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,…

Lecture

The logo of Leiden University, with letters as small as a bacterium. Researchers from LUMC and the Institute of Biology have created the smallest logo of our university ever produced. It is a piece of fun with a serious real-world application: the new microscope with which the logo was made allows scientists…

The main research theme in the group of Dennis Hetterscheid is to understand and mimic bioinorganic multi-electron processes that are relevant to our future energy infrastructure. Reduction of protons generates hydrogen that can be used as a chemical fuel. Alternatively to gaseous hydrogen, the reduction…

PhD defence

PhD defence

The CMCB brings together a diverse range of unique expertise in microbial cell biology. Members of the CMCB investigate both model and non-model organisms, bacteria and archaea, pathogens and non-pathogens.

Geometric phases lead to a nontrivial interference result when an electron's different quantum mechanical paths choices encircle a magnetic coil in an Aharonov-Bohm experiment.

An objective of this research was to achieve direct, well-defined and non-rate-limiting electron transfer between respiratory enzymes and the electrode surface by means of 'Q-wires'.

Promotor: C.W.J. Beenakker, Co-Promotor: A.R. Akhmerov

During the Leiden Science Family Day, you will visit places that are normally closed to the public: go backstage at the Faculty of Science!

Ariane Briegel has been appointed Professor in the fìeld of Ultrastructural Biology within the Faculty of Science at the Institute of Biology from the 1st of December 2015. Her expertise is in using electron cryotomography to study how microbes sense and respond to their environment.

Chemical reactions go hand-in-hand with an energy exchange with the environment in which they take place. Surfaces offer a variety of energy dissipation channels, constituted by the nuclear and electronic degrees of freedom of the atoms at the interface. Aiming at an improved future harvesting of energy,…

Even a small quantum computer should be able to simulate exactly the properties and behaviour of new molecules. This would take chemistry to an entirely new level. Better solar panels, more powerful batteries, saving lots of energy in the chemical industry: the applications have the potential to transform…

Make more fluid: In condensed matter systems, electrons can acquire unusual properties from their interaction with the atomic lattice.

Truth is stranger than fiction. In 1997 Juan Maldaceña discovered a remarkable dictionary that translates equation for equation the physics of black holes in string theory into the more conventional physics of quantum mechanics of interacting particles. The remarkable possibility exists that…

Can process-oriented dynamic testing be applied to everyday educational practice?

Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a powerful technique used to visualize the inside of cells and to study specific protein complexes. Within this thesis, I describe the use of various cryo-EM techniques to gain insight into the structural changes of the human pathogen, Vibrio cholerae, as it…

Promotor: Prof.dr. T.J. Aartsma, Co-promotor: R.N. Frese

Advanced sensing techniques require graphene with high quality and well-controlled surface chemistry.

This perspective addresses four challenges facing theorists whose aim is to make quantitatively accurate predictions for reactions of molecules on metal surfaces, and suggests ways of meeting these challenges, focusing on dissociative chemisorption reactions of H2, N2, and CH4.

As a virtually inexhaustible source, solar energy plays a major role in future global energy scenarios.

How can novel bioimaging technologies and vertebrate model species be used to gain a better understanding of early cellular behaviours with the ultimate goal to increase our understanding of human development and disease processes?

Freezing bacteria super fast to gain a true-to-nature image of the internal and external structure. Ariane Briegel Professor of Ultrastructural Biology came to Leiden specially to carry out this research. Leiden University is one of the few institutes in the world to have the necessary equipment. Inaugural…

Electrons in graphene behave like light particles; they have no mass and can penetrate everything: very useful if you dream about nano-electronics. But you do have to channel them. Carlo Beenakker will be researching how. He has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant of 1.5 million euro to carry out this…

docARTES is a doctoral programme for performers and composers. It offers a unique environment for critical reflection on musical practice.

Promotor: K.E. Schalm, Co-promotor: S.S. Lee

Three projects with Leiden researchers are to receive a subsidy from NWO for the construction or renovation of large-scale research facilities. They will be working on electron microscopy, an X-omics initiative and an X-ray telescope. The projects are part of the National Roadmap for Large-Scale Scientific…

Promotor: H.J.M. de Groot

Human and animal cells are very complex: very different chemical processes are going on at the same time, but they are separated from each other because the cells are divided in compartments. These compartments may also have a profound effect on the potential efficacy of therapeutics, because the drug…

What physics controls the properties of quantum matter, such as how electrons flow inside high-temperature superconductors? This question has captivated the physics community and industry for decades, in part due to the great technological potential such materials have, but also because they have resisted…

We find ourselves in an era of transition, not just towards a more computing- and data-driven society but also away from unsustainable fossil fuels as an energy source.

Nonadiabatic energy transfer from the translational motion (T) of a molecule impinging on metal surface to the metal’s electrons may determine whether the molecule can lose enough energy to adsorb or react.

Promotor: R. Gill, Co-promotor: P. Massart

The Department of Biophysical Structural Chemistry studies how biological systems work at the molecular level through high-resolution structural analysis. Using state-of-the-art techniques in structural biology such as cryo-electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography we gain crucial insights into…

List of Support Departments at LION and the Faculty of Science

This thesis covers various applications of topology in condensed matter physics and quantum information.

On this page you can find the current vacancies at the Van der Molen research group.

Our world is shrinking, or at least our electronic devices are. From PCs to mobile phones: everything is smaller and thinner. The smaller the chip, the better it can conduct electricity and pass on information.

Majorana meets a mermaid

Science, Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC)

Inverse problems are problems where we want to estimate the values of certain parameters of a system given observations of the system. Such problems occur in several areas of science and engineering. Inverse problems are often ill-posed, which means that the observations of the system do not uniquely…

Α-synuclein, a protein associated with Parkinson’s disease, proves to bind with membranes in a surprisingly efficient way. It confirms scientists’ suspicion of the protein’s leading role in the transmission of neurotransmitters between nerve cells in the brain. Publication in PLoS ONE.

Research report January 2020. Supported by the lectorate ‘Music, Education and Society’, research group ‘Making in Music’, Royal Conservatoire The Hague

The Joan van der Waals colloquium is an ongoing bi-weekly lecture series.

The electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is an essential half-reaction for the utilization of hydrogen as a sustainable fuel, via the conversion of hydrogen to electrons and protons facilitated by the ORR. In the most common fuel cells, the ORR is requires high loadings of non-abundant platinum…

Protein–protein complexes are formed via transient states called encounter complexes that greatly influence the formation of the stereospecific complex.