Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the deadliest common cancer, with only 8% of patients surviving for five years. One reason for this poor outcome is that current chemotherapy treatments are highly toxic, often leaving patients too sick to receive treatment or forcing doctors to lower the dose…

Key publications of the Barz Lab

Research lines within the Pharmacy group:

In order to gain a better insight into the basis of the rapid jasmonic acid (JA)-mediated stress response, an integrated approach using a targeted high-resolution mass spectrometry-based (HRMS) platform, was conducted to monitor the metabolism of JA using the model system of cell suspension cultures…

Dr. at Max Planck Institute for chemical Ecology, Jena - Germany

Promotores: Prof. Dr. Th.J.C. van Berkel, Prof. Dr. M. van Eck

Key publications of the Biomedical Microscale Analytics group.

Improving environmental risk assessment of pesticides in surface waters

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).

We aim to unravel the complex and intertwining regulatory systems that control development and antibiotic production in streptomycetes.

Individual molecules are extremely hard to see through feeble fluorescence. Tiny gold nanorods serve as new antennas to intensify their signal 500 times. Publication on 24 February in Angewandte Chemie.

Artificial photosynthesis aims to produce fuels from solar energy using chemical processes. In semi-artificial photosynthesis, a hybrid approach is taken using both chemical and biotechnology components. We are developing hybrid systems, coupling light-harvesting nanoparticles to redox-enzymes (oxidoreductases)…

To increase clinical success rate of drugs, a better understanding of drug action mechanism and disease dynamics is required. Metabolomics, which studies small molecules involved in biochemical processes in organisms, has shown to be a useful tool for this better understanding.

Both psoriasis and atheroslcerosis are diseases characterized by a chronic and systemic inflammatory profile with local lipid disturbances that alter the barrier function of the skin (psoriasis) and cause the development of atherosclerotic plaques (atherosclerosis).

Mechanobiology is a major area in biology, however, mechanics is currently a missing element in drug development pipelines. This has led to a high cost for the society. Mechanotoxicity of drugs often appears as a long-term side effect of drugs, and has led to removal of drugs from the market. Furthermore,…

Promotor: C.A.J. Knibbe, Co-promotores: H.P.A. van Dongen, B. van Ramshorst

Promotor: Prof.dr. R. Verpoorte, Co-promotores: Dr. Y.H.Choi, N.R. Mustafa

The investigation into the bidirectional communication between the gut and its host is a rapidly growing area of research, attracting considerable attention for its potential to provide crucial insights into health and disease.

Metabolomics is a powerful tool that can provide a comprehensive insight into the complexity of human biology and the pathophysiology of diseases. By analyzing the metabolome, which refers to the complete set of small (endogenous) molecules (with a mass <1500 Da) present within a given biological system,…

On this page the programme and sessions can be found.

Promotor: M.A.G.J. Orrit

Aluminium-based adjuvants, such as aluminium hydroxide and aluminium phosphate, are well-known for their immune-stimulating properties.

Formulation of biopharmaceuticals

This thesis explores squaramide-based supramolecular polymers and hydrogels, enhancing their mechanical strength for 3D cell culture.

Projects in the department of Environmental Biology

What is the size and composition of the Dutch urban mine? How will the urban mine develop over time, and how can it be used as a source of materials as part of a circular economy?

The goal of pre-clinical development is to bridge the transition from lead compounds to clinical candidates by comprehensively characterizing safety, efficacy, and pharmacological properties. Once a lead compound demonstrates promising activity in disease models, it enters pre-clinical development where…

Macrophages and atherosclerotic lesions The infiltration of monocytes in the arterial wall, their differentiation to macrophages, and the subsequent accumulation of cholesterol in these macrophages initiate the process of atherosclerosis. We study the importance of specific genes in macrophages for…

The major and ultimate aim of metabolomics is to obtain an answer to a specific biological or clinical question.

The company Azafaros was established in 2018 to translate innovative science from Leiden University and Amsterdam University Medical Center into novel disease-modifying treatment modalities for rare genetic metabolic disorders such as lysosomal storage diseases.

Although plant domestication has significantly altered crop genetics and phenotypes, its effects on the taxonomic and functional diversity of plant-associated microbiomes are not well understood.

The cellular metabolism of immune cells constitutes an important part of their proper function and activation. Using T cells as an example, this phenomenon is highlighted by the metabolic reprogramming that occurs in these cells upon activation.

This thesis focuses on the development of sample-preparation methods for small amounts of samples and applying the developed methods to muscle tissues to investigate the mechanisms involved in sarcopenia.

PhD defence

Current research at the Skin Barrier and Vaccination group.

The Biomedical Microscale Analytics group is led by Dr. Rawi Ramautar. In present-day metabolomics, and bioanalysis in general, the analytical toolbox used encounters difficulties for the analysis of limited amounts of biological samples. As a result, a significant number of crucial biomedical/clinical…

PhD at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Golm – Germany

Dr. in Biomedical NMR spectroscopy, LUMC, Leiden - The Netherlands

The impact of the phenotypic plasticity of P. aeruginosa and the distinct CF lung microenvironments on antibiotic drug effects and resistance remains poorly understood.

For more information regarding ongoing research projects, please contact Prof. Johan Kuiper.

An overview of the research at the Biologics Formulation group

Coordination chemistry is the chemistry of metal atoms

Lecture

Heterogeneous catalysis is essential to many industrial applications. These catalysts are often comprised of supported nanoparticles, which contain various different surface sites.

Key publications of the Skin Barrier and Vaccination group.

Mouse models are commonly used to assess the immunogenicity of therapeutic proteins and to investigate the immunological processes leading to antidrug antibodies. The aim of this work was to develop a transgenic (TG) Balb/c mouse model for evaluating the immunogenicity of recombinant human insulin (insulin)…