A job thanks to COVID—something not many people can claim. But PhD candidate Vera Arntzen can. Over the past four years, she has mapped two crucial characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Thanks to her research, experts can now make well-informed decisions on matters like quarantine duration, which…

Lecture

At the division of BioTherapeutics, Amanda Foks, Bram Slütter and Ilze Bot have obtained a €4 million research grant from the HORIZON 2022 EIC Pathfinder Challenge “Cardiogenomics”, entitled “B-specific: B-cell related gene and protein markers with prognostic and therapeutic value for CVD”.

An e-coaching programme helps people with chronic kidney disease, particularly in areas that patients themselves want to work on. ‘A healthy lifestyle is important for patients with kidney disease: it can slow down the loss of kidney function and there will be fewer complications,’ Katja Cardol explains…

During illness, the stiffness or viscosity of cells can change. Tom Evers demonstrated this by measuring such properties of human immune cells for the first time. ‘The stiffness of certain cells could be a way to make a diagnosis,’ Evers said. He defended his thesis on March 26th.

Trail, FGGA’s internship platform will be one-year old in November. In the upcoming weeks, we will be interviewing some FGGA students who went on internships. What did they learn from their internships? And what tasks were assigned to them?

In the MS Cognitietour, psychologists and neuroscientists from Leiden University discuss the latest scientific knowledge with MS patients and their loved ones. This leads to insights: 'One lady told how much stress she felt from all those caregivers around her bed.'

To underline the urgency: Our faculty faces a significant financial challenge. With a structural reduction of €5 to €6 million in annual income, dark clouds are gathering on the horizon. Added to this are the uncertain consequences of budget cuts from The Hague, including the Balanced Internationalisation…

Sebastian Pomplun receives an ERC starting grant of 1.85 million Euros in five years. He wants to develop synthetic transcription factors that can enter cells and activate or deactivate specific genes. For example to disrupt cancer-related processes or to trigger the production of an important missing…

Migraine is a brain disease. If it were simple, we would have solved it already'. That is the title of the inaugural lecture delivered by Professor of Neurology Gisela Terwindt on Friday 3 June. In her speech she emphasises the importance of research into the differences between women and men with m…

Early treatment benefits patients who have not fully developed rheumatoid arthritis but are in the preliminary stages of the disease. This is what researchers from the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) have reported in The Lancet. Patients in the pre-arthritis stage who were temporarily prescribed…

Finally we know for sure that there is a black hole at the centre of our own galaxy. Today, astronomers unveiled the first ever photo of Sagittarius A*, a super-massive object at the centre of the Milky Way. This picture could only be taken thanks to the cooperation of telescopes worldwide.

In 2022, Leiden will be the European City of Science. During this year, Leiden will be the European stage for knowledge, with a programme filled with science, art and culture. Of course, the humanities also take part. Get to know the core team of our faculty.

It is sufficiently plausible that the professor from the Faculty of Archaeology exhibited the ‘inappropriate and unacceptable behaviour’ detailed in the advice of the investigating committee. That is is unless the professor provides counter-evidence. This is the conclusion of the Subdistrict Court…

eLaw - Center of Law and Digital technologies from Leiden Law School, and the Vascular Surgery Department at Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, join forces to explore the use of AI for diabetes and secondary prevention of diabetic foot problems and won a prize for it.

‘’ And then the world changed forever ,welcome to the future’’. These are the words that Kausik Ray (President of the European Atherosclerosis Society) spoke when the worldwide first dose of inclisiran, a novel SiRNA based cholesterol lowering agent, was administered at the Cardiology lipid clinic at…

On January 24 Professor Annemarie Meijer and Dr Sander Wezenberg received a NWO grant for their research. The grant was awarded within the Open Competition Domaine Science-M programme and is intended for innovative research areas that can form the basis for the research themes of the future.

Biological agents are micro-organisms such as bacteria, parasites, moulds, viruses and their waste products. This category also includes genetically modified variants (GMOs). These agents may form a risk for your health, which is why we apply a number of legal and other guidelines to prevent people…

Three Psychology students will present a poster of their thesis research on Alzheimer’s and dementia at the international conference AAIC Neuroscience Next. ‘I remind myself to recognise - without fear or shame - when I don't know something.’

Dying from viral infection due to organ failure and blood loss: we still know little about how it can happen. Among other things, Huaqi Tang developed an organ-on-a-chip to figure it out. 'These technologies can offer unprecedented opportunities to fight the viruses that threaten our society.' Tang…

The fastest chemical reaction in the universe takes place inside our eyes.

Lecture

PhD candidate Maia Casna was a guest on the new episode of the Wetenschappelijke Wezens podcast. In it, Maia discusses her research on urbanisation and respiratory diseases while uncovering the intricacies of studying the human past and bones.

Plant biologist Pingtao Ding, assistant professor at the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), has received a 2.4 million European grant from the European Research Council (ERC). This ERC Starting Grant for promising young researchers allows him to unravel the molecular mechanisms by which plants resist…

Why are mycobacteria such successful pathogens? And are there defence mechanisms in the body that help reduce an infection? To find out, Annemarie Meijer has been awarded the NWO Open Competition ENW-XL grant. She will not explore this quest alone. Five other leading Dutch research groups are participating…

Cells in our bodies are often threatened by errors in our own proteins. The FLOW consortium, comprising scientists from various institutions including Leiden, is poised to meticulously map out for the first time how cells control proteins, correcting or removing faulty ones. This endeavour holds promise…

Identifying novel antibiotic compounds to tackle antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Researchers from Leiden University and VU Amsterdam will unite through a project now funded by NWO’s Open Technology Programme (OTP), which awarded the collaboration nearly one million euros.

Each year on or around International Women’s Day, the university hosts the Annie Romein-Verschoor Lecture. You are welcome to attend − even if you wouldn't call yourself a feminist, says professor and organiser Nadine Akkerman. ‘You get the best discussions with a diverse audience.’

About one and a half million people worldwide die each year from tuberculosis. For thirty years, therapy with antibiotics has been the same, while it takes far too long and can lead to resistant pathogens. Leiden researchers from four institutes are now joining forces to develop more effective and efficient…

Nederlanders met lage inkomens lopen tot 1,5 keer meer risico op het krijgen van een hartaanval of beroerte dan rijkere landgenoten. Bij Surinaamse Hindoestanen is dit risico 1,9 keer hoger. Dat blijkt uit onderzoek van het LUMC en het HagaZiekenhuis. Nederlandse artsen kijken tot nu toe niet naar deze…

Researchers need to work in specialized environments when they work with dangerous bacteria and viruses. These microbes spread easily, so only in labs with a high biosafety levels they can be studied. Unfortunately, to look at the microbes properly, expensive microscopes are needed that are not always…

Immunologist Leender Trouw specialises in the complement system, which is part of the immune system. In some diseases drugs help activate or inhibit this system. This is best done ‘in the right place at the right time’ − the title of his inaugural lecture.

PhD candidate Maia Casna received an Incentive Prize from the Dutch Association for Physical Anthropology (NVFA). She was rewarded this honor for her innovative research into respiratory diseases and her talent for presenting her results to both academic and general audiences. ‘It feels really nice…