How can lasers control the growth of new blood vessels?

Heart failure is a major health care problem with high mortality.

How does the extracellular matrix coordinate endothelial cell behavior during angiogenesis, and how do metabolic waste-products and matrix-degrading enzymes produced by the tumour modify the extracellular matrix so as the change the cellular coordination?

New technology offers many new possibilities for research, such as on dementia. ‘Organ-on-a-chip’ is a new technology in which small bits of organ are grown out of stem cells on a small plastic plate. A small piece of blood vessel, heart or nerve offers many new possibilities for research, such as…

With a Vici grant of 1.5 million euros, Professor of Mathematical biology Roeland Merks will look for ways to fix messy and leaky blood vessels in tumours. His research combines mathematical simulations and lab experiments in a unique way.

Researchers at Leiden University have demonstrated that tumours can apply mechanical means to attract the blood vessels they need to be able to grow. The team published this discovery on 2 March in Nature Scientific Reports.

PhD candidates in medicine, Wouter Jan Geelhoed and Nan van Geloven, are the winners of the Leiden preliminary round of FameLab. They are through to the final on 22 April.

Koen Keijzer combined three mathematical models into one unified system capable of making meaningful predictions about how cells form blood vessels. This helps biologists studying the chaotic, leaky blood vessels found in and around tumours.

In her inaugural lecture on 11 September, Miranda van Eck, Professor of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Therapeutics, addressed her research related to developing medications to keep our blood vessels clean.

'When taking into account all finds in the Islamic world of this enigmatic vessel, it would perhaps be wise not to restrict this container to merely one function.'

Fishes rely heavily on sound to find their way during migration or dispersal. Many species are affected by noise pollution. Hans Slabbekoorn from the Institute of Biology Leiden received a HORIZON2020 grant of 500,000 euros to study the impact of sound conditions on movement decisions of fishes.

How can the development of constrictions in the blood vessels be reversed?

Promotor: Prof.dr. R.M.H. Merks

Sonja Boas developed new techniques to study vascular growth computationally. The results of her research provide a better understanding into mechanisms behind vascular growth, which is relevant to the development of medical therapies. She defends her thesis 'Computational modeling of angiogenesis'…

Atherosclerosis is the main underlying pathology of cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis is caused by an immune response which is directed against (modified) lipoproteins which accumulate in the vessel wall.

Tiny selenium particles could have a therapeutic effect on ischemic brain strokes by promoting the recovery of brain damage. Pharmacologists, including Alireza Mashaghi from the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research discovered that selenium nanoparticles inhibit molecular mechanisms that are responsible…

Do natural soundscapes affect migratory decisions of fishes moving up and down rivers and is this process disturbed by vessel sounds?

Cardiovascular diseases are the primary cause of death in the world with atherosclerosis as primary underlying cause.

Atherosclerosis is the most important underlying process that drives cardiovascular disease, and is characterized by an accumulation of cholesterol which triggers an inflammatory response in the vessel wall.

We investigate the molecular basis underlying health and disease and provide answers to existing and emerging health problems. Within this theme, we study diseases ranging from rare genetic disorders to cancer and infectious diseases. We make use of a wide variety of model systems and pursue diverse…

The project XAIPre (pronounce “Xyper”) aims to develop predictive maintenance system for the maritime industry using sensor technology and artificial intelligence. The project aims at developing Explainable Predictive Maintenance (XPdM) algorithms that do not only provide the engineers with a prediction…

Atherosclerosis (thickening of the artery wall) is the most common cause of heart attacks or strokes, and one of the most common causes of death in the western world. People with this condition have to take medicine all their lives, so a vaccine for atherosclerosis would be a breakthrough.

Promotor: Prof.dr. J. Kuiper

It is with great pleasure that we present to you the second volume of Inter-Section, published in 2017.

The Cryogenics Department has a liquid helium production unit and an automatic liquid nitrogen filling plant.

A study of the technology, form, function, and use of pottery from the settlements Uitgeest-Groot Dorregeest and Schagen-Muggenburg 1, Roman Period, North-Holland, the Netherlands

Browse the latest articles and issues of Inter-Section.

PhD defence

PhD defence

Understanding Late Neolithic Ceramic Containers from Upper Mesopotamia

Alexander Kros studies supramolecular systems in a biological environment. The unifying theme between the projects in my lab is specific molecular recognition, i.e. the intermolecular interaction between complementary molecules with high affinity and selectivity. Studying, imitating and dissecting processes…

The following master research projects are currently open in the Bouwmeester group.

An experimental and microwear approach to Early Iron Age vessel biographies

The research of our group is centered around dynamical systems, functional analysis and their interplay.

OceanVisions is a project funded by a Marie-Curie Individual Fellowship to Dr. Francesco Colona and it explores how different research infrastructures in marine science (ranging from ocean-going research vessels to scientific diving operations) and their funding scheme influence the research process:…

The research of the Applied Mathematics cluster is concerned with such diverse topics as dynamical systems, representation theory, differential equations and pattern recognition.

Lecture, Tuesday Talks: Science Insights

Ceramics and Society in the Aegean from the 7th to the 20th century A.C. A Case Study from Boeotia, Central Greece (2003)

Promotor: Roeland M.H. Merks

Leiden Journal of Pottery Studies 23, 2007

The effects of anthropogenic noise on interactions between predators and their prey are still little understood.

Constraint multi-objective optimization with a limited budget for function evaluations is challenging. This thesis tackles this problem by proposing new optimization algorithms. These algorithms are applied on holistic ship design problems. This helps naval architects balance objectives like cost, efficiency,…

The aim of this thesis was to develop novel treatment strategies for different types of eye melanoma utilizing zebrafish models. We first establish orthotopic and ectopic xenograft models for uveal and conjunctival melanoma by engraftment of the immortalized cells derived from these tumors into zebrafish…

Cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of death worldwide, and better models are urgently needed for disease progression studies and drug development.

Leiden Journal of Pottery Studies 22, 2006

Promotores: Prof.dr. J. Kuiper, Prof.dr. P.H.A. Quax

Serial learners: interactions between Funnel Beaker West and Corded Ware communities in the Netherlands during the third millennium BCE from the perspective of ceramic technology

PhD defence

PhD defence