185 search results for “virus” in the Public website
-
Vaccination policy should respond to the motivations of vaccine refusers
Research by Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), The Hague University of Applied Sciences and Erasmus University Rotterdam shows that about 15 percent of Dutch people do not want to be vaccinated. If better use were made of the knowledge of local professionals such as GPs, it would be easier to…
-
Steering the immune system with liposomes
Liposomes – nano-sized spheres composed of fatty molecules – are very promising for vaccination. Bio-pharmaceutical scientist Naomi Benne discovered that the immune response in animal models can be steered by varying the charge of the liposomes. She obtained her PhD degree on 8 September for this research,…
-
What historians can learn from the coronavirus crisis
No two pandemics are ever the same. The current coronavirus crisis, for instance, is clearly very different from the deadly plague outbreaks in the 14th and 15th centuries. Can historians learn anything from the coronavirus crisis? And what can we learn at the moment from historians? These are questions…
-
Predicting and preventing serious COVID-19 symptoms
Scientists in Leiden are looking for signals in blood samples to predict whether patients will develop serious COVID-19 symptoms or not. Based on that knowledge, they will be able to propose targeted therapies to prevent serious symptoms. They hope to come up with the first results within the week.
-
Where does the quantum world end?
With his ice-cold nano force sensor, Tjerk Oosterkamp searches for the boundary between the quantum world and the everyday world. The Leiden physicist has received an NWO subsidy of 600,000 euros.
-
Superselective bonds light up
Rather than one key and one strong lock, biology often uses tens or hundreds of weaker links to bind parts together, such as cells membranes. This allows for selectivity and also reversibility: the binding can also be undone. Researchers first caught this phenomenon using spheres or colloids, and published…
-
In memoriam professor Mathieu Noteborn
On the 5th of April 2019 our dear colleague and friend Professor Dr Mathieu Noteborn has passed away. In January of this year he was diagnosed with bowel cancer. He underwent surgery followed by chemotherapy, and despite the invasive nature of this therapy things were looking up. True to his optimistic…
-
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.
-
Should I stay or should I go? Internationals in Leiden
The buildings are closed and all classes have moved online: these are strange times for students at our university. And for international students, it is even more complicated. They are here without their friends and family, and had to decide whether to stay here or return home. Three of them share…
-
A synthetic vaccine against meningococcus
Leiden chemists recreated the bacterial capsule of meningococcus in the lab. With a few modifications, these capsules can serve as an extra safe and effective vaccine against these notorious bacteria, which can cause, for example, meningitis. PhD candidate Jacopo Enotarpi and his team published the…
-
Human disturbance of ecosystems leads to increase in disease-transmitting mosquitoes
The changes that humans are making to the landscape are beneficial for mosquitoes that spread diseases such as Zika, chikungunya and dengue. This is what biologist Maarten Schrama and his colleagues write in the journal Nature Scientific Reports. ‘If we know in which living environments mosquitoes thrive…
-
LION Image Awards
On 15 January, the winner of the famed LION Image Award will be announced. Submissions ranged from the famous 3d printed microboat to an eerily abstract graph depicting a Majorana fermion.
-
The corona crisis through the eyes of social scientists
The corona crisis relates to not only the medical field but also the field of the social sciences and humanities. SSH Beraad, a consultation body that aims to improve the position of the social sciences and humanities in the Netherlands, has launched a website bringing together experts in the social…
-
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…
-
How animals flirt with each other
How do animals choose their partners? The answer is simple: it’s all about quality. While humans tend to wear clothes that happen to be in fashion, animals do nothing without a reason. Behind beautiful plumage or a deafening roar is only one message: I am in great shape. The evolutionary courtship displays…
-
Code red: we're barely prepared for a borderless crisis
Worldwide, countries are barely prepared for major borderless crises such as extreme natural disasters or other unexpected calamities that destabilise society, Professor of Political Science, Arjen Boin, warns. In his inaugural address on 23 October he makes some recommendations.
-
LCN2 Seminar February 2023
Lecture
-
Back at the office? ‘Don’t expect to be productive right away’
For some it will sound like music to their ears, but for others is may sound less appealing: now the advice on working from home has changed, we can once again go to the office. After a period of working from home, which for some lasted almost two years (with maybe a short break), it can be a big transition.…
-
Blog Post | Recent shifts in diplomacy undermine China’s international standing
Over the past year and a half, China’s diplomacy has attracted attention from media institutions, policy makers and scholars around the globe.
-
‘Looking back, this past year will be a very important period in my life’
At the Faculty of Science, forty per cent of the employees are of a non-Dutch nationality. Amongst PhDs that is even sixty per cent. How are they doing in a time of working at home in a different culture, when travelling is not possible? Clinical pharmacologist Lu Chen is the third in this series to…
-
Stranded: students and PhD candidates affected by the corona crisis
The travel ban and closed borders have had a big impact on our students and staff. Some are stranded abroad, while others are stranded here in the Netherlands. Others again have returned early to their home country. Three personal stories from Wuhan, Leiden and The Hague.
-
Rector Hester Bijl on education in times of corona: ‘We have high hopes, but we are also realistic.'
The Dutch universities as a whole are lobbying for a 'normal' academic year from the end of August, where on-campus teaching will be possible. It's a view that Leiden University shares. Rector Hester Bijl talks about what teaching will be like then. She also looks back on a year of lockdown.
-
COVID Radar is a good predictor of increasing infections
The COVID Radar app is citizen science at its best. More than 200,000 users in the Netherlands are answering questions about their health and behaviour to help predict the development of the pandemic. Niels Chavannes, Professor of General Practice at Leiden University Medical Center, explains how the…
-
Low-key opening of the academic year symbolises new beginning
The 2020-2021 academic year has begun. The new academic year may have been opened in a pared-down ceremony, but a ceremony it was nonetheless, with around 150 guests in the familiar setting of Pieterskerk and around 1,000 people watching the livestream. ‘Universities will always exist, however rapidly…
-
Trade union grant for psychology research into the effect of a basic income
Psychologists Fenna Poletiek and Erik de Kwaadsteniet have received a grant from the FNV trade union to research people’s attitude to work if they receive a basic income. How do they plan to find answers?
-
Targeting for success: Mechanistic insights into microRNA-based gene therapy for Huntington disease
PhD defence
-
Humans of Humanities
In the Humans of Humanities series, we will do a portrait of one of our researchers, staff members or students, every other week.
-
CCLS Past Events
On this page you can find information about previous CCLS events.
-
Peter Paul van Benthem and the Covid whirlwind
Peter Paul van Benthem is not only head of the ENT department at the LUMC but also chair of the Federation of Medical Specialists. ‘The value is in the mix.’
-
Central Crisis Team: ‘It sometimes comes down to the last second’
It’s the middle of the academic year, but most of the University buildings are closed – something that hasn’t happened since the Second World War. Fortunately, after a week of intensive preparations, the teaching has moved online. How is the Central Crisis Team steering the University through the corona…
-
Dies Natalis 2023
University ceremony
-
2019 Hall of fame
Over the past year, many of our staff and students have won prizes, been awarded a substantial grant or been appointed to an academic association or a position in public life. All of these are good reasons to include them in our 2019 Hall of Fame. We are proud of them all.
-
Science and education policy
YAL raises its voice on policy matters.
-
Master's Open Day (cancelled)
Study information
-
Older publications
Overview of the publications of the department of Environmental Biology (1972-2015)