While bioinformatics methods deal with the analysis of sequence information (be it proteins or DNA), the field of cheminformatics is concerned with the analysis of small-molecule datasets.

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

The Business Studies specialisation is for science students who consider employment opportunities in industry, and who are looking to acquire knowledge of business principles and training in managerial skills. The specialisation can be followed by students doing a two-year Masters degree in one of…

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

Source: Mol Psychiatry (2015)

Nanodiscs are small, disc-shaped structures designed to mimic biological cell membranes, composed of a lipid bilayer stabilized by scaffold proteins. Membrane proteins play crucial roles in essential processes such as nutrient and waste transport, molecular recognition, and cell signalling, making them…

Synthetic cells, also known as artificial cells or protocells, have wide ranging applications from drug delivery vectors to cell models. In biotechnology they can function as micro- or nanoreactors with possible applications in biocatalysis and photocatalysis. Phospholipids are by far the most commonly…

Chapter 2 describes a post-synthetic methodology to introduce a fluorescent label in highly lipophilic, Pam3Cys based conjugates.

Artificial photosynthesis has recognised potential to produce green and sustainable fuels from earth-abundant resources such as water, carbon dioxide (CO2), and sunlight.

You’ve been accepted! Leiden University looks forward to welcoming you as a new student. Your next step is to prepare for your studies. Below you can find some tips to help you get a head start as you embark on your studies at Leiden University.

Conference

Promotores: Prof.dr. H. S. Overkleeft, Prof.dr. G. A. van der Marel

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy is a non-destructive analytical technique that is used to study the nature and characteristics of molecules with an atomic level precision. It has a wide range of applications especially in synthetic chemistry, biological and biochemical research groups…

Microbial Sciences' contribution to the Bioactive Molecules research theme is to discover new bioactive molecules and enzymes and unravel their mechanisms of action, regulatory networks, and the (bio)synthetic pathways required for their production.

Do you have any questions about the Chemistry master’s programme? Please contact us!

Phosphorylation affects all four major biomolecules – proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and nucleic acids – and plays a pivotal role in the most fundamental cellular functions.

This dissertation presents a new perspective on the life, work and character of the Dutch physical chemist Jacobus Henricus van ’t Hoff, first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and one of the most important and colourful scientists in Dutch history. The image of Van ’t Hoff that emerges from…

Source: J Cheminform, Volume 7, Issue 1 (2015)

Understanding how nature captures and transfers solar energy is essential both for elucidating biological photosynthesis and for guiding the design of artificial light-harvesting systems.

We have several internships at LIACS. Below you can find an overview of all the internships in the different programs.

Now online in Molecular Microbiology our studies on the motility of Sulfolobus acidocaldarius and its unique swimming organelle, the archaellum.

Are you interested in combining your Science master programme with the Education specialisation? Learn more and watch the introduction video.

Promotor: H.S. Overkleeft, Co-Promotor: B.I. Florea

Contact Medical Biochemistry

Peptides are routinely synthesized in the range of 5-80 amino acids, in an amount of 1-200 µmol (smaller and larger amounts are also possible).

From development of nanomaterials to advanced instrumentation and smart software systems, this specialisation empowers students to become a key player in tomorrow’s technological breakthroughs—through interdisciplinary research, industrial collaboration, and innovation-driven learning.

Within this thesis the central stage is taken by the discovery and investigation of transglycosylation of sterols. First, investigation focuses on the development of a method to accurately detect and quantify glucosylated metabolites in biological materials.

Are you interested in combining your master programme with the Science Communication and Society specialisation? Learn more and watch the introduction video.

Chemistry is all around us: from nutrition and smartphones to medicine. The field is developing rapidly, as the world population continues to grow and resources become scarce. MST will educate you on the basics of working towards a clean and healthy world.

The work described in this thesis focuses on the development of linear or cyclized peptide probes against protein N-methyltransferases to characterize their specific binding behavior, providing further binding details for inhibitory activity study.

This thesis describes research aimed at discovering inhibitors selective for either of the two endoplasmic reticulum α-glucosidases, ER-I and ER-II, with the overarching goal of discovering new antiviral agents to treat viruses that rely on host N-glycosylation for proliferation.

The Data-Driven Drug Discovery Network (D4N) is an initiative by researchers from Leiden University and collaborators to join efforts in applying and developing novel techniques from data science to drug discovery and related topics from bioinformatics.

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.

How do lipases in Mycobacterium tuberculosis help the bacteria survive, and can we target them to create new antibiotics?

The LACDR represents the core of bio-pharmaceutical research at Leiden University, and we interact closely with our partners:

We review the state-of-the-art in the theory of dissociative chemisorption (DC) of small gas phase molecules on metal surfaces, which is important to modeling heterogeneous catalysis for practical reasons, and for achieving an understanding of the wealth of experimental information that exists for this…

Many metalloenzymes that are key to bioenergetics are membrane enzymes, with canonical examples the complexes I, II, III and IV in the mitochondrial inner membrane. To study these enzymes in a native-like lipid membrane environment, we aim to develop novel bioelectrochemical techniques.

Providing each cancer patient with the right treatment remains a challenge. Oncode Accelerator aims to change this by innovating the way we develop cancer treatments, thus ensuring the patient is at the heart of the process. Leiden University, the LUMC and other partners will implement this new way…

Promotor: H.J.M. de Groot

Leiden University offers its students a wide range of bachelor's, master's and minors that explore sustainability or climate. Here, you find an overview of those programmes in the academic year 2020-2021.

The BPS and Education master specialisation gives you the opportunity to combine fundamental chemistry research with an excellent education in becoming a Chemistry teacher.

Located in the friendly small city of Leiden in the centre of the Netherlands, Leiden University has for centuries been at the forefront of developments in science and that excellent continues today, with world-leading institutes of computer science, mathematics, physics, astronomy, and chemistry. …

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

Get to know us through our online and in-person events for prospective students!

The LED3 hub, consisting of researchers from the Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC), the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) and the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS), is very excited to organize the “LED3 Lectures”. This lecture…

The goal of hit discovery is to identify suitable chemical starting points to modulate a drug target. A hit can be, a.o., a small molecule, a protein or mRNA. Hit identification is performed via rational design, genome mining, (targeted) library screening, or in silico approaches.

Where exactly on the surface of a catalyst do the chemical reactions occur? Until now, it has always been a challenge to identify the exact locations of these ‘active sites’. In a new article in Nature, Leiden chemists helped their international colleagues reveal new insights into this issue. Their…

The "Van Marum Colloquia" are a collaborative lecture series between the LION and LIC institutes, focusing on fundamental and applied surface science.