Bacteria use antibiotics as a weapon and even produce more antibiotics if there are competing strains nearby. This is a fundamental insight that can help find new antibiotics. Leiden scientists Daniel Rozen and Gilles van Wezel published their research results in the authoritative Proceedings of the…

Lecture

‘Microscopy is by far the least understood, most inefficiently operated, and the most abused of all laboratory instruments,’ reads the quote on the office wall of microscopy unit supporters Joost Willemse en Gerda Lamers. It describes exactly why the two developed the microscopy course for starting…

When a bacterium becomes more resistant to one antibiotic, it sometimes becomes more sensitive to another. To better understand this interaction, researchers from the Leiden Institute of Biology (IBL) and the Leiden Academic Center for Drug Research (LACDR) under supervision of Daniel Rozen and Coen…

Education & outreach

Research in this group, headed by Gerard van Westen, focusses on computational methods integrated in different parts of the drug discovery process. More specifically, topics include innovative treatments for cancer, selectivity modeling, translational research, allosteric modulation, drug resistance…

Pathogenic bacteria are increasingly resistant to today’s antibiotics. Professor Gilles van Wezel seeks new forms of antibiotics in good bacteria that live in the soil.

Light-Harvesting Complex II (LHCII) is responsible for light absorption and excitation energy transfer in plants and photosynthetic algae, while in high light it undergoes conformational changes by which it quenches excitations to prevent photodamage.

Chemical tools to monitor drug-target engagement of endogenously expressed protein kinases are highly desirable for preclinical target validation in drug discovery. Here, we describe a chemical genetics strategy to selectively study target engagement of endogenous kinases.

Promotor: H.S. Overkleeft, Co-promotor: M. van der Stelt

This thesis describes the antimicrobial discovery strategy developed in our group, the den Hertog Group at the Hubrecht Institute. It includes a cultivation-based screening approach for novel antimicrobial agents from the source of fungi, and a bacterial time-lapse imaging approach for antimicrobial…

Protoplanetary disks are the gas and dust environments where planetary systems form around young stars. Using observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) this thesis analyses the gaseous molecular reservoir, using multiple tracers to resolve the 3D structure of protoplanetary…

N-acylethanolamines (NAEs), including N-arachidonoylethanolamine (anandamide, AEA), N-palmitoylethanolamine (PEA) and N-oleoylethanolamine (OEA), are signaling lipids that play an important role in different physiological process.

Promotor: Prof.dr. A.P. IJzerman, Co-Promotor: Dr. L.H. Heitman

The disease acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is characterized by fast progression and low survival rates.

This thesis explored the molecular pharmacological mechanisms of targeting CB2R via investigation of novel drug discovery concepts such as target binding kinetics, allosteric modulation and biased signaling.

The cannabinoid CB2 receptor (CB2R) represents a promising therapeutic target for various forms of tissue injury and inflammatory diseases. Although numerous compounds have been developed and widely used to target CB2R, their selectivity, molecular mode of action and pharmacokinetic properties have…

This thesis describes the use of an activity-based proteomics method to study the endocannabinoid system.

Our group operates at the cross-roads of different disciplines: molecular and cellular microbiology, biochemistry, structural biology and biophysics. The group harbors expertise in a multitude of molecular and cellular approaches including:

During the course of drug discovery translational steps are made.

The specialisation consists of 120 European Credit Transfer System (EC) points and includes courses and electives (30 - 60 EC) and and one or more research projects (60 - 90 EC).

The specialisation consists of 120 European Credit Transfer System (EC) points and includes courses and electives (30-60 EC) and and one or more research projects (60-90 EC).

What are the phylogenetic relationships among the members of speciation bursts?

Intrigued by the way cells autonomously regulate their fate, we strive to understand and visualize cellular processes as the basis of Cell Signaling.

Promotor: Huub J.M. de Groot, Co-promotor: Francesco Buda

The central aims of MicroClock project are to describe the B. subtilis circadian clock at molecular and functional levels, and discover the mechanisms of clock-regulated bidirectional signaling between B. subtilis and the model plant Arabidopsis

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are widely prescribed as anti-inflammatory drugs due to their well-established immunosuppressive effects.

The aim of this project is to explore the use of statistical interaction models to quantify cross-omics and omics-drug interactions in large-scale clinical and experimental datasets

The lipid matrix of the skin's stratum corneum plays a key role in the barrier function, which protects the body from desiccation. The lipids that make up this matrix consist of ceramides, cholesterol, and free fatty acids, and can form two coexisting crystalline lamellar phases: the long periodicity…

Mashaghi lab conducts research at the interface of physics, engineering and biomedicine. We develop and use theoretical and experimental approaches to address basic and applied research problems.

Professors Jos Raaijmakers (NIOO) and Gilles Van Wezel (IBL) received an STW Perspectief- grant of €3 million from the Dutch Technology Foundation and several supporting companies.

The elderly accept may minor discomforts like stiffer muscles and getting tired more quickly, but they do want to go to their children's birthdays independently. Preventive elderly care helps people with that. The goal is to let people grow old while maintaining their self-reliance and independence…

Physics and Engineering Approaches to Biomedicine and Pharmacology

PhD defence

Some examples of AI-research done at Leiden.

Promotor: H.J.M. de Groot

PBDL favors multidisciplinary research. Depending on the problems under investigation, PBDL establishes collaborations between experts from for example molecular genetics, molecular and electro cell physiology, biochemistry, organic chemistry, analytical mathematics, mathematical statistics and computational…

Research at the SBC group is comprised of the following research themes:

How can the combination of sound composition, astrochemistry, and epistemological analysis provide new and unexpected insights into interstellar chemical reactivity?

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

The CIGR comprises research groups from the Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC), the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) and the Leiden Institue of Physics (LION).

Source: Biochem Pharmacol, Volume 95, Issue 4, pp. 290-300 (2015)

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