Leiden chemists, together with colleagues at the University of York (UK) and Technion (Israel) have discovered a small, sugar-like molecule that maintains the integrity of tissue around a tumour during cancer. This molecule prevents tumour cells from spreading from the primary cancer site to colonise…

Drug development is a time- and resource-consuming process that starts with the discovery and validation of a (protein) target that contributes to pathogenesis or disease progression.

Currently, several successful vaccines are available. However, for pathogens with a highly variable genetic composition, and for which serum IgG antibodies are not a useful correlate of protection, effective vaccines are yet to be developed.

These syntheses allow the team to determine the extent to which schools-based interventions are effective at targeting radicalisation-related outcomes.

Cyber-attacks, privacy-related problems or failures in functioning: many technologies that are used every day have security issues that are solved when the software is already in use. An interdisciplinary project, in which Olga Gadyatskaya, Harry Wijshoff, Alex Uta and Kristian Rietveld from the Leiden…

In 2021, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) asked Leiden University to conduct a rapid review of best practices and possibilities for follow-up research on the integration of behavioral sciences in security by design methodologies and projects. This academic field is called security by behavioral…

Promotor: A. Kros, Co-promotor: R.R.C.L. Olsthoorn

Vitamin A or retinol is essential in embryonic development, the visual cycle and the immune system.

Promotor: A. Kros

The prevalence of obesity (BMI >40 kg/m2) has increased rapidly over the recent years, not only in adults, but also in children and adolescents.

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…

Getting personal

The present thesis focuses on the pharmacological concept of drug-target interaction, which dates back to the beginning of modern pharmacology.

Promotor: Prof.dr. A. P. IJzerman, Co-Promotor: Dr. L.H. Heitman

Knowledge on how to adjust a drug dose in special patient populations such as (prematurely born) neonates or children, obese individuals or critically-ill patients, is not only crucial for novel compounds, but also for existing drugs which are often used in an off-label manner in these special patient…

Research lines within the Pharmacy group:

Lecture

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.

The chain that supplies patients with new medicines consists of various complex links: from fundamental research to clinical tests and production. This entire chain is represented in Leiden. Leiden University, the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), and the companies on the Leiden Bio Science Park…

In neonates and infants, body size, enzyme pathways, and expression and function of receptors and (target) proteins are still developing.

Our research programme collaborates with all kinds of partners to achieve our goal: bringing scientific discoveries to the clinic as soon as possible.

At Leiden University, in both our biomedical and biological research, we use laboratory animals. Learn more about these specific areas of research and the goals we aim to achieve through these studies.

Pathways of toxicity

Promotor: C.A.J. Knibbe, Co-promotores: H.P.A. van Dongen, B. van Ramshorst

Is there a sufficiently large market for drug screening and testing in Zebrafish larvae using membrane fusion?

Traditional drug discovery approaches have been hampered by (in vitro) cell-culture models that poorly represent the situation in the human body.

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 overview of research projects at the Predictive Pharmacology group.

Prof. Elizabeth de Lange is concerned with the allocation of resources for the conduct of science towards the goal of best serving the public interest. Also, while she underscores that there is still the need for using animals in drug research, she is concerned about this use, and advocates the use…

In the Research in Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences specialisation you will perform research on various topics in the area of Drug Discovery and Development. The programme offers a high level of flexibility and can be tailored to your scientific interests. The major research project is hosted by the Leiden…

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

The aim of this research area is to be able to predict human drug response on the basis of mathematical models that are developed using preclinical experiments and prior knowledge.

Promotor: Prof.dr. B. van de Water, Co-promotor: E.H.J. Danen

An overview of the research at the Biologics Formulation group

This research area is focused on the development and application of novel concepts and models in the emerging area of quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP).

In this project, we aim to develop mathematical models to mechanistically and quantitatively predict the dynamics of cellular stress pathway activation and its relation with toxic effects when cells are exposed to various toxicants.

The master’s programme of Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences at Leiden University examines the research area of bio-pharmaceutical sciences and drug research. It offers seven specialisations ranging from BioTherapeutics to Industrial Pharmacy.

Promotor: A.P. IJzerman

The Pharmacy research group focusses on the development of predictive models to improve clinical drug efficacy and safety. We are moreover strongly involved in the Master specialisation of Pharmacy at Leiden University. We work on clinical problems that require further mechanistic understanding and…

In the Master’s programme Research in Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences of Leiden University you are trained for a scientific career in drug research and development.

Obesity may alter how a person absorbs, distributes, metabolizes or excretes medication. This thesis describes how obesity affects drug levels in the blood for antimicrobial agents, such as ciprofloxacin and fluconazole.

Prematurely born neonates require, amongst others, pharmaceutical therapy. Dosing guidelines for these therapies are often based on data from term born neonates or older infants, while these are not necessarily similar to prematurely born neonates.

Promotor: Prof.dr. M. Danhof, Co-promotor: E.C.M. de Lange

Conference