395 search results for “ancient dna” in the Staff website
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How NeCEN helped develop the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine
The Phase 3 clinical trial results of the promising Covid-19 vaccine of Johnson & Johnson are expected this month. The Dutch electron microscopy facility NeCEN helped develop the company’s vaccine, and they have now published their scientific findings in Nature Communications.
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Working in a living museum
Roderick Bouman is collection manager of the Leiden Hortus botanicus. He keeps track of which plants there are in the garden, where they come from and makes sure visitors can find the right information about them. ‘We are like a regular museum,’ says Bouman. ‘Except that our objects are alive. That…
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Atherosclerosis resembles an autoimmune disease. Marie Depuydt graduated on this topic, with honours
In addition to cholesterol and high blood pressure as risk factors for atherosclerosis, we may need to address our own immune system to prevent a heart attack or stroke. Marie Depuydt revealed which cells exactly reside in the atherosclerotic plaque that narrows an artery. The presence of a diverse…
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Rubicon grant for Remko Fermin: superconducting diodes for energy-efficient data centres
Physicist Remko Fermin from Leiden University was awarded a Rubicon grant from NWO. He will use it to study superconducting diodes that could contribute to reducing the CO2 emission of data centres.
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New archaeological perspectives on an Arabian oasis in Islamic periods
Lecture
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In pictures: animal mummies in a scanner
The story of Tutankhamun, the Egyptian pharaoh, is world famous. But did you know that the Ancient Egyptians mummified not only people but animals too? The National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden recently put a bunch of animal mummies through a CT scanner. This was in collaboration with Canon Netherlands…
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New research at the Hortus: the delimitation of the genus Uvaria L.
In the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia the soursop family (Annonaceae) can be found. The genus Uvaria is a part of this family, but it has not yet been described entirely correctly. That is what Annas Rabbani will be studying during the next four years as a PhD student at the Hortus botanicus…
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Be amazed and inspired during the Leiden Science Family Day!
On Sunday 8 October 2023, during the Weekend van de Wetenschap, the Faculty of Science of Leiden University will open its doors to anyone curious about science from 11.00 to 16.00 hrs! Explore a world of wonder and discovery; where science is transformed into an unforgettable adventure. Intriguing…
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Rose Vossen wins Young Star Award 2021
Rose Vossen has been named winner of the Young Star Award 2021. The Life Science and Technology student received the award on Monday from Ewine van Dishoeck, the founder of the award. Vossen wins a cheque for 2,500 euros for her exceptional results as a bachelor's student. During her final bachelor…
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Bioart plays with genetic building blocks
Biotechnological developments are moving fast. From genetically modified plant varieties we are now moving to cultured meat. These developments require moral interpretation - and they get it in the form of art. Lotte Pet wrote a dissertation about it.
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eLaw Alumnus wins European Data Protection Law Review ‘Young Scholar Award’ at CPDP
Taner Kuru, an eLaw alumnus, was awarded the prestigious European Data Protection Law Review ‘Young Scholar Award’ for his paper on the shortcomings in the GDPR for the regulation of genetic testing at the prestigious Computers, Privacy and Data Protection Conference (CPDP).
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State Secretary Gräper visits to discuss cultural heritage and opening up collections
How should we address our colonial heritage? And how digital and accessible are our collections? Outgoing State Secretary Fleur Gräper spoke with researchers and heritage specialists about this on 25 January.
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New professor David Holmes engages with age-old counting problems
As of 1 October, David Holmes has been appointed full professor of Pure Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute (MI). His work lies at the intersection of algebra, geometry and number theory.
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Network on Greek Sanctuaries Leads to New Perspectives on Antiquity
A group of experts on ancient Greek religious practices has joined forces in the form of the HIERON network. In a grassroots fashion, they decided to host frequent get-togethers in order to share experiences, research ideas, and interdisciplinary views. Leiden archaeologist Michael Kerschner was one…
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ERC Advanced Grants for four Leiden researchers
From a new generation of antibiotics and more-effective vaccines to a map of dark matter and new light on Hindu traditions. Four researchers from Leiden University have received a prestigious €2.5m ERC Advanced Grant to develop their research.
