Rigid materials break more easily than floppy ones. This simple observation allows to predict and control the width of cracks. Theoretical understanding of how materials break is useful in for example the production of cars or screens. Publication in PNAS.

My PhD project studies how the temporally sequential Hox gene expression is regulated during head-tail patterning of the frog embryo.

DNA carries various forms of information. Out of these forms of information the most well-known is classical genetic information.

A specifically designed collection of gears is soft on one end and rigid on the other. These are robust properties of the system that hold even in the presence of manufacturing imperfections. This emerging research area may lead to new ways of designing geared devices like satellite trackers or watches.…

Promotor: P. J. J. Hooykaas, Co-promotor: R. Offringa

How presence, abundance and enzymatic activities of AM and EM fungi differently affect soil carbon sequestration processes?

Promotor: G.P. van Wezel

Exploring the mechanism of targeted nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery using the zebrafish model

The bacterial cell wall is a nearly universal structure that offers protection and gives the cell its shape. However, environmental stressors, such as cell wall-targeting antibiotics and hyperosmotic conditions, can induce bacteria to shift to a wall-deficient state. It is unknown whether the lack of…

Metamaterials researcher Martin van Hecke has been elected American Physical Society (APS) fellow, an honour exclusive to only half a percent of the society's members.

This thesis focuses on the role of chemokine receptors CXCR3 and CCR2 in the inflammatory process and infection control using the zebrafish model.

Promotor: Prof.dr. J. den Hertog

This study presents the findings of a laboratory-based experiment testing hypothesised processes implicated in the prevention of violent radicalisation through counter-narratives. The central aims of the study were to contribute to counter-narrative theory, whilst highlighting the value of experimental…

Promotor: B. van de Water

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most prevalent cancer in males.

Solar energy is used by photosynthetic organisms to drive energy required cellular processes. Is absorbed by two groups of pigments, located in the LHCs.

Promotores: Prof.dr. G.W. Canters, Prof.dr. T.J. Aartsma

To argue that people can control the relative contributions of goal-driven and stimulus-driven processes to decision-making and action selection.

Source: Mediators Inflamm (2014)

On October 31st, Margarita Gulian succesfully defended her doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Margarita on this great result.

The “harpe organisée”, 1720-1840: Rediscovering the lost pedal techniques on harps with a single-action pedal mechanism, is the title of Maria Christina Cleary's PhD thesis. This is the first monographic study on harp pedal techniques, tracing the historical way to pedal on the early pedal harps with…

The mechanism of the electrochemical reduction of dioxygen by a mononuclear pyridylalkylamine copper complex was investigated (see picture). It was shown that in neutral aqueous solution dioxygen undergoes stepwise reduction, wherein hydrogen peroxide plays a key role. The rate constants determined…

The project has been done in the Mechanical Metamaterials group under the supervision of Prof.dr. Martin van Hecke and MSc Anne Meeussen . The title of the presentation is: ''Elastic Moduli of Smooth and Corrugated Thin Silicone Rubber Sheets.

We investigate how radiation pressure can be used to influence the mechanical motion of a micro-mirror suspended from springs.

Promotor: A.P. IJzerman

Metamaterials have properties that depend on their shape and architecture. Researchers at AMOLF, Leiden University and Tel Aviv University have found a new way of designing these metamaterials and their properties by deliberately incorporating small errors. They publish their results today in Nature…

Physicist Martin van Hecke receives a 2.5 million euro ERC research grant for research into information processing materials. Starting out with a piece of rubber that can count to ten.

A piece of corrugated rubber can function as a simple computer, displaying memory and displaying the ability to count to two. Leiden physicists describe the computing rubber in the journal PNAS. ‘Simple materials can process information, and we want to find the principles behind that.’

PhD defence

Goldband, Skrillex, Róisín Murphy and... quantum: the latter may not be a band but is part of the Lowlands line-up nonetheless. Scientists from Leiden University are using the festival for research on the very smallest particles.

Cars are equipped with catalysts to disarm toxic exhaust gases. Platinum plays an important role there. Leiden physicists and chemists have now for the first time seen the mechanism behind a platinum catalyst. With a fundamental understanding of the process, scientists can use this rare material more…

Promotor: Prof.dr. M. Danhof, Co-promotor: E.C.M. de Lange

On an apparently normal cube a pattern of hollows and bulges appears when the cube is compressed. A method has been developed to design such three-dimensional structures and to construct these using simple building blocks. Publication in Nature.

Leiden University organizes a course on quantum mechanics for high school Physics teachers. As the curriculum gains a new quantum component, the university enables teachers to give the best possible guidance to their students.

Special amplifying agents can make MRI scanners and NMR techniques hundreds of times more sensitive. Leiden physicists have now found a method to test their efficiency. More sensitive MRI scans could for example improve our understanding of cystic fibrosis or Parkinson’s disease. Publication in PCCP…

On the 2nd of June, Valentina Carraro gave a lecture on the complementarity of human rights reviewing mechanisms in the United Nations and presented an original framework to assess the extent to which institutions within regime complexes repeat or contradict each other when delivering recommendations…

On Wednesday 5 June, Kalin Anev Janse, Secretary-General and Management Board Member of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), was invited to give a lecture on 'Bridging decision-making: a new direction for Europe? Prioritising financial stability: the European Stability Mechanism and the Banking U…

The Fine Mechanical Department's (FMD) new Wardjet A0612 will cut anything using a 4000 bar water jet. This enables the FMD to work faster, more accurately, and to perform more versatile jobs.

Leiden biophysicists have found a new possible way to attack cancer cells. They have located ‘sinkholes’ on the cells where receptor proteins disappear from the surface. If a drug could push these proteins towards those areas, it would kill the cancer cell.

Leiden Physics Poster

Like a mixture of oil and water, lipid membranes separate into two liquid phases.

The Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies in collaboration with the University of Geneva, the Chinese Journal of International Law (ChineseJIL, OUP) and the European Society of International Law (ESIL), are pleased to invite public international scholars and researchers to attend a conference…

Martin van Hecke en Anne Meeussen publiceren in het tijdschrift Nature over mechanische metamaterialen. Ze hebben een nieuwe klasse multistabiele materialen ontdekt. Dit is gebaseerd op ribbeltjes plastic.

Promotor: Prof.dr. A.G.G.M. Tielens, Prof.dr. C. Dominik (UvA)

Researchers at FOM-institute AMOLF and the Leiden Institute of Physics (LION) have developed a rubber rod with strange bending behaviours. Beyond a certain point, it bends more under decreasing pressure. This behaviour doesn’t fit our expectations and does not conform to secular laws that predict the…

As part of the euCONSENT consortium, the Center for Law and Digital Technologies (eLaw) has been awarded European Commission funding to create a child rights’ centred cross-border system for online age verification and parental consent.

Besides physics, the sleep of PhD students also benefits from Vitaly Fedoseev's PhD research. He will receive his doctorate on July 7 for his work on optomechanics within quantum mechanics. And also on a setup that eliminated the need for PhD students to push a button every hour for 72 hours.

Viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) is a group of acute diseases caused by highly infectious viruses including Ebola, Lassa, Dengue viruses. Its high mortality rate poses high risk to public health, however, studies on VHF have been hampered due to the non-availability of proper models and incomplete knowledge…