The filamentous bacteria Streptomyces are widespread inhabitants of terrestrial soils.

This ecological community has long been known to affect host biology, and their diverse roles have been further clarified in recent years following numerous studies of animal:microbiota interactions in diverse systems.

Promotor: G.P. van Wezel

The Supramolecular & Biomaterials Chemistry group comprises the PIs Alexander Kros, Roxanne Kieltyka, Gregory Schneider and Sander Wezenberg, and is active in the field of self-assembly of amphiphilic peptides and applying them in supramolecular chemistry.

Develop a prototype combined chemical-microbial enzymatical process for the sustainable, green recycling and revalorization of polyamides and polystyrene

Promotor: Prof.dr. G.P. van Wezel, Co-Promotor: E. Vijgenboom

The relative simplicity of the bacterial cell, short generation times and well defined and inexpensive culturing conditions have significantly contributed to our understanding of many complex biological systems. Yet the workings of the bacterial genome, seemingly impossibly compressed within a tiny…

Promotor: J.A. van Veen, Co-promotor: E.E. Kuramae

Doctoral Thesis

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.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria pose a major health threat. Addressing this challenge requires among others the development of new antibacterial compounds. The research described in this thesis focuses on discovering novel antibiotics from soil bacteria, specifically Streptomyces and Paenibacillus.Despite…

Our research aims to develop drugs that boost the host immune response to better defend us against mycobacteria.

Promotor: Prof.dr. H.P. Spaink, Co-promotor: Dr. M. van der Zee

Research in the Lars Jeuken group focusses on redox-active proteins and membranes enzymes, aiming to understand bacterial respiration at the molecular level for the development of antimicrobials and semi-artificial photo-synthetic cells.

Streptomyces are filamentous bacteria that produce more than two-thirds of known antibiotics.

Streptomyces are multicellular, Gram-positive bacteria in the phylum of actinobacteria which produce a high amount of bioactive natural products of which the expression is tightly coordinated with the life cycle.

Every organisms in the tree of life faces the same challenge: the length of its DNA exceeds the volume of the cell it needs to fit in. Several strategies have evolved to solve this problem, one of them being the expression of proteins that bind and organize the DNA.

Promotor: Prof.dr. H.P. Spaink, Co-promotor: Prof.dr. A.H. Meijer

Control of infectious diseases poses continuous challenges for human health.

Animal Sciences’ contributions to the Host-Microbe Interactions research theme focus on the interaction of animal hosts with pathogenic microbes but also the beneficial role of the gut microbiome.

Bacterial biocatalysis constitutes a sustainable alternative for high-value chemicals production by enabling the utilization of renewable feedstocks.

Are you graduating at the Faculty of Science? Or are you supervising a PhD student? At the Graduate School of Science you find support at every phase of your PhD.

The long-held desire - to link structure directly to function and to explain molecular mechanisms based on basic chemical or physical principles - is finally coming closer, satisfying not only our scientific curiosity but also offering new solutions to the many challenges in the field of health, energy…

The CMCB brings together a diverse range of unique expertise in microbial cell biology. Members of the CMCB investigate both model and non-model organisms, bacteria and archaea, pathogens and non-pathogens.

In populations with a seed-bank, individuals can temporarily become dormant and refrain from reproduction until they can become active again. The repository of all dormant individuals in the population is called the seed-bank. Seed-banks are observed in many taxa, including plants, bacteria and other…

The type-IV secretion system (T4SS) is a machinery able to transfer DNA and proteins between bacteria and in certain cases also to eukaryotic cells.

Promotor: Prof.dr. J. Kuiper, Co-Promotor: S.C.A. de Jager

Bacterial chemosensory arrays are protein assemblies that are the key structural and functional component for motile bacteria to sense their internal or environmental chemical signals.

The key characteristic of active matter is the motion of an emergent collection (such as a flock of birds), which is driven by the consumption of energy by its active components (i.e. individual birds).

Exploiting the Ecological Role of Natural Products as Novel Biocontrol Agents (LIPQUORUM): The central aim of LIPQUORUM is to unravel the intricate interkingdom signaling mechanisms between the Bacillus subtilis species complex and the devastating fungal pathogen Sporisorium scitamineum.

Promotor: Prof.dr. G.P. van Wezel

The portal for prospective Indonesian Students contains information about the possibilities to study at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Increasing resistance and a lack of new antibiotics are a serious problem for public health. Against this background, Gilles van Wezel of the Institute of Biology Leiden is looking for new medicines. Together with former PhD student Changsheng Wu and colleagues he discovered the special antibiotic lugdunomycin,…

Key research articles, reviews and books of the Chromatin group.

Promotor: S.M. Verduyn Lunel, Co-Promotores: S.C.Hille, O.W. van Gaans

Tuberculosis is a major global health problem caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, claiming more than a million lives annually.

Promotor: Prof.dr. H.P. Spaink, Co-promotor: Prof. dr. A.H. Meijer

With the powerful electron microscopes at NeCEN we study abnormalities in cells of blood vessels in cardiovascular disease, the interaction between pathogens and hosts in infectious diseases, molecular processes that cause cancer and the interaction between drugs and target proteins. Drug development…

Actinobacteria are Gram-positive bacteria that have a complex multicellular life cycle and are well known for their ability to produce a wide range of bioactive natural products (NPs).

The main focus of the thesis is the discovery and development of novel inhibitors of bacterial metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs).

New or improved treatments for chronic and acute illness.

In Microbial Sciences, we perform multidisciplinary research to understand the structure and function of microbes at all levels of biological organization, from small molecules and cellular structures at atomic resolution to multicellular communities.

Glycoconjugate vaccines are composed of microbial poly- or oligosaccharides covalently linked to a carrier protein.

Bachelor and Master students of all chemistry related studies are more than welcome to take part in our research activities. We have projects on design and synthesis of biologically relevant compounds within an ongoing research project. Supervision, following the apprentice/teacher model, is one of…

Promotor: G.A. van der Marel, Co-promotor: J.D.C. Codée

The master's specialisation Molecular, Cellular and Organismal Biology at Leiden University examines the molecular mechanisms underlying health and disease and how cells and organisms adapt to environmental factors.

Dr. Foks obtained this fellowship for the project “Can promotion of efferocytosis induce regression of atherosclerosis?”, in which she aims to identify novel targets to promote regression of atherosclerosis. This research grant allows her to initiate independent research for the next three years.

Can furan-based resisn be degraded by microbial enzymes in combination with mild pre-treatment?

The infectious diseases malaria and tuberculosis are responsible for 2.1 million deaths every year. Leiden researchers are currently testing a new tuberculosis vaccine.