In a project funded by the John Templeton Foundation to the group of Micha Drukker, scientists will produce stem cells from short and long living understudied species to model cellular and organismal lifespan.

Physicist Milan Allan will build an instrument that will bring superconductivity research further. He has been awarded an ERC Consolidator Grant of 2 million euros over the next five years. With his PairNoise programme he aims to detect paired electrons as they occur just above the temperature at which…

Tuesday 27 January - A crisp winter morning and a busy Tuesday. Board matters, research safety, leadership and faculty profiling alternate throughout the day, with a focus on collaboration both inside and outside the faculty. A full day that ends with a game of darts.

More than 700 visitors got to know the Science Faculty during the Leiden Science Family Day. People of all ages could enjoy fascinating experiments, tours, interesting lectures, spectacular nitrogen shows and various workshops. It was an informative day with many (future) scientists, amazement and,…

For the first time, an international team of scientists led by Leiden Observatory and SRON can explain the extreme jet streams observed around the equators of all the giant planets using a single model.

Research

For her research on social-emotional regulation in children Michelle Achterberg on Wednesday, May 25 2022 received the Dutch Association of Developmental Psychology (VNOP) Dissertation Prize. With her PhD research, she mapped out which mechanisms play a role in social emotion regulation in childhood.…

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 March, Jara Bouma, Cas van der Horst and Laura Heitman from the Division of Drug Discovery and Safety and Laura de Paus, Richard van den Berg, Anthe Janssen and Mario van der Stelt from the LIC joined forces to determine how some drugs can specifically target the cannabinoid CB2 receptor (CB2R)…

Dr Ilze Bot (LACDR) has been appointed professor of Cardiovascular Pharmacology with effect from 1 March. A recognition of her work as a scientist. 'This allows me to continue and expand my line of research within the LACDR and Leiden University.'

Carolien Jacobs and Bernardo Almeida have recently published a new study for RVO examining how rural communities in central Mozambique experience land tenure security, and how external factors – from state institutions to climate risks – shape that experience.

Mechanics play a larger role in blood vessel formation, and other developmental biology, than previously thought. Cells appear to respond to mechanical signals, such as pressure. Through the extracellular matrix, a network of fibrous proteins, cells can supposedly exchange those mechanical signals over…

Carlotta Rigotti was invited by the Council of Europe to provide an overview of online and technology-facilitated violence at the Moroccan Parliament, as part of the joint programme 'Support for the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture and the Development of the Role of Parliament in the…

I am thrilled to share the exciting news of being honored with the 2023 Early Career Award at the EUROTOX conference held in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This recognition, presented by ECETOC (European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals) and dedicated to the memory of Dr. Christa Hennes, holds…

On July 3rd the Leiden University Dialogue in Education Network (LUDIEN) has officially been launched. The network welcomes all who are interested in dialogue as a tool for connection and improved student wellbeing in higher education. The dialogue method is moreover useful to talk about sensitive issues…

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…

In the academic year 2022-2023 the Social Resilience and Security interdisciplinary programme will offer a new minor for students who are interested in studying interpersonal violence and who are entering the third year of their Bachelor's degree. The announcement went down well with students: the available…

Could ketogenic therapy change the future of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) treatment? Bret Scher sits down with Eline Dekeyster to explore how nutritional ketosis may support individuals with autism and other brain-based conditions.

Exploring logging's real impact: Insights from Anthropologist Tessa Minter in the Solomon Islands.

Conference

In the Mediacenter in Wijnhaven, podcasts can be recorded with user-friendly equipment and four microphones. In addition, we offer the option to record low-threshold videos in the same soundproofed space.

Depression and anxiety disorders among youth are causing major problems worldwide. The mechanisms involved are still unknown, however. Moji Aghajani – Assistant Professor at the Institute of Education and Child Studies - aims to provide new insights with his research "Youth mental health meets big data…

Athanasios Stathopoulos is a University Lecturer at the Institute for History since August 2019, but has been a familiar face at Leiden University since 2015. He introduces himself below.

