This thesis focuses on the application of lipid-based nanomedicine in drug delivery, including small molecular antitumor drugs and biomacromolecules including mRNA, and evaluates their biological performance.

Researchers from Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) have discovered how specialised immune cells can detect and remove cancers that are ‘invisible’ to the conventional defence mechanisms of the immune system. Their work has been published in Nature. The findings…

The advanced insights obtained for the CNS PBPK model development are currently used to develop advanced mathematical models for drug distribution prediction in other body tissues protected by barriers, such as the gut. The gut PBPK model will be linked to drug effects for treatment of colon cancer.

Leiden biophysicist Stefano Coppola has received the prestigious AXA Research Fund postdoctoral fellowship. With this grant he can work for two years on a project to research the role of mechanical factors in the development of pancreatic cancer.

Promotor: M. Ubbink, Co-promotor: G. Siegal

Promotor: A. Kros

The Netherlands X-omics Initiative is a new facility as part of the National Roadmap for Large-Scale Research Infrastructures. It is partly funded by NWO with a total budget of 40 million euro. The project started on September 2018 and will last for ten years.

Uncover novel antimicrobials with prospective health benefits for sea turtles.

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…

Promotor: Prof.dr. R. Verpoorte, , Co-Promotor: Young Hae Choi

Roll your sustainable sleeves! Our students and staff have found various ways to do just that, both at home and at our university.

CWTS is involved in a number of international partnerships and initiatives.

In the search for new medicines against diseases such as cancer, a Leiden team has developed a new workflow. This approach combines artificial intelligence (AI) with molecular modelling and is suitable for finding unknown and innovative drug structures, the researchers proved.

Researchers at Leiden University have mapped genes that cause breast cancer cells to migrate. The Leiden toxicologists Professor Bob van de Water, Dr Wies van Roosmalen, Dr Sylvia E. Le Dévédec and colleagues studied 1500 individual genes. They found eight, including the SRPK1 gene, that regulate the…

Solute carrier (SLC) transporters are a large and diverse class of relatively understudied transmembrane proteins.

Ariane Briegel wants to use bacteria to detect cancer at an early stage. Together with postdoc Alise Muok, she is developing a method to quickly and cheaply test the urine of patients for the presence of suspicious molecules. They receive a grant of approximately 150,000 euros from the Dutch Cancer…

The research conducted at the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research is clustered within the divisions of BioTherapeutics, Cell Systems and Drug Safety, Medicinal Chemistry and Systems Pharmacology and Pharmacy, and the Metabolomics and Analytics Centre.

Clinical development of drugs for central nervous system (CNS) disorders has been particularly challenging and still suffers from high attrition rates.

The cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2R) is associated with several inflammatory diseases with an unmet medical need (e.g. Alzheimers, multiple sclerosis, reumatoid arthritis). Development of new chemical biology strategies to study this protein is essential to aid future development of drugs for these…

Providing each cancer patient with the right treatment remains a challenge. Oncode Accelerator aims to change this by innovating the way we develop cancer treatments, thus ensuring the patient is at the heart of the process. Leiden University, the LUMC and other partners will implement this new way…

In this thesis, the discovery and optimization is described of chemical tools to study the N-acylethanolamine (NAE) biosynthetic pathway.

Promotores: Prof.dr. H. S. Overkleeft, Prof.dr. G. A. van der Marel

The aim of this thesis is to expedite and ensure the systematic accuracy of clearance scaling from adults to paediatric patients, with a special focus on drugs undergoing hepatic metabolism.

In this article, Marieke Liem and Kim Moeller revisit Goldstein’s framework on the drugs-violence nexus

With a Vici grant of 1.5 million euros, Professor of Mathematical biology Roeland Merks will look for ways to fix messy and leaky blood vessels in tumours. His research combines mathematical simulations and lab experiments in a unique way.

Leiden chemists have developed a new technique with which they can determine the role of kinases – a group of proteins – in a living cell. This technique makes it easier to find new drug targets for diseases such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. The team published the findings in the journal Nature…

This project’s aim is to critically assess current homicide data sources in order to develop a proposal for long-term EU-level monitoring of DRH.

Promotor: G.P. van Wezel, Co-promotor: Y.H. Choi

Leiden researchers have carried out successful tests using a new method of packaging a cancer vaccine in nano-particles. The new vaccine has induced a strong immune reaction in mice. The researchers believe that this method can make an important contribution to the treatment of cancer. Their findings…

Pathways of toxicity

The Central Asia Initiative is funded by the Leiden research profile area Asian Modernities and Traditions with the purpose to establish Central Asian Studies at Leiden University.

Patients share valuable advice and experiences with their peers in online patient discussion groups.

From descriptive to physiological models that can predict oral absorption and elimination of CYP3A substrates across the pediatric age range.

Promotores: C.A.J. Knibbe; J.N. van den Anker, Co-promotores: H.P.A. van Dongen; B. van Ramshorst

The Novel chemical modalities research group is headed by Assistant Professor Sebastian Pomplun. Sebastian started at the division of Medicinal Chemistry within the LACDR in September 2021. His lab develops technologies for the discovery of novel chemical modalities that can address challenging drug…

In this research group, headed by Laura Heitman, novel receptor concepts in drug discovery are studied, aiming to increase the effectivity of medicines. Many drugs act via so-called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and therefore our research is mainly focused on understanding and improving drug-receptor…

How can we translate more fundamental discoveries into clinical solutions for patients? From that question, the Oncode Accelerator programme emerged. Professor of Molecular Physiology Mario van der Stelt has been one of the driving forces behind it since its inception. In an interview on the website…

Steffen Brünle's group investigates G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). These essential membrane proteins are prime targets for therapeutic drug development in disease and cancer treatment.

The goal of the research presented in this thesis was to explore the chemical space of ruthenium(II) photocages, investigate their ability to host potent chemotherapy drugs, and to red shift the activation wavelength of the most promising PACT candidates to conduct biological studies.

Growth hormone profiles are pulsatile and highly variable between individuals, limiting the implementation of mathemathical models to quantify an individual's secretion.

A therapeutic vaccine against HPV-16 (type 16 human papillomavirus) improves the survival rate in cervical cancer patients. A new study by ISA Pharmaceuticals B.V. (a Leiden-based biotechnology company) and the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) shows that this vaccine produces a more robust response…

How to get involved in sustainability? Read more about four projects that Leiden University helped realise in the past few years.

Conference

Chemist Gerjan de Bruin has designed a method of slowing down the degradation process of proteins in cells. This may contribute to new cancer medicines with fewer side-effects. PhD defence on 1 June.

The mission in this division, headed by Laura Heitman, is to design and synthesize novel and better ligands for drug targets. Drug discovery is a lengthy but inspiring adventure. It is often an interplay between academic institutes and pharmaceutical industry, in which scientists at university develop…

An interdisciplinary and innovative research group combining History, underwater archaeology, GIS and wood provenancing methods.

Promotor: Prof.dr. T. Hankemeier, Co-promotor: R.J. Vreeken