A major challenge in the formulation of biopharmaceuticals is to overcome their inherent instability during production, storage, transportation, handling and administration. We are studying underlying mechanisms of degradation of biopharmaceuticals (including therapeutic proteins, vaccines and advanced…

Research groups in the Biological & Soft Matter Programme unravel mechanisms in biological processes and develop novel bio-inspired soft materials.

The research groups within the biological, soft and complex systems research area study the physics of a broad range of biological and soft materials. This spans both experimental and theoretical research.

Promotor: Prof.dr. J.N. Kok, Co-promotor: F.J. Verbeek

We study the physics of a broad range of biological and soft materials

In this thesis we study products of linear error correcting codes.

Shape and biological function are tightly connected. Physical descriptions are used to connect the shape of a biological system with its function.

The Physics and Biological and Soft Matter master's specialisation is one of the two programmes that Leiden University offers in experimental physics. This programme mainly focuses on Biological Physics and Soft Matters Physics.

Learning about circadian rhythms can help students to improve their sleep and overall well-being

Oxidation is a common degradation pathway that affects therapeutic proteins and peptides during production, purification, formulation, transportation, storage and handling of solid and liquid preparations. In the present work we review the scientific literature about structural and biological consequences…

This dissertation presents new cryptographic protocols, which can be divided into two families.

Research in the Daniela Kraft Lab focuses on self-assembly in biological and soft matter systems, ranging from anisotropic colloidal particles to lipid membranes, emulsions, and viruses.

Promotores: H. Schiessel, G.T. Barkema

The growing popularity of corporate self-regulation to address supply-chain issues puts Corporate Social Responsibility and specifically codes of conduct, at the centre of attention. In this article, Jaroslaw Kantorowicz, Sarah Vandenbroucke and Yvonne Erkens analyse supplier codes of conduct of multinational…

If idioms employed in codes of conduct could be as idiosyncratic as examples suggest, then to what extent did early modern language of vice, too, persist in this genre?

This thesis investigates how cell shape and collective behavior influence the dynamics and structure of biological tissues, which are crucial for understanding processes like embryonic development, tissue regeneration, and metastasis.

This dissertation contains four works during my PhD. Different biomaterials have been designed based on coiled-coil peptides. These biomaterials have a range of applications, inclusing drug delivery, cell sorting to cell-cell fusion.

This thesis explores how electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy can be used to investigate key biochemical processes.

It has been a long-standing mystery how complex biological structures emerge from such seemingly uncoordinated building blocks as cells and tissues, in the presence of only minimal environmental guidance.

Can we develop a generic method for Quan/Qual analysis of small molecule drugs, their metabolites and endogenous metabolites in (pre-)clinical samples?

PhD defence

This year's Nobel Prize for Medicine goes to the three American researchers who have unravelled the mechanism behind the biological clock. Joke Meijer, Professor of Neurophysiology and an expert in the field of the sleep-wake rhythm, explained in Dutch newspapers Trouw and NRC why this discovery is…

Researchers at LUMC are trying to decipher the biological clock. This knowledge can help deal with luxury problems, such as jetlag, but can also counter diseases. Molecular neurobiologist Erno Vreugdenhil explains.

For his significant original contributions in the field of carbohydrate research, chemist Jeroen Codee will be awarded the biennial Carbohydrate Research Award for Creativity in Carbohydrate Chemistry.

Source: Bioorg Med Chem, Volume 23, Issue 14, pp. 4034-49 (2015)

PhD defence

On Friday the 6th of December, the annual symposium of the IBL was organized at the Buruma theatre (LUMC), Leiden. This year’s theme was “Biological Networks from Molecules to Society”.

During Seeing Stars Leiden all the lights around Leiden Observatory will be switched off for an hour. The more lights that go out, the more stars we’ll be able to see. For the LUMC, this is the perfect moment to think about our biological clock, the topic researchers from the BioClock consortium are…

The Executive Board has adopted a new Code of Conduct on Integrity for staff. This new code encompasses all the existing regulations within Leiden University, including in the field of research, behaviour towards students and purchasing. 'This Code of Conduct is a very clear statement,' commented Rector…

This PhD-thesis presents a study on micron-sized particles, so-called colloids. By controlling the chemical and physical properties of these particles, such as the interparticle interaction and the particles’ shape, colloids can act as building blocks that self-assembly into larger structures.

Research at the BIOSYN group is comprised of the following research themes:

Hermen Overkleeft and his colleagues Gideon Davies (University of York) and Carme Rovira (University of Barcelona) will receive a 9.1 million euros Synergy Grant from the European Research Council. Together, they will form the Carbocentre Synergy team for research into enzymes that work on glycans:…

According to research conducted by regional Dutch newspaper ‘BN DeStem’, emigration to Russia certainly isn’t off the cards for some Dutch people. Information sessions are being held for anyone interested in emigrating to these countries. Is it acceptable for civil servants to get involved in these…

Using biologically inspired algorithms on 'edge devices', such as cameras and mobile phones, is what Svetlana Minakova's PhD research was all about. She conducted research on Convolutional Neural Networks(CNN). Making these algorithms work in different situations is a complicated task. 'Most design…

Dutch researchers are joining forces to conduct research together with a series of societal partners to keep the biological clock healthy in our modern 24-hour society. The BioClock consortium will receive a research grant of no less than 9.7 million euros for this. It is one of the projects that receive…

This work has described synthetic strategies towards well-defined structures resembling capsular polysaccharide (CPS) fragments, CPS mimics, teichoic acid (TA) fragments as well as a third-generation ring-closing tandem metathesis (RCM) linker to better exploit the potential of automated synthesis.

Glycoside hydrolases (glycosidases/GHs) are widely abundant enzymes in all kingdoms of life and are important biocatalysts that catalyze the hydrolysis of glycosidic linkages in oligo/polysaccharides, glycoproteins and glycolipids with tremendous efficiency

To discuss this question, chairmen, members, and secretaries of the Research Integrity Committees (Commissies Wetenschappelijke Integriteit, CWI) of almost all Dutch universities gathered at the Leiden Observatory on 21 April. Also present were members of the committees from Leuven, Brussels, Ghent,…

The KNMI issues weather warnings in various codes depending on the weather's risk to people's safety. Below, you can read what the university and faculty follow for these codes.

Carbohydrates, alongside proteins and nucleic acids, constitute a crucial and versatile family of biomolecules present in all life forms. They manifest as monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides, covalently bonded to proteins and fats. Carbohydrates are integral to plant and arthropod…

This thesis focuses on the design and synthesis of activity-based probes and inhibitors targeting enzymes involved in the degradation of specific plant glycans.

The thesis focuses on synthesis strategies in oligosaccharide campaigns, and the influence of protecting groups.

Promotores: H.S. Overkleeft, G.A. van der Marel, Co-Promotor: J.D.C. Codee