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Simon Portegies Zwart, professor of Computational Astrophysics, uses computers to simulate the evolution of stars. We speak with him about his field and about the challenges of working with huge amounts of complex data.

Metals surfaces form a group of effective catalysts for the reaction of small molecules such as hydrogen (H2).

We have studied the impact of particle shape anisotropy, multivalent interactions and flexibility on systems of micron-sized colloidal particles.

Thermodynamics is one of the founding scientific pillars that has helped us better understand heat engines, biology, ecosystems, and even black holes. While it fundamentally describes large systems by examining the bulk behavior of their constituents, it is anchored in the statistical equivalence of…

Making systems biology modelling a central pillar of research in biology

Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia 51

Complex Organic Molecules (COMs) have been detected in objects across different stages of stellar evolution.

We investigate the physics and design of mechanical metamaterial, intricately sculpted materials with properties set by their architecture.

Hydrogen fuel cells are expected to be pivotal in the energetic transition towards renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. However, their industrial scalability is severely hindered by the high cost and degradation rate of platinum catalysts, one of their key components. Addressing this…

The effects of anthropogenic noise on interactions between predators and their prey are still little understood.

Moot Court: An academic skills training course

Stars like the sun are born in large molecular clouds existing from gas and dust. During the formation process, the chemical composition of the material can be altered drastically by the changing physical conditions.

This thesis provides an overview of the development of the Pair Configuration to Molecular Activity Coefficient (PAC-MAC) model.

The Sun and all the stars in the night sky reside in the Milky Way galaxy. In the at-rest reference frame of the Galaxy, typical stars travel with velocities of about 100-200 kilometres per second.

Glycosidases (GHs) are enzymes responsible for the degradation of carbohydrates and play many roles in human health and pathophysiology. Often, abnormal levels of glycosidase activity are markedly linked to human pathologies.

Disseminating to the future generation of researchers the multidisciplinary working practices, expertise and scientific view that has been developed in research within the Plant BioDynamics Lab over the past years is an important objective in our collaborative efforts. The research papers of PBDL bring…

One of the effects of climate change is the phenomenon of desertification, a process that occurs in semi-arid and arid areas and causes land degradation as well as vegetation loss. Due to the lack of resources, vegetation self-organizes to sustain itself by forming large-scale spatial patterns.

The Plant BioDynamics Lab (PBDL) is a laboratory dedicated to experiments designed to develop and validate quantitative mathematical models of dynamical processes in biology. The principal objective of developing these models is to make quantitative predictions about these processes.

The focus of our theoretical research is understanding the behaviour of soft condensed matter, physical matter which is deformed or structurally altered by thermal fluctuations or small stresses.

A full overview of THEOR PhD theses.

The research aims to explore the evolutionary adaptability of enzymes and the impact of temperature on protein evolution pathways, using M. tuberculosis β-lactamase BlaC as the object of study. Enzymes inherently embody a delicate balance between activity and stability, and the acquisition of new enzymatic…

Imitation is, perhaps more than ever, constitutive of human originality.

Leiden Journal of Pottery Studies 22, 2006

In some condensed matter systems, such as the surface of a 3D topological insulator, the electrons are effectively massless and we must necessarily use the massless Dirac equation to describe them.

Bicarbonate buffer is largely found in nature due to its ability to regulate pH variations around neutral values. As the pH changes, so does the speciation of the buffer.

A modeling approach with applications to the Bau de l'Aubesier (Southeastern France)

Vast, often populated, areas in dryland ecosystems face the dangers of desertification.

Reactions and reaction times in cognitive tasks.

Volume 20 contains eight articles based on research of the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University.

The Horizon 2020 project Sybil-AA (Systems Biology of Alcohol Addiction) focuses on modeling and validating disease state networks in human and animal brains for understanding pathophysiology, predicting outcomes and improving therapy in alcohol addiction. Alcohol addiction, the most severe form of…

Promotor: Prof.dr. E. F. van Dishoeck, Co-promotor: A. N. Heays

Promotor: Prof.dr. C.W.J. Beenakker

Novel entities may pose risks to humans and the environment. The small particle size and relatively large surface area of micro- and nanoparticles (MNPs) make them capable of adsorbing other novel entities, leading to the formation of aggregated contamination.

The focus of the Antiviral Pharmacology group led by Anne-Grete Märtson is optimizing antiviral therapy for different viral infections by conducting clinical trials and using innovative computational and dynamic laboratory methodologies.

The programme group Research Methods and Statistics offers support to researchers from a variety of research projects within Education and Child Studies.

Promotor: M.L. van Hecke

Promotor: M.L. van Hecke, Co-Promotor: B.P. Tighe

Building a Deep Cross-media Transfer Network to extract visual relations that relieve the problem of insufficient training data for visual tasks.

Promotor: M. de Jong, Co-Promotor: Samtleben

A plasma is an ionized gas with very low electrical resistivity. As such, magnetic field lines are 'frozen in' and move with the fluid. Magnetic field lines that are linked, knotted and tangled, cannot be undone by the fluid motions.

Predictive maintenance (PdM) is a maintenance policy that uses the past, current, and prognosticated health condition of an asset to predict when timely maintenance should occur.

Fungal infections pose a significant threat to individuals with compromised immune systems and despite advancements in diagnosis and treatment, they continue to jeopardize patient’s health.

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

The discovery that eleven asteroids might collide with our Earth has become world news. The research of three Leiden astronomers has appeared on more than 190 news sites worldwide, from America to China. They developed and trained an artificial neural network for this discovery.

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded Veni funding to seventeen researchers who recently obtained their PhD. This award offers promising young scientists the opportunity to develop their own ideas over a period of three years.

Two Leiden astronomers will receive the prestigious IAU PhD Prize. Both Jorryt Mathee and Niels Ligterink of the Leiden Observatory won a prize. Scientific director Huub Röttgering: We are proud that this year two of our PhD students receive an IAU prize for the best thesis in their field of researc…