- New application deadline (May 27) for Graduate Masterclass: The Classical Body Exposed by Byvanck professor Carrie Vout
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In Memoriam: Prof.dr. Henk Bodewitz (1939-2022)
On August 18, 2022, Henk Bodewitz, distinguished Indologist and emeritus professor of Sanskrit at Leiden University, passed away in his hometown of Utrecht.
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Online exhibition - The world’s last picture writing: Naxi Dongba manuscripts
Manuscripts that look like a comic book, that's how you could describe the manuscripts of the Dongba people from China. The manuscripts are one of the last examples of a so-called pictographic script that can only be interpreted by Dongba priests, shamans, who have knowledge of the ancient Dongba cu…
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How seals point to an undocumented prehistoric language
Language can be a time machine: we can learn from ancient texts how our ancestors interacted with the world around them. But can language also teach us something about people whose language has been lost? PhD candidate Anthony Jakob investigated whether the languages of prehistoric populations left…
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Tragic news concerning Dr Andrzej Antczak
Social
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Do you find interest in both video games and the past? Then do not miss the Interactive Pasts Conference
Organisation
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Podcast: an introduction to the Persian Book of Kings
How did the mythical kings of ancient Persia live? In this podcast, we delve into the Shahnameh, also known as the Book of Kings.
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Exploring Mountain Society in Beira Alta (Portugal) with the KNIR
Education
- Daring questions in Islam
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Overhandiging tweede deel 'A History of Russian Law'
Vijf jaar na de overhandiging van ‘A History of Russian Law’, overhandigde emiritus hoogleraar Ferdinand Feldbrugge op 16 januari het tweede deel van zijn unieke overzichtswerk aan decaan van de Faculteit der Rechtsgeleerdheid Joanne van der Leun.
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Prestigious Gutenberg Research Award for archaeologist Wil Roebroeks
Leiden archaeologist Professor Wil Roebroeks receives the 2021 Gutenberg Research Award of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). "By granting Wil Roebroeks the 2021 Gutenberg Research Award, we are honoring his extraordinary contributions to paleoanthropology through his field research, his interdisciplinary…
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Archaeology Hall of Fame 2023
Special achievements, grants and a top 10 ranking, a great calendar year for the Faculty of Archaeology! See the overview of 2023 in the hall of fame below.
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Book presentation: Coping with Versnel
At a festive book presentation on the 21st of July Prof. em. Henk Versnel received a copy of the volume Coping with Versnel. This historiographical volume highlights the important position of Versnel’s work in the study of religion in the ancient world.
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Petra Sijpesteijn elected to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (AIBL), one of the five academies that make up the Institut de France, has elected professor Petra Sijpesteijn as foreign corresponding member (correspondant étranger), to fill the seat of the renowned Egyptologist Edda Bresciani.
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Apply for Byvanck Professor Carrie Vout's Masterclass on Classical Art voor MA students and PhD's
Education
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Tazuko van Berkel and Noel de Miranda join Young Academy
Leiden researchers Tazuko van Berkel (Greek and Latin Language and Culture) and Noel de Miranda (Tumour Immunology, LUMC) will join the KNAW’s Young Academy next year. They will be inducted on 22 March 2021.
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Curator Ruurd Halbertsma: ‘Surely we can’t just sweep away antiquity?’
Like many others, Ruurd Halbertsma has had a rollercoaster of a year. His museum, the National Museum of Antiquities (RMO), was closed for a long while because of the lockdown. Visitor numbers picked up again from September, but it the next few weeks will be tense now the hospitals are full again. Halbertsma:…
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A ‘lock’ to make genetic modification safer
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) could be useful allies in the fight against critical environmental problems. Could because the use of GMOs is strictly regulated at the moment. A Leiden student team is now trying to make these GMOs safer with the aid of an ingenious lock.