Professor Claartje Levelt, together with Paula Fikkert (Radboud University), has received an NWO Open Competition grant for research into the development of word production in toddlers.

Despite considerable progress in the design of multifunctionalized nanoparticles (NPs) that selectively target specific cell types, their systemic application often results in unwanted liver accumulation. The exact mechanisms for this general observation are still unclear.

Recently, Carlotta Rigotti participated in the ViolenceStop project, a collaboration between Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium) and the Central University “Marta Abreu” of Las Villas (Cuba).

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…

Cancer immunotherapy represents a significant breakthrough in cancer treatment. However, tumors have numerous mechanisms by which they evade destruction by the immune system. It is therefore necessary to decipher and reverse these mechanisms in order to improve immunotherapies.

Depression or ADHD? Neatly delineated diagnoses fail to do justice to the infinitely complex reality that they refer to, argues Eiko Fried in a new paper for JAMA Psychiatry. His proposal: to map the underlying mechanisms of mental health problems using a Mental Health Atlas.

With lab tours, presentations and an information fair, Leiden University’s Master’s Open Day gave students a good impression of our master’s programmes and the career prospects that come with them.

On 28 September the famous chemists Carolyn Bertozzi visited Leiden University to speak at the LED3 seminar. Just one week later, she was announced winner the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Leiden chemists Sebastian Pomplun and Hermen Overkleeft are fan: ‘We are extremely honoured to have hosted this…

Ten Leiden researchers have been awarded a Veni grant by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The grant, of up to 280,000 euros, will enable them to elaborate their ideas over a period of three years.

For three years, Wouter Schuit enjoyed studying Technology, Policy and Management at Delft University of Technology - only to switch to a master's in Philosophy in Leiden after his bachelor's. 'In both, you learn to tackle a problem in a structured way.'

An all-optical transistor, a molecule-sized sensor and a new kind of single-photon source for quantum communication. All dreamed applications of fundamental physics that are one step closer thanks to Robert Smit. On 12 June, he defended his PhD thesis with distinction.

In Dutch magazine De Psycholoog, Anne-Laura van Harmelen talks about the use of the term resilience and argues that resilience is concept that needs further explanation.

In Dutch magazine De Psycholoog, Anne-Laura van Harmelen talks about the impact traumatic experiences, especially for those who are growing up.

Leiden University is introducing 15 interfaculty themes to improve its visibility and strategic positioning. These themes can now be found on our website.

The Rutte IV cabinet will be sworn in soon. A fifth of the prospective ministers and secretaries of state studied in Leiden. Who are they and what did they study?

Zes onderzoekers zijn voor twee jaar aangesteld als themaleider voor de onderzoeksthema's van de faculteit Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen.

Vanessa mak knaw

Climate change is affecting all areas of human life. 2024 has been the hottest year on record and natural disasters are becoming increasingly frequent around the globe. Every year since 1995, national delegations come together to address the climate crisis through the Conference of the Parties to the…

Luca Giomi has the first results of his ERC consolidator grant. He discovered that epithelial cells move collectively but in different ways, depending on the scale you look at. It is hexatic at small scales, and becomes nematic at larger scales: it is a multiscale order. This collective movement of…

Human cells are protecting their proteins from unfolding and aggregating. That's what biophysicist Alireza Mashaghi and his team discovered after seven years of in-depth research into the folding mechanisms of proteins. With an unprecedented approach, the team was able to study the folding of a single…

The Capacity to Innovate is a recently published book by Sarah Giest, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Public Administration. In this article Sarah gives insight in the main findings of the book and the experience developing it.

Parents’ talk about new stimuli such as persons or objects strongly affects how avoidant or fearful their child will react. No stronger effect was found when parents had an anxiety disorder or in children with fearful temperaments. Publication by a team of Leiden psychologists in 'Clinical Child and…