About one and a half million people worldwide die each year from tuberculosis. For thirty years, therapy with antibiotics has been the same, while it takes far too long and can lead to resistant pathogens. Leiden researchers from four institutes are now joining forces to develop more effective and efficient…

On 7 October, a court in Athens, Greece, convicted leaders of the far-right Golden Dawn party as directing a criminal organization. Marina Terkourafi, professor of Sociolinguistics, discusses the landmark ruling for the Leiden International Studies Blog.

James Webb life’s building blocks

PhD defence

During the Leiden Science Family Day, you can take part in various workshops. You can also watch various demonstrations. Where will you go?

Through his project we will unravel the global regulatory networks that control gene expression in Streptomyces bacteria and allow them to properly respond to major changes in the environment; we will then harness this knowledge to activate and identify novel antibiotics

Nanoparticles exhibit a number of adjustable properties, e.g., their size, shape, and surface and core chemistry, which can be further diversified with different functional moieties. This opens a broad field for application in diagnostic and therapy. In this respect, the use of a polymeric hybrid material,…

Atherosclerosis (thickening of the artery wall) is the most common cause of heart attacks or strokes, and one of the most common causes of death in the western world. People with this condition have to take medicine all their lives, so a vaccine for atherosclerosis would be a breakthrough.

Molecular Physiology is a research group at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry dedicated to the design, synthesis and application of chemical tools to study important biological and biomedical questions. The group is headed by Prof. Dr. Mario van der Stelt and includes the research lines of Assistant…

The Delivery of Biotherapeutics research group is led by Prof. Matthias Barz and focusses on the synthesis and characterization of polypept(o)ids and their application in nanomedicine to improve existing therapies or enable novel diagnostic or therapeutic approaches.

In order to gain insight into the structure and function of the molecular complexes involved in chemotaxis, we use electron cryotomography (ECT). This technique allows us to directly study microbes in their native state at resolutions capable of visualizing individual proteins.

The central question of this Vici proposal is to investigate if, and how actinobacteria exploit life without a cell wall.

From self-driving cars to innovative drug development: artificial intelligence (AI) will fundamentally change our lives in many different ways. We study this technology at a deep and fundamental level. And we seek answers to questions about liability and privacy, for example. Our researchers from…

The Biomedical Sciences Health specialisation aims to provide you with a theoretical background and academic competences in multidisciplinary research in Biomedical Sciences and in clinical practice in Medicine. Since the programme is partly taught in English and partly in Dutch, fluency in Dutch is…

The Biomedical Sciences research specialisation aims to provide you with a theoretical background and academic competences in multidisciplinary research in Biomedical Sciences. The entire programme is taught in English.

Can drugs that target host signaling pathways be used to eradicate antibiotic-resistant bacteria?

Research at the BIOSYN group is comprised of the following research themes:

The ‘Contagious!’ exhibition was set to open at Rijksmuseum Boerhaave in April but had to be postponed because of the corona crisis. The museum hasn’t been twiddling its thumbs in the meantime. The exhibition will now open on 16 July, and the corona crisis has a major role.

The Division of Systems Pharmacology and Pharmacy (SPP) aims to develop precision medicine approaches to characterise and predict variation in treatment response and enhance translational drug development strategies.

Bioprinters that enable scientists to engineer complex tissues and organs. It sounds like science-fiction, but not for the scientists of the Alireza Mashaghi lab at the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research. The lab has recently been equipped with two state-of-the-art bioprinters: BioX and LumenX+.…

Jan Sleutels, senior university lecturer of philosophy, has been interviewed by the Leidsch Dagblad about the Leiden wall poems. Together with researcher Marina Terkourafi, he will conduct research into the 'impact' the wall poems have on Leideners.

The research programme Language Use in Past and Present brings together linguists within LUCL whose central focus is both on actual language data, including language use in earlier stages of the language, and, taking a variationist perspective, on language change in various aspects.

Mazatec chants and ancient Mesoamerican pictography

Every semester, LUCIS invites a scholar to Leiden to provide a lecture series on a topic of their choice. With these lectures, we aim to present state-of-the-art research in Islamic studies to the Leiden academic community and beyond, and to offer students and junior researchers the opportunity to get…

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.'

De Universiteit Leiden kan van start met de bouw van 300 studentenwoningen en 500 overige woningen in het Leiden Bio Science Park.

PhD defence

Macrophages – the front line of our immune system – protect us from infections. But in the case of the tuberculosis bacteria, this often goes wrong. The group of Annemarie Meijer from the Leiden Institute of Biology has now discovered that macrophages in zebrafish are better able to eliminate tuberculosis…

A job thanks to COVID—something not many people can claim. But PhD candidate Vera Arntzen can. Over the past four years, she has mapped two crucial characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Thanks to her research, experts can now make well-informed decisions on matters like quarantine duration, which…

David Versluis successfully simulated an infant gut virtually. This is crucial for research on improvements in formula milk. Currently, such research primarily relies on diaper contents, which is not optimal. Versluis defended his doctoral thesis on April 23.

Researchers in Bilthoven, The Netherlands, have recently unraveled the defense against whooping cough bacteria in unprecedented detail. The outcome of the project, conducted at Intravacc (Institute for Translational Vaccinology) in Bilthoven, provides opportunities for a new approach in the development…

Epithelial cells play a crucial role in the lungs. PhD student Ying Wang researched the effects of cigarette smoke and viruses such as COVID-19 on these epithelial cells. ‘We hope to reduce the risk of pandemics in the future.’

Thomas Hansen is the recipient of the 2020 KNCV-Backer Prize for best organic chemistry thesis in the Netherlands.

Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, may be used as an alternative treatment option when antibiotics fail. Leiden researchers have studied the structure and function of a novel bacteriophage that could be used to treat one of the WHO bacterial strains of concern where new treatments are urgently…

More and more people worldwide have infections caused by bacteria that are resistant to many types of antibiotic. Why is this and how big of a problem is it?

Supervisor: Anna Vlachodimou

Key publications of the Quantitative Pharmacology group

The Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) is committed to improving healthcare and the health of individuals. The LUMC staff put this mission into practice on a daily basis with their leading research, cutting-edge teaching and optimal, innovative healthcare.

Of the 111 Spinoza Prizes that have been awarded since 1995, 28 have gone to researchers from Leiden University.

Treatment with special stem cells seems to be a good option for suppressing the immune system in organ transplants. Researchers are trying to learn from processes that take place in the human body during pregnancy.

Bone research provides plenty of detailed data about the health of a person or a group. This data is not only used to reconstruct the past but also to fight disease today.

How do protein modifications work together to repair DNA, and what can we learn about these interactions to better understand disease?

The Biomedical Sciences Master programme in Leiden will help to deepen and broaden your understanding of human health and disease. We provide you with a challenging and flexible programme in a personalized environment.