A full overview of MCBIM PhD theses.

The long term goal of the Biophysical Organic Chemistry/SSNMR group, headed by Prof. Huub de Groot, is to reach an understanding of structure, dynamics and functional mechanisms of membrane proteins and self-organized biological assemblies and to translate this knowledge into new concepts for nano-devices,…

Promotor: H.J.M. de Groot

These are the proposed research projects for LEAPS 2019. Please note that not all projects will go ahead and some may still be added in the near future. Final funding decisions lie with the Faculty sponsors. And please make a note that if you are interested in an ESA project, to check if your state…

To ensure that the growing global flows of labour migrants are guided correctly, we need knowledge. Why do people leave home, why do they go to specific countries, and how can that choice be influenced? And what are the consequences of their leaving for the people who stay?

Coordination chemistry is the chemistry of metal atoms

The master’s specialisation Research in Physics, Quantum Matter and Optics at Leiden University offers a thorough experience on the front line of physics research with a practical training of communicative and computer skills. The programme focuses on Condensed Matter problems, such as Molecular Electronics,…

What is emotion in human and nonhuman animals? How do emotions get to expression and how do they impact on our interactions, our decisions to trust, distrust or cooperate? Why do we mimic and synchronise affective processes?

Leiden physicist Maarten Kruithof has discovered how our DNA is infallibly able to fold itself and to unfold again. In his dissertation he demonstrates how DNA is folded in a single long, very flexible spiral.

Physicist Christopher Berg Smiet, who recently obtained his PhD in Leiden, has been awarded an NWO Rubicon. The grant allows him to conduct postdoctoral research for two years at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) in the United States.

This header image was once elected Image of the Week by De Volkskrant and won second place in the LION Image Award. The research behind it is no less successful if we’re counting prizes. Last August, group leader Tjerk Oosterkamp was awarded an NWO Projectruimte grant, and now NWO-TTW grants him an…

Theoretical physicists research a special class of particles; Weyl fermions. They have found them to exhibit paradoxical behavior, in contradiction to a thirty-year old fundamental theory in electromagnetism. A possible application is a new kind of electronics—spintronics. Publication in Physical Review…

An international team of researchers led by Leiden University (the Netherlands) has mapped nine gigantic collisions of galaxy clusters. The collisions took place seven billion years ago and could be observed because they accelerate particles to high speeds. It is the first time that collisions of such…

Physics professor Jan Aarts starts a collaboration with chip manufacturer Intel to perform fundamental research in low-power, cryogenic computing.

Christopher Berg Smiet, who defended his thesis at LION with Dirk Bouwmeester, won the Christiaan Huygens prize for his thesis '‘Knots in Plasma’. On 7 October, he received a certificate, a bronze statuette and ten thousand euros.

Electrons that spin synchronously around their axis, turn out to stay superconducting across large distances within magnetic chromium dioxide. Electric current from these electrons can flip small magnets, and its superconducting version could form the basis for a hard drive without energy loss. Publication…

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. This makes fundamental research on the precise cause of the illness of vital importance. One of the possible suspects is a certain protein filled with iron. Leiden physicist Lucia Bossoni (LION/LUMC) has now developed a new way of investigating…

A Dutch-Italian-German team of astronomers has observed a huge glow of radio emission around a cluster of thousands of galaxies. They combined data from thousands of LOFAR antennas that were focused for 18 nights on an area the size of four full moons. This is the first time astronomers have been able…

On October 26, the Dutch Embassy in Berlin celebrated the opening of a new research network for Dutch academics in Germany. Dutch minister of Education, Culture and Science Robbert Dijkgraaf gave the starting signal for this new initiative.

The updated MRI scanner at the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC) will become operational on 29 September. The new version is faster and better than the current model.

Using the Dutch-led Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope, astronomers have discovered unusual radio waves coming from the nearby red dwarf star GJ1151. The radio waves bear the tell-tale signature of aurorae caused by an interaction between a star and its planet. The radio emission from a star-planet…

KNAW has elected eighteen new members, including two professors at Leiden University and one who studied and obtained his PhD in Leiden. The New Academy members will be installed at a later date this year.

Het Departement Architectuur (Faculteit Ingenieurswetenschappen, Campus Heverlee KU Leuven), zoekt kandidaten voor het project: “Verloren middeleeuwse forten in de Lage Landen ontsloten in 3D”. Het betreft een volledig gefinancierde doctoraatsbeurs in het veld van de architectuurgeschiedenis. Deadline…

Op 26 september vindt de boekpresentatie van de jubileumeditie en herziene vertaling van Thomas Kempis' Navolging van Christus plaats in Boekhandel Van der Velde in de Broeren in Zwolle. De presentatie begint om 20.00 uur (inloop vanaf 19u30).

Biophysicist Anjali Pandit has been awarded a FOM 'Projectruimte' research grant for her proposal ‘Tuning into the photosynthetic membrane with atomistic precision’.

