution of electron microscopes. The 'low-energy electron microscope' (LEEM) can now be used for research on the thinnest possible materials. The tests with the detector represent the first result of the ESCHER project.

The nanoscale structure of a catalyst under reaction conditions determines its activity, selectivity, and stability. For the production of sustainable energy and materials, new catalysts are needed. By understanding the structure-activity relationships of catalysts under reaction conditions, insight…

By detecting the tiny forces between a micrometer sized magnet and the spins of hydrogen nuclei, we can do MRI with a volume resolution that is approximately 12 orders of magnitude better than a conventional MRI.  

Human and animal cells are very complex: very different chemical processes are going on at the same time, but they are separated from each other because the cells are divided in compartments. These compartments may also have a profound effect on the potential efficacy of therapeutics, because the drug…

PURPOSE: In the present study we investigated the root-cause of an interference signal (100-200 nm) of sugar-containing solutions in dynamic light scattering (DLS) and nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA) and its consequences for the analysis of particles in biopharmaceutical drug products.

Archaeometric analysis of glazed pottery assemblages from the Early Byzantine to the Early Modern periods in the Aegean.

In this work, we investigate the minute circular dichroism effects of single nanoparticles.To this aim, we apply photothermal imaging with a polarization-modulated heating beam.

For each living organism health is ensured by correct functioning of its cells. Cells therefore have elaborate methods for regulation of their proteins.

In our lab, we investigate the physics and material properties of low-dimensional systems.