A single tiny molecule that can destroy flu, corona, HIV and Zika viruses? Yes, it really does exist. Biophysicist Niek van Hilten, who will receive his doctorate on 14 September, contributed to this discovery.

PhD defence

When you think of physics, do you think only of complicated formulas? You’re not the only one. Therefore, every year, the Leiden Insitute of Physics organises the LION Image Award to show another side of physics: beautiful images about intriguing science. The winner of the 2022 photo competition captured…

For the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, women students and researchers from physics talk about what inspires them about their work. From quantum to cosmology and biophysics, their curiosity about how nature works is what connects these women. What do these 5 scientists want to share…

Human cells are protecting their proteins from unfolding and aggregating. That's what biophysicist Alireza Mashaghi and his team discovered after seven years of in-depth research into the folding mechanisms of proteins. With an unprecedented approach, the team was able to study the folding of a single…

How does an embryonic stem cell decide if it becomes a heart cell or a kidney cell? That’s the question computational biologist Maria Mircea studied for her PhD research. She looked at the inside of individual cells to analyse how they change. This is what she discovered.

Salt crystals, a nano-sized golf stick and molten glass. The LION Image Award competition of 2023 yielded a lot of beautiful images once again. But in the end, only one can be the winner.

On the 6th and 7th of September 2023, the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) organized the Leiden Bio-AFM workshop in cooperation with Bruker Nano GmbH (Germany) and Bruker Nederland BV. The organization of this event was led by the Medical Systems Biophysics and Bioengineering group (Alireza…

On the 8th of December 2021, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) organized “Circuit Topology 2021”, the first international symposium on circuit topology. The focus was on the mathematical notion of Circuit Topology, and its applications to physics, chemistry and biomedicine.

Mechanics play a larger role in blood vessel formation, and other developmental biology, than previously thought. Cells appear to respond to mechanical signals, such as pressure. Through the extracellular matrix, a network of fibrous proteins, cells can supposedly exchange those mechanical signals over…

Luca Giomi has the first results of his ERC consolidator grant. He discovered that epithelial cells move collectively but in different ways, depending on the scale you look at. It is hexatic at small scales, and becomes nematic at larger scales: it is a multiscale order. This collective movement of…

Researchers at Leiden University have been awarded a €4 million EU grant to develop climate-neutral fuels. With this money they will expand the broad research community that focuses on green energy. If we work together, we can make the rapid progress that is needed, says Prof. Huub de Groot, Professor…

Lecture

On 28 September the famous chemists Carolyn Bertozzi visited Leiden University to speak at the LED3 seminar. Just one week later, she was announced winner the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Leiden chemists Sebastian Pomplun and Hermen Overkleeft are fan: ‘We are extremely honoured to have hosted this…

Lecture