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Multiple KHMW awards for science students
As many as seven first-year students from the Faculty of Science were honoured as young talents. In addition, the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW) also lauded three master's students and an astronomy project during a vibrant ceremony on 28 November. Professor of Science Communication…
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Developing new therapies to fight muscle disease
Biophysicist Alireza Mashaghi and his collaborators are taking up the fight against muscular dystrophy: genetic disorders that cause muscle weakness. They want to inhibit the clumping of proteins that results in toxic aggregates. For this, the team receives 550,000 euros from Health Holland. The team…
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Why people confess to crimes they didn’t commit
When under duress innocent suspects can make a false confession. Why is this? Legal psychologist Linda Geven will give a talk about this at the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition’s Brain & Law event. At this symposium (in Dutch) on 16 September you can attend talks on fascinating brain research…
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Deployment still affects veterans ten years later
Ten years later, a group of veterans still struggle daily with the effects of their deployment to Afghanistan. Sanne van der Wal, a PhD candidate at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), conducted research into the effects of PTSD.
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How fungi are helping us be more sustainable
Professor of Fungal Genetics and Biotechnology Arthur Ram explains how fungi can help us be more sustainable.
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Learning from miscarriages of justice with the new European Registry of Exonerations
Why do innocent people sometimes spend years in prison? EUREX is a registry of miscarriages of justice in Europe that ultimately led to exonerations. The aim is to prevent such mistakes being made in future. One of the initiators is Leiden legal psychologist Linda Geven.
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Inexhaustible source of human heart muscle cells allows strong reduction of animal testing
Researchers at the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) have managed to culture human heart muscle cells on a massive scale. This is an exceptional achievement because it is very difficult to replicate heart muscle cells outside the body. Using a special technique, the researchers have now created…
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Supergenes make bizarre traits possible
Within the same species of butterfly many different wing patterns can occur. How is this possible? According to researchers Ben Wielstra and Emma Berdan, of the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), the answer lies within supergenes. A supergene is a part of a chromosome that contains many strongly linked…
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Shift in scientific consensus about demise of Neanderthals
It is still unclear how the Neanderthals died out. For long, one theory seemed most likely: the emergence of the highly intelligent Homo sapiens, or modern humans. This competition hypothesis is no longer the dominant theory among scientists, research among archaeologists and anthropologists has shown.…
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Anne Urai on her Veni subsidy and open science
Neuroscientist Anne Urai has been awarded a Veni subsidy to further develop her ideas over the coming four years on how the brain makes choices. Why did she receive the award? Urai answers five questions about her Veni grant for young researchers.
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How do we get the we-feeling on the faculty? This is how Joost Batenburg thinks
As professor of computer science at LIACS and programme director of incentive programme SAILS, Joost Batenburg knows better than anyone what is going on in the faculty. Over the past three years, he learned at lightning speed what is going well and where sensitivities lie. 'We need to move more towards…
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Polypeptide Therapeutic Solutions and Universiteit Leiden Announce Collaboration to Develop Advanced Polyaminoacid Drug Delivery Systems
Polypeptide Therapeutic Solutions (PTS), a leader in the design, development and custom manufacturing of polyamino-acid based delivery systems for therapeutic drugs and the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) today announced a research collaboration to develop advanced drug delivery systems…
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Jasper's day
Jasper Knoester is the dean of the Faculty of Science. How is he doing, what exactly does he do and what does his day look like? In each newsletter, Jasper gives an insight into his life.
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How cool is LEGO®? Leiden physicists use it for ice cold research
Tjerk Oosterkamp's group is conducting what is perhaps the coldest research in the world. The researchers have cooled a sensor to below 2 millikelvin - almost as cold as absolute zero. This allows them to make extremely sensitive measurements. PhD candidate Jaimy Plugge helped build the setup: ‘We are…
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Modified caffeine molecules help medical research move forward
Before researchers can develop targeted drugs, they need to know exactly how a disease works. Biochemist Bert Beerkens created molecules that allow them to find out. He used caffeine as the basis for new molecules that enable research into certain receptor proteins on cells.
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Gorillas abducting women leads to new art history
Two statues of gorillas abducting women: they were what led PhD candidate Dick van Broekhuizen to write a new type of history of nineteenth-century sculpture. ‘If you view nineteenth-century art history from a less narrow perspective, the narrative changes completely.’ PhD ceremony on 21 June.
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'Especially now, in-depth knowledge about Judaism and Jewish history is important'
The newly established Leiden Jewish Studies Association aims to bring together Leiden scholars working on Judaism. The first annual conference will take place in Leiden on 6 and 7 December. Leiden professors and co-organisers of the LJSA Sarah Cramsey and Jürgen Zangenberg talk about their plans.