How does the brain develop from birth up to adolescence? And why are young people given so little information about the development of their brain? Two new websites of the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition provide an answer.

Advanced UHF MRI techniques provide powerful tools for studying the zebrafish brain, an emerging model in neurological research. In this work, various MRI and localized MRS methods are optimized and employed for UHF strength for studying the zebrafish brain.

Biodiversity enables ecosystems to thrive through the synergy of functional differences among organisms. While human well-being strongly depends on biodiversity-driven ecosystem services, human actions are also at the root of current unprecedented biodiversity declines.

Promotores: H.W. Lenstra, A. Lucchini

Clinical psychologist Bernet Elzinga has been appointed as Professor of a personal chair at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. This professorship will contribute both nationally and internationally to the broader promotion of Leiden University in the field of stress and psychopathology.

A key challenge in neuroscience is understanding how neurons in hundreds of interconnected brain regions integrate sensory inputs with previous expectations to initiate movements and make decisions.

Serge Rombouts is a physicist whose PhD thesis was about functional MRI (fMRI). This visualises activity in regions of the brain. The appealing images of glowing brain regions that emerge from the computer are the result of calculations. According to Rombouts, this isn’t proper artificial intelligence.…

Which brain cell does what, when Parkinson's disease arises? It won't be long before this jigsaw is solved piece by piece. Ahmed Mahfouz, computational biologist, combines bio-knowledge from Leiden with algorithms from Delft and is getting closer to finding the key.

Metal-containing molecules combine geometrical features and a reactivity that are inherently different from that of organic molecules. My research focuses on light-activatable metal-based anticancer drugs and metal-functionalized liposomes. Light is a very selective way to activate photosensitive drugs…

Brain activity changes as people age, which can lead to cognitive decline. By measuring and comparing brain data from mice and humans, the researcher will investigate how the brain’s noise levels change with age and affect choice behavior.

When a physical system possesses symmetries, these are often accompanied by a representation of the symmetry group on a Hilbert space. Group representations on Hilbert spaces have been extensively studied.

Promotores: Prof.dr. H. van Veen & Prof.dr. W. de Boer (Wageningen University)

Promotores: J.A.van Veen, P.L.G.Klinkhamer. Co-promotor: E.E.Kuramae

Diacylglycerol lipases (DAGLα and DAGLβ) convert diacylglycerol to the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol. Our understanding of DAGL function has been hindered by a lack of chemical probes that can perturb these enzymes in vivo.

Children and adolescents really do use their ‘smart’ brain areas. This has been confirmed by an extensive and long-running study of the brain carried out by developmental psychologist Sabine Peters . Her findings can have important consequences for education. PhD defence 27 January.

Promotor: S.J. Edixhoven, Co-promotor: K.J. Batenburg

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

Promoter: J.G.E.M.Fraaije, Co-promotor: A. Kros

During adolescence, mood disorder onset peaks. Mood variability is associated with negative mental health outcomes, so understanding biological factors that might be associated with mood variability, such as sleep and structural brain development, could elucidate the mechanisms underlying mood and anxiety…

On 12 April 2022 Alok Oak successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Novel language learning activates different neural processes than was previously thought. A Leiden research team has discovered parallel but separate contributions from the hippocampus and Broca's area, the learning centre in the left hemisphere. The right hemisphere of the brain also seems to play…

Globally and regionally, biodiversity is declining and there are shifts in species’ occurrences and functional traits.

Brain development in children with an extra X chromosome as compared to children with autism: evidence from MRI

Wetland plants are distinguished from plants of other terrestrial ecosystems by their adaptations to specific habitat stresses, including waterlogged and flooding and the subsequent abundance of phytotoxic compounds.

In this thesis, time-lapse fluorescent microscopy plays a pivotal role in investigating functional materials within living cells as well as the migratory behaviour of neural progenitor cells.

This page is under construction.

Due to their central physiological roles in living organisms, retaining beta-glycosidases have been the subject of tremendous research efforts to examine their structure/function relation using numerous biophysical and biochemical approaches.

Single-layer graphene (SLG) has attracted considerable interest as a proton exchange membrane for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs), owing to its atomic thickness, mechanical robustness, and unique proton permeability.

PhD defence

Metals surfaces form a group of effective catalysts for the reaction of small molecules such as hydrogen (H2).

A tried and tested medication for treating ADHD works differently than expected in the brains of healthy individuals during rest: rather than stimulating brain activity, it suppresses it.

Our childhood years largely determine how we will fare later in life. In the first two decades of our life, our brain is still developing, which is clearly reflected in our behaviour. By studying how the young brain develops and how children behave, researchers can learn important information about…

Managing Diversity: Supervising Functions in Managing Colonial Workplaces

This publication by Cornelis van Tilburg, will be published at Sidestone Press on September 28, 2022. It discusses various aspects of city gates in the Western Roman Empire: Italy, Spain, Gaul, Germany and Britain.

Some people are more sensitive to depression than others. But why is that the case? Clinical psychologist Niki Antypa studied how vulnerability to depression is influenced by cognition. She also found a first careful indication that a treatment with omega-3 fatty acids might provide a solution.

Microglia support the central and peripheral nervous system by forming the first line of defense against hazardous events. Microglia are increasingly acknowledged as critical players in neurodegenerative diseases, highlighting them as potential therapeutic targets.

This thesis describes our search to identify and understand possible regulatory mechanisms of integrin α6β4 in cell-matrix adhesion and intracelular signaling.

Advanced sensing techniques require graphene with high quality and well-controlled surface chemistry.

Quantifying physical activity (using accelerometers) and combining the frequency and intensity of activities with health data (brain MRI, traditional clinical parameters and metabolomics) is of utmost importance to monitor mobility and health among older individuals and study health promotion during…

This book describes the different approaches for drug delivery to the brain with an emphasis on the physiology of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the governing principles and concepts for drug delivery across the BBB

Supervisor: P.J.J. Hooykaas

Source: International Journal of Cosmetic Science, Volume 37, Number 1, pp. 158-158 (2015) ISBN: 0142-5463

Source: Mol Pharmacol, Volume 87, Issue 2, pp. 305-13 (2015)

The function of TLRs in innate immunity has aroused worldwide attention soon after its discovery. Because of the broad functions of TLR2 in innate immunity, the drive for the development of TLR2-targeted vaccines or therapeutic treatments has accelerated in the last decades.

In light of climate change, it is crucial to determine whether plant species can adapt to future climates to avoid extinction. Plants adapt to various conditions by altering their functional traits, such as leaf size or photosynthetic rate. Some traits appear linked and vary together between species,…

Chemical biologists from Leiden, led by Dr Mario van der Stelt, have discovered substances that can reduce inflammation processes in the brain. This is a first step in the development of potential medicines for the treatment of brain diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Published in Proceedings…