Improving healthcare with our scientific discoveries: that is the goal of pharmaceutical research at Leiden University. And there’s a lot involved in that. Our research starts with the discovery of the effect achieved by a particular substance, and sometimes continues all the way through to the development…

This PhD subproject concentrates on 16th-century ichthyology and takes Gessner’s Historia piscium (1558) (further HP) as its point of departure and focus.

Our immune system protects us against disease, but every now and then, something goes wrong: an enemy invades our bodies or our immune system attacks our own cells and we become ill. Doctors and researchers at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) want to be able to manipulate the immune system…

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.'

Behind the scenes, many different people are involved in the projects within the Brave Little Ones research group. See below for an overview of the research team.

Do you want to make an impact in healthcare?

The Psychology Research Seminars are organised by and for institute staff. They offer an opportunity to share knowledge, gain new insights, and meet colleagues from various disciplines.

Where you end up depends on the chosen study direction, your own skills and interests.

The EU aims to combat tax avoidance with a blacklist, but this policy has far reaching consequences for non European countries. It leads to unequal treatment and largely fails to achieve its goals. This is shown by Federica Casano’s PhD research.

Deze zomer verscheen een prachtig boek: "Geleefd geloof. Het geloofsleven van boeren en burgers in Friesland en de Ommelanden van Groningen,1250-1580". Bijdragen zijn er van beide redacteuren, Anneke B. Mulder-Bakker en Rolf H. Bremmer Jr, en van o.a. Sible de Blaauw, Jos Koldeweij, Catrien Santingh,…

Op donderdag 17 april 2025 neemt prof. dr. Marco Mostert, Hoogleraar Middeleeuwse Geschiedenis aan de Universiteit Utrecht afscheid.

On Monday 28 June 2021, a text based on an interview with Christa Tobler appeared in the Hofvijver (Montesquieu Instituut) on the relationship between the European Union and Switzerland, in particular after the decision of the Swiss Federal Government to refrain from signing an agreement on institutional…

Dit deel bevat de editie of heruitgave van 52 papyri en ostraca, daterend uit de periode tussen de derde eeuw voor Christus en de achtste eeuw na Christus.

Yiya Chen has been appointed professor of Phonetics at Leiden University as of March 1, 2020.

What can we learn from how maritime conflicts were managed in the past? What significance did Maritime Conflict Management have in shaping the standards of diplomacy and international law in pre-modern Atlantic Europe (1200-1600)?

The BLRN members have published extensively in recent years. In addition to the BLRN book series, dissertations of BLRN members published in the E.M. Meijers Institute Series, you will find below a selection of our publications. For a more complete overview of publications of each BLRN member, please…

The Sundanese people, the largest ethnic group in West Java, have been using traditional medicine for a long time. Known as ubar kampung, Sundanese indigenous knowledge, beliefs and practices of traditional medicine are based on local people’s knowledge and use of Medicinal, Aromatic, and Cosmetic (MAC)…

In the hunt for a vaccine against cervical cancer, fundamental knowledge about the immune system and organic chemistry have been brought together and have already resulted in a vaccine that is now being tested in clinical trials. Scientists are now working hard on an improved variant.

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease, and vaccination may be an attractive method to induce long lasting protection against endogenous factors that contribute to the development of atherosclerosis. We have shown that for example vaccination against modified LDL or interleukin-12 limits…

On the 9th of June Bahaddin Budak successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

In this dossier you can read about Leiden University’s commitment to sustainability.

VODAN Africa started as a platform to enable access to critical data needed from Africa to fight the novel COVID-19. The initiative was inspired by the experience from the Liberia Ebola Virus outbreak in 2014: early detection requires contact tracing. Inclusion of the most vulnerable is critical to…

Supervisor: Maarten Doornbos

The lack of success of new CNS drugs in clinical development is in part due to the complexity of the CNS, unexpected side effects, difficulties for drugs to penetrate the brain, but also by the lack of biomarkers.

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…

The ambition of the Metabolomics and Analytics Centre led by Thomas Hankemeier is to develop innovative analytical strategies for metabolomics-driven health monitoring and systems biology studies. Understanding the intricate balance between health, disease and adaptation to challenges relies on the…

Supervisor: Lizi Xia

The research of this PhD project can be subdivided into two main disease areas: migraine and stroke. For both we will be investigating how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques can be used to study these afflictions, their (early) detection, and their potential treatment.

Can a virtual character’s friendly non-verbal responses stimulate eye-contact in individuals with varying levels of social anxiety?

This programme examines cultural space, national identity and the politics of tangible and intangible heritage in Islamic Central Asia.

Maritime conflict management is the regulation of conflict in relation to the sea. It comprises conflict enforcement, conflict resolution and conflict avoidance. How did victims of maritime conflicts claim and obtain damages or demand compensation or reparation?

The Law of the European Union is a complete reference work on all aspects of the law of the European Union, including the institutional framework, the Internal Market, Economic and Monetary Union and external policy and action.

You can ask virtual assistant Siri about the weather, but you can’t have a real conversation with it yet. You can’t refer to anything that’s been said before, or ask the system why it says what it says. Stephan Raaijmakers, Professor by Special Appointment from TNO, hopes to change this.

In this thesis, we will utilize embryonic zebrafish tumour models to understand the interaction between engrafted human cancer cells and macrophages from the host, test drug administration modalities and anti-cancer efficacies of newly-developed PDT and PACT compounds, and test a light-triggered liposomal…

To investigate the effectiveness of an online self-help programme for people with HIV and depressive symptoms.

The central question of this Vici proposal is to investigate if, and how actinobacteria exploit life without a cell wall.

This research programme encourages the analysis of nascent Islam within the framework of religious studies.

The aims of the project are to: further clarify 'inhibition by safety'; explore and describe all possible sagety factors, with a special focus on the primary human safety source: social connectedness; reviewing prolonged stress responses without stressors.

The research within the Division of Cell Systems and Drug Safety, headed by Prof. Bob van de Water, is focused on novel therapeutic modalities and novel concepts in early drug discovery, in order to develop more effective and safer therapeutic strategies. We generate advanced cell and computational…

Pharmacy undergraduate education at Leiden Pharmacy combines the strong scientific foundation of the bachelor programme Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences with experience-based learning and a strong focus on pharmaceutical patient care and pharmaceutical treatment in the master programme Pharmacy.

The overarching aim of this theme is to increase our understanding of the mechanisms underlying altered cognitive, affective, and social behavior in relation to mental health problems.

The effect of the pilot Teen courts will be evaluated by means of a programme, process and effect study based on qualitative research methods.

Channi Li defended her thesis on 15 October 2019.

The master’s programme of Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences at Leiden University examines the research area of bio-pharmaceutical sciences and drug research. It offers seven specialisations ranging from BioTherapeutics to Industrial Pharmacy.

In this thesis, single-cell approaches were applied to characterize the impact of aging on the immunological B cell landscape in different models of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, with the goal to identify and study new B cell-associated biomarkers and therapeutic targets to halt atherosclerosis…

Do you want to learn how to prevent child problems by optimising caregiving? Would you like to advise parents, professional caregivers and policy makers on caregiving-issues? In that case the master’s specialisation Parenting and Child Development is the ideal choice for you!

The research master’s specialisation Clinical and Health Psychology prepares you for a PhD trajectory.

The Common Market Law Review has had its editorial office in the Leiden Europa Institute ever since it was founded in 1963.