Since 2015 the United Nations have declared 11 February the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Leiden University organized a public event for over a hundred visitors. In between a lecture on the building blocks of life and a talkshow on the impact of science on society, high school students…

Andrew Webb, Professor of MRI Physics at LUMC and teacher at the Physics education at Leiden University, has been awarded the 2017 NWO Simon Stevin Master Prize. The prize includes a cash award of 500,000 euros. Webb is planning to use the prize to develop new MRI techniques that allow diseases to be…

NWO has granted Jan Aarts en Vadim Cheianov a Physics Projectruimte, a granting instrument for small-scale projects that propose innovative fundamental physics research that has a scientific, industrial or social urgency.

King Willem-Alexander has commissioned independent research into the role of the House of Orange-Nassau in Dutch colonial history. The research will take three years to complete and will cover the period from the late 16th century to the postcolonial present. The research will be carried out at Leiden…

In an Advance Online Publication biophysicist John van Noort and others show using magnetic tweezers that DNA is folded in compliant helices of chromatin. This allows enzymes access to the DNA needed for gene expression. Van Noort's research group made the discovery in close partnership with researchers…

In our HANDS!Lab for Sign Languages and Deaf Studies, we run projects pertaining to sign language linguistics with a focus on Africa. In addition, we are running projects on sign language teaching, tactile signing, deaf people’s experiences with the legal system, and deaf history.

In this research group, led by Dr. Joost Beltman, the aim is to employ mathematical and computational dynamical modelling approaches in order to quantitatively and mechanistically understand the dynamical behaviour and regulation of intracellular networks of genes, proteins and metabolites as well as…

Vera Meester has won the annual Physics Image Award 2016, with her photo of 'smiling' colloids. The Volkskrant published the picture as Image of the Week.

The way genes are folded determines their activity in our body. Leiden biophysicists are now the first to unravel this structure molecule-by-molecule. Publication on December 1st in Nature’s Scientific Reports.

With a headwind of 80 kilometres per hour, pouring rain and freezing temperatures, Jurjun van der Velde cycles down the Oosterscheldekering. On his traditional Dutch bike with back pedal brake, he is the second PhD student from the faculty to win the title.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2016 goes to David Thouless, Michael Kosterlitz and Duncan Haldane for theoretical discoveries in the field of topological materials. Haldane spent part of 2008 in Leiden; he is the 14th Lorentz Professor to win a Nobel Prize.

Majorana particles have been getting bad publicity: a claimed discovery in ultracold nanowires had to be retracted. Now Leiden physicists open up a new door to detecting Majoranas in a different experimental system, the Fu-Kane heterostructure, they announce in Physical Review Letters.

Researchers from the Leiden Institute of Chemistry show proof of principle that live-cell structural changes and metabolic processes can be followed in real time with NMR spectroscopy. They performed their study on photosynthetic green algae that are metabolically flexible and can sustain energy generation…

A new NMR microscope gives researchers an improved instrument to study fundamental physical processes. It also offers new possibilities for medical science, for example to better study proteins in Alzheimer patients’ brains. Publication in Physical Review Applied.

The project has been done in the High field MRI and clinical applications department under the supervision of Prof.dr. Andrew Webb. The title of the presentation is: ''Developing an Open Source Budget-MRI Using Permanent Magnets.

The project has been done in the Biological Matter group under the supervision of Dr.ir. John van Noort. The title of the presentation is: ''G-Quadruplex structure in double-stranded DNA studied by a combination of FRET and Magnetic Tweezers.

In the latest episode of DWDD University on 'Light', Prof. Robbert Dijkgraaf used a number of experiments from the Leiden Physics Practicum Lab. He showed why the sky is blue, that light is a wave phenomenon, how magnetism and electricity are connected and that white light consists of all colors of…

The project has been done in the Quantum Matter & Optics group under the supervision of Prof.dr.ir. Tjerk Oosterkamp.The title of the presentation is:

Museum Boerhaave commemorated the hundredth anniversary of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity with the exhibition ‘Einstein & Friends’. The exhibition shined light on the famous physicist’s Dutch friends and his love for Leiden. A review featuring seven images can be found below.

Analysis of neuroimaging data requires multiple steps where statistics play a crucial role. The MRI methods research group develops new statistical methods that are accurate, transparent and easy to use.

Plants, algae and cyanobacteria have the amazing capacity to perform delicate photophysical and photochemical processes of light capture, excitation transfer, charge separation and catalysis in fluctuating living environments. As a consequence, photosynthetic proteins and membranes form dynamic architectures.…

Here you will find an overview of the Spaces for Active Teaching and Learning already implemented at Leiden University and LUMC. These rooms vary in size, location, material affordances, and technological affordances, and thus vary in the forms of pedagogy they best support. You can use this site as…

Huub de Groot is professor in Biophysical Organic Chemistry. With his team he works in the field of photosynthesis and artificial photosynthesis. The molecular basis for photosynthesis is formed by protein complexes and organelles that contain chlorophyll molecules. The antenna systems herein capture…

The Cryogenics Department has a liquid helium production unit and an automatic liquid nitrogen filling plant.

The Iran war has pushed up fuel prices and raised concerns about a global energy shortage. How well prepared is the Netherlands? We asked two experts.