Simulating human language understanding on the computer is a great challenge. A way to approach it is to represent natural language meanings in logic, and to use logical provers to determine what does and does not follow from a text. What logic is best to use and how natural language meanings are best…

Linde Desmaele explores how the United States is recalibrating its stance on European unity amid growing strategic competition with China.

In summary, the collective results described in this thesis show that nanoparticulate vaccines can be delivered intradermally by coated and hollow microneedles and evoke antigen-specific immune responses.

In this thesis we explore machine and deep learning approaches that address keychallenges in high dimensional problem areas and also in improving accuracy in wellknown problems. In high dimensional contexts, we have focused on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations.

On 11 November 2021, Mariana Gkliati defended the thesis 'Systemic Accountability of the European Border and Coast Guard'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. P. Rodrigues and Prof. L. Besselink (UvA).

The Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) of Leiden University proudly establishes the Blaise Pascal chair. The chair applies for one year and is meant to strengthen the cooperation of the Leiden computer science research with foreign institutes.

Promotor: Prof.dr. M. Danhof, Co-Promotor: J. de Jongh

To contribute to the body of knowledge aiming at a better coverage of ecosystem service assessment in LCA studies, this thesis dives into the challenges of incorporating existing ecosystem service methods within the impact assessment phase of the conventional LCA framework.

Promotor: Prof.dr. T.H.W. Bäck

Science is typically a patchwork of research contributions without much coordination. Especially in clinical trials, the follow-up studies that we do fail to be the most promising.

This thesis focuses on enhancing predictions of central nervous system drug exposure using the LeiCNS-PK3.0, a physiologically based pharmacokinetic model.

Source: Nat Biotechnol, Volume 32, Issue 12, pp. 1213-22 (2014)

To increase clinical success rate of drugs, a better understanding of drug action mechanism and disease dynamics is required. Metabolomics, which studies small molecules involved in biochemical processes in organisms, has shown to be a useful tool for this better understanding.

This article researches the public perception of terrorist attacks by measuring the importance the public assigns to attributes of terrorist attacks.

As leading cause of death worldwide, cancer is responsible for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020 according to World Health Organization (WHO). Cisplatin and its derivatives are commonly used chemotherapy agents for current cancer treatment in the clinics.

Key publications of the Biologics Formulation group

On the 23d of May, Sanne Rotmeijer successfully defended a doctoral thesis. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Sanne on this achievement!

Can we make quantum devices from quantum surprises? And can we explore and build life from the nanoscale up?

Electrocatalysis allows for storing electricity or converting it into chemical bonds, producing chemical building blocks and fuels using renewable resources.

Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are mechanical waves that travel along the surface of a material and find many applications in modern technologies due to the ease of excitation on piezoelectric substrates via interdigital transducers (IDTs).

Central elements in the research activities of all programme group members are: attachment, sensitive caregiving, and prevention and intervention.

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.

In this project we study the properties of statistical- and rule-learning mechanisms in relation to the acquisition and evolution of language. We ask to what extent these mechanisms are unique to humans - or to human language - by comparing the acquisition of vocal structure in two species: humans (infants)…

Statistical considerations guide the design and implementation of the experiments that scientists perform. For instance, in a clinical trial about a the efficacy of a treatment, its effect in a certain minimum amount of patients has to be observed in order to make confident assertions about the efficacy…

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.

The chemical and structural heterogeneity of toxoid vaccines makes their analysis challenging. However, detailed insights on a molecular level can be obtained by mass spectrometry.

HomininSpace is an agent based modelling and simulation system in which fluctuating carrying capacity is the key attractor for hominin dispersal. A parameterized and spatially explicit reconstructed palaeo-environment models available energy in the form of secondary biomass using reconstructed climate…

Promotores: J.C. van Houwelingen, S.A. van de Geer

Solar energy harnessed by plants and algae has great potential to be converted into biofuels for future generations.

This thesis describes the development and optimization of the first molecular tools to study the enzyme PLA2G4E.

In higher education intermediate assessment is used in different ways. In her PhD research Indira Day shows that lecturers should be able to continue to have the freedom to use various test forms, because not one type of test is optimal.

The potential of bioneedles to deliver influenza vaccines was investigated.

This monograph focuses on clustering of objects in high-dimensional data, given the restriction that the objects do not cluster on all the attributes, not even on a single subset of attributes, but often on different subsets of attributes in the data.

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.

In this work, we attempt to answer the question:

Atherosclerosis, in particular rupture of atherosclerotic plaques, is the underlying cause of most heart attacks or strokes and is the leading cause of death worldwide.

With the help of quantum mechanics, digital quantum hardware may be able to tackle some of the problems that are too difficult for ordinary computers. But despite these expectations and the ongoing effort of the research community, reliable quantum computers are not yet realized in a lab setting.

AI Labs are collaborations of Leiden University with external parties such as industry, governmental parties and other universities on the topic of Artificial Intelligence. The Science institutes of Leiden University are unique located in the largest Bioscience Park of the Netherlands, next door to…

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami caused immense destruction and over 170,000 deaths in the Indonesian province of Aceh. The disaster spurred large-scale social and political changes in Aceh, including the intensified implementation of shari‘a law and an end to the long separatist conflict. After the Tsunami…

What is the role of the noradrenergic system in human cognition?

Optical projection tomography (OPT) is a tomographic 3D imaging technique used for specimens in the millimetre scale.

Radiography is an important technique to inspect objects, with applications in airports and hospitals. X-ray imaging is also essential in industry, for instance in food safety checks for the presence of foreign objects.

Animal models suggest that the chemokine ligand 2/CC-chemokine receptor 2 (CCL2/CCR2) axis plays an important role in the development of inflammatory diseases. However, CCR2 antagonists have failed in clinical trials because of a lack of efficacy.

The research connected to this topic is related to E-health.

Promotor: H.S. Overkleeft, Co-promotor: M. van der Stelt

Cardiovascular disease is a major global burden and atherosclerosis is the main underlying pathological process.

The investigations described in this thesis lay out strategies aimed at advancing antibiotic research and development. The examples presented revolve around two main approaches: understanding drug-target interactions and target identification.

What kind of attentional focus can enhance learning and performance for musicians?

On 21 February 2019, Ruben Zandvliet defended his thesis 'Trade, Investment and Labour: Interactions in International Law'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. dr. N.J. Schrijver.