Single-celled organisms have stiffer DNA than multicellular lifeforms like humans and rice. Theoretical physicists managed to simulate the folding in full genomes for the first time to reach this conclusion. Publication in Biophysical Journal on February 7.

Pharmaceutical research should make more use of data science, says Gerard van Westen, postdoctoral fellow at the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR). ‘If we want to have better drugs, we should start with data.’

Astronomers at ASTRON and Leiden University have used the LOFAR radio telescope to discover a 'brown dwarf' – a faint object more massive than Jupiter, but significantly less massive than the Sun. The discovery of the object dubbed Elegast, opens up a new path that uses radio telescopes to discover…

Supervisor: Anna Vlachodimou

Increasing resistance and a lack of new antibiotics are a serious problem for public health. Against this background, Gilles van Wezel of the Institute of Biology Leiden is looking for new medicines. Together with former PhD student Changsheng Wu and colleagues he discovered the special antibiotic lugdunomycin,…

Rembrandt Year is concluding with a major exhibition at Museum De Lakenhal. There are still numerous other activities such as lectures, the University Rembrandt Route and the screening of a critical documentary.

Scientists, including our faculty colleague Dr. Mike Field, studying an exceptionally well-preserved woolly rhinoceros have revealed details of what Britain's environment was like 42,000 years ago. The beast's remains were discovered in Staffordshire in 2002, buried alongside other preserved organisms…

The Molecular Physiology group collaborates with both international public-private and academic institutions.

Pathways of toxicity

What was people's favourite thing about Leiden University?

This thesis discusses the discovery potential of Intensity Frontier experiments.

best phd theses of the faculty of science Leiden - physics, chemistry, computer science, biopharmaceutical sciences, biology, industrial ecology, environmental sciences, astronomy, mathematics. thesis

The Archaeology and Epigraphy of Jordan’s North-Eastern Desert and Beyond

This is an Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility project of the Faculty of Science with the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

The goal of hit and lead optimization is to optimize suitable chemical starting points that can modulate a drug target. The methods and technologies used are similar to those in Hit Discovery, but once the compound has shown activity in an animal model, it moves from 'hit' to 'lead.'

A combination of two potential drugs gives hope of a 'super blockage' of an over-active immune system, Leiden researchers report in Nature. The breakthrough came from the crystallisation of a membrane protein.

The receptor nomenclature committee of IUPHAR, the International Union of Pharmacology, has several subgroups. Among these are a few that our division is involved in, those for adenosine, nicotinic acid, and GnRH receptors.

Cancer is the leading cause of death in the Netherlands, and, with over 100 different types of cancer, it’s not a simple disease. Today, skin, breast, lung, prostate and colon cancer are the most diagnosed forms. Therefore, the discovery and development of new drugs has the ability to significantly…

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

Molecular Physiology is a research group at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry dedicated to the design, synthesis and application of chemical tools to study important biological and biomedical questions. The group is headed by Prof. Dr. Mario van der Stelt and includes the research lines of Assistant…

Supervisor: Gerard van Westen

The Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC) is the basis for research and collaborations of the Leiden chemistry groups. Chemistry is the central science enabling a healthy future in a sustainable society. Chemistry researchers at Leiden University take a fundamental approach in finding tailored solutions…

Chromatin is an ubiquitous protein-DNA complex that forms the structural basis of DNA condensation in all eukaryotic organisms.

This thesis describes the antimicrobial discovery strategy developed in our group, the den Hertog Group at the Hubrecht Institute. It includes a cultivation-based screening approach for novel antimicrobial agents from the source of fungi, and a bacterial time-lapse imaging approach for antimicrobial…

The research area of this division is focused on the development of novel therapeutic modalities and novel concepts in early drug discovery, in order to better predict ligand-target interactions.

Pericytes, the mural cells of blood microvessels, are important regulators of vascular morphogenesis and function that have been postulated to mechanically control microvascular diameter through as yet unknown mechanisms.

Promotor: Prof.dr. G.P. van Wezel

The cannabinoid CB2 receptor (CB2R) represents a promising therapeutic target for various forms of tissue injury and inflammatory diseases. Although numerous compounds have been developed and widely used to target CB2R, their selectivity, molecular mode of action and pharmacokinetic properties have…

Dr. Doris M. Jacobs, Lead Scientist at Unilever R&D, Wageningen, The Netherlands.

Mechanisms fro drug resistance

The manual analysis of remotely-sensed data is a widespread practice in local and regional scale archaeological research, as well as heritage management.

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

Despite being the second largest transmembrane protein family after GPCRs, the SLC superfamily has only gained significant attention in early drug development over the past decade.

Source: J Med Chem, Volume 57, Issue 8, pp. 3213-22 (2014)

From the beginning of Galileo’s career, well before the publication of the Sidereus Nuncius, his contemporaries took pains to shape his reputation and fame. They were fully aware that their efforts would shape the course of his career; they also knew that they would profit from helping him.

On 3 October, Leiden University was holding a Science Fair packed with stalls showcasing discoveries and scientific games.

Exploring the integration of AI and quantum computing, this study adapts Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (KRR) to enhance quantum circuit simulation and optimization.

Studying linguistics at the Leiden University Centre of Linguistics (LUCL) is a challenging but rewarding experience. There are few places in the world where such a broad range of languages are studied from so many different perspectives.