‘What I find most alluring about soil life is that you can steer it,’ researcher Martijn Bezemer of the Institute Biology Leiden (IBL) reveals. ‘You can ask: What do you want? And then I can transform the soil into something you need. At least, that is what we thought.’

This dissertation provides a formal description of the relationship between diatopic/diachronic micro-variation and phonologization through analysis of the phonetic/phonological properties of unstressed vowel reduction and vowel insertion in two Northern Italian dialects.

Promotor: W.Th.F. den Hollander Co-Promotor: F.M. Spieksma

This dissertation shows that dialogical logic constitutes a powerful and flexible general framework for the development and study of various logical formalisms and combinations thereof.

Our object is to identify and characterize transcription factors involved in lignocellulosic biomass degradation in the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger.

Identification and characterization of components of DNA repair pathways and their role in Agrobacterium T-DNA integration and repair of CRISPR/Cas induced DSBs.

How do macrophages and neutrophils contribute to metastatic onset?

Hybrid zones occur where two species meet and produce offspring (hybrids). Typically, hybrids show a considerable reduction in fitness. In this thesis two hybrid zones are treated.

A very large part of intravenously administered nanoparticles are cleared through the liver. Within the liver, most nanoparticles are thought to be sequestered by macrophages (Kupffer cells). To achieve effective cell-specific targeting of drugs and non-viral gene delivery vectors, improved mechanistic…

Promotor: J.M. Memelink

In this thesis, I study 1) metabolic alterations in tuberculosis related to wasting syndrome in human patients as well as in rodent and fish animal models. 2) effects of the mutation of the leptin gene on cachexia and diabetes in rodent and zebrafish animal models.

PhD defence

Throughout all domains of life, from bacteria and archaea to eukaryotes, genomes adopt well-organized three-dimensional structures that can change in space and time to accommodate preferred transcriptional programs for environmental adaptation, the maintenance of cellular identity and differentiation…

Promotor: S.J. Edixhoven

This dissertation provides crucial but as yet missing empirical data on the tone accent opposition in the so-called

Organic molecules in interstellar space are important as they influence the structure of galaxies and star formations. Studying catalytic processes in space allows us to understand how molecular species are formed and chemically evolved in the interstellar medium and solar system objects.

Every summer, Leiden University is the setting of dozens of summer schools in which professionals and students can receive extra training on a specific topic within a short space of time. We took a look at a summer programme on extremism. ‘A recruiter for al-Qaeda said that I could change the world.…

On Thursday 23 November, Professor Betty de Hart delivered the lecture ‘Exploring the Legal Archive on Race: Methodological Challenges’ as part of the lecture series ‘Reconsidering the Socio-Legal Gaze’ organized by the Van Vollenhoven Institute. Over 40 people attended the lecture, held online due…

Drug development is a time- and resource-consuming process that starts with the discovery and validation of a (protein) target that contributes to pathogenesis or disease progression.

Promotor: P. Stevenhagen, Co-promotor: R.M. van Luijk

Promotor: F. Arbab, R. De Nicola, Co-Promotor: M. Tribastone

Promotor: Prof.dr. A. Achucarro, Co-Promotor: J.W. van Holten

This dissertation focused on computational methods based on first principles calculations using the Density Functional Theory (DFT) framework. Emphasis was laid on affordable methods that can provide a tradeoff between computational expense and accuracy.

This thesis contributes to studying primordial cosmology theories and their detectability in future observations.

Jelle van Buuren, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, appeared as guest on VICE to discuss the usefulness of recent ban on QAnon.

Jelle van Buuren, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University, can be heard in the latest Podcast of Wetenschap.nu.

Using mathematics to determine whether scientific results are significant or not. Peter Grünwald, full professor of Statistical Learning at the Mathematical Institute (MI) and senior researcher in the Machine Learning group of Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant…

PhD defence

At the division of Biopharmaceutics, we aim to develop and test new therapeutic approaches to limit or even prevent the development of atherosclerosis in order to reduce the number of acute cardiovascular syndromes such as myocardial infarction or stroke.

How can zebrafish research help understanding human diseases?

By carrying out fundamental research and providing excellent education, universities become a breeding ground for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Promotor: Prof.dr. P. Stevenhagen, Jan-Hendrik Evertse, Co-promotor: Pascal Autissier

How is Pol θ responsible for T-DNA integration, and how do other DNA double-strand break repair pathways interact with Pol θ? How may we manipulate T-DNA integration to stimulate error-free integration at a predetermined genomic site?

Political scientists Huib Pellikaan and Niels van Willigen (Leiden University) use and elaborate on the theoretical insights from game theory in order to understand nuclear security in changing environment. Now that the relations between the US and Russia have deteriorated and smaller nuclear states…

Promotor: A. Doelman, Co-promotores: P.J.A. van Heijster; A. Zagaris

The relative simplicity of the bacterial cell, short generation times and well defined and inexpensive culturing conditions have significantly contributed to our understanding of many complex biological systems. Yet the workings of the bacterial genome, seemingly impossibly compressed within a tiny…

Promotor: B. van de Water

Aspergillus niger is an important industrial producer of organic acids and enzymes producing large amounts of spent fungal biomass.

Can new variants of daptomycin and the polymyxins be found?

Supervisor: P.J.J. Hooykaas

Promotores: Prof.dr. J. Kuiper, Prof.dr. P.H.A. Quax

Inactivating mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes predispose to several types of cancer.

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.

Bacterial biocatalysis constitutes a sustainable alternative for high-value chemicals production by enabling the utilization of renewable feedstocks.

This thesis pioneers diatom molecular identification and quantification through genome-scale methods, with four key aims: (i) reviewing DNA/RNA sequencing methods in aquatic biomonitoring to highlight their strengths and limitations;

Promotor: G.P. van Wezel

The Horizon 2020 project CoSTREAM aims to improve our understanding of the co-occurrence of stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. It has long been known that both diseases share underlying causes, but their exact interaction or link is not fully understood. CoSTREAM combines multiple factors to identify and…

Promotores: Prof.dr. P.M. Brakefield, Prof.dr. B.J. Zwaan (Wageningen Universiteit)