Actinobacteria are Gram-positive bacteria that have a complex multicellular life cycle and are well known for their ability to produce a wide range of bioactive natural products (NPs).

This doctoral project by artist and educator Luiz Zanotello engenders a postcolonial understanding of time, space and movement by means of artistic research methods. The project examines the contradictory effects of the abyssal line of thought within the tropics as a starting point.

Striga hermonthica, commonly known as witchweed, infests major cereal crops in Sub-Saharan Africa causing severe yield losses and threatening the livelihood of millions of resource poor farmers.

The writings of Walter Benjamin (1892-1940) are famously and purposely marked by fragmentariness. Paradoxically, a central aim of his work was to connect: all his life he sought to further the integration of scholarship in the humanities which, he believed, had too long suffered from the prevalence…

Photographing fluorescent flowers, searching for frogs and shooting tropical cucumbers out of trees: this is only a small part of the course Tropical Biodiversity and Field Methods. For this class, master’s students biology traveled to Malaysian Borneo for two weeks to gain experience in fieldwork.…

How does task context affect children’s word productions?

Which plant species grow where - and why? In a new study in Nature Ecology & Evolution, an international research team presents the world's first global vegetation database which contains over 1.1 million complete lists of plant species for all terrestrial ecosystems. Leiden professor of Environmental…

Democracy may lead to more deforestation in the tropics. So write environmental scientist Joeri Morpurgo and his colleagues in the prominent scientific journal Biological conservation. They found that competitive elections are associated with more loss of tropical rainforest than elections without competition.…

We found that, next to the effectiveness of the intervention, it’s also very likely that the intervention is cost-effective compared to attention only.

The study at hand focuses on the control of sex and youngsters through the response by authorities most notably from within criminal justice.

Dissochaeta Blume (Melastomataceae, tribe Dissochaeteae) is well-known as a scrambling plant genus found in Southeast Asia, where it is an inhabitant of the tropical rainforests or evergreen forests.

In the presence of the ambassador for the Netherlands, Rob Swartbol, and the rector of Universitas Indonesia Muhammad Anis, the winter school on tropical biodiversity and sustainability was officially started at the Universitas Indonesia on Monday 9 January. The winter school brings together 12 students…

Operating on tsunami victims, coordinating emergency aid during a civil war and the croaking of frogs in the surgery: Menno Swier worked as a doctor of tropical medicine in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. He is now a GP on Terschelling and here too there is never a dull moment.

There is much wrong with the taxonomy of the plant genus Phyllanthus. Roderick Bouman of the Hortus botanicus Leiden has developed a new phylogeny for Phyllanthus and exposes the evolution of the plant genus. Publication in TAXON.

On Wednesday 4 September, Queen Máxima opened the renovated tropical greenhouse complex of the Leiden Hortus Botanicus, an event that attracted wide public interest. Thanks to this renovation, the greenhouses are even better equipped for scientific research.

This thesis represents a comprehensive investigation into the control of cancer stemness and metastatic initiation using a combination of advanced zebrafish xenograft models and in vitro assays.

This thesis is comprised of three chapters covering the theme of studying semistable varieties by looking at their dual combinatorial objects.

We aim to unravel the complex and intertwining regulatory systems that control development and antibiotic production in streptomycetes.

I think we should go this way. This way! THIS! WAY!! Making yourself heard in a city can be difficult. That is not only the case for humans, but birds seem to be hindered by urban noise as well. Researcher Hans Slabbekoorn of Leiden University already showed that great tits in Leiden communicate differently…

Promotores: G. Persoon, R. Schefold

Leiden heeft de oudste botanische tuin van Nederland, gesticht in 1590.

We aim to provide new insights relating to the spectacular multi-cellular life cycle of streptomycetes and other actinobacteria.

Promotor: Prof.dr. G.P. van Wezel, Co-Promotor: E. Vijgenboom

LUC graduates have an internationally-recognised Bachelors honours degree (BA/BSc) that qualifies them to apply for competitive programmes at top research universities. Over 90% of our alumni continue their studies into a master programme.

From educational adventures in the tropics, students building software for real customers, to bacteria that degrade plastics. Scroll through our highlights on educational innovation and the achievements of our students.

Can we use indigenous microbial rice communities to reduce methane production in agricultural settings?

Ömer Koçyigit defended his thesis on 7 July 2020

In this work, we investigate the minute circular dichroism effects of single nanoparticles.To this aim, we apply photothermal imaging with a polarization-modulated heating beam.

The research profile ‘Asian Modernities and Traditions’ (AMT) aims to raise the strength and visibility of research, teaching and dissemination on Asian studies at Leiden University.

Correctly interpreting the patterns of fire evidence in the archaeological record will illuminate the origin of human fire use.

The Physics and Biological and Soft Matter master's specialisation is one of the two programmes that Leiden University offers in experimental physics. This programme mainly focuses on Biological Physics and Soft Matters Physics.

Jorrit Rijpma responds in Dutch newspaper the Volkskrant to attention surrounding the reintroduction of border controls in the Schengen area.

Chiodo

Benjamin Fogarty-Valenzuela published the article 'Pedagogies of Prohibition: Time, Education, and the War on Drugs in Rio de Janeiro’s Zona Norte' in Cultural Anthropology 37. The article’s three sections focus on three forms of temporal control—busyness, punctuality, and rhythm—and each demonstrates…

The project examines the political conflict in the Red River Valley of Louisiana between the majority-black Republican Party and the overwhelmingly white Democratic Party by studying the composition and actions of each party.

Leiden University has long history of research and teaching on Asian traditions, with a focus on language and philology, history, religious studies, philosophy, law and literature. Leiden has in the last thirty years also built up an equally impressive strength in the study of modern and contemporary…

The plant hormone auxin plays a central role in the growth and development of plants. Auxin acts in a concentration dependent manner and polar cell-to-cell transport of this hormone determines its distribution in the tissues of plants. This polar auxin transport is mediated by several families of auxin…

Streptomyces bacteria are a valuable source of natural products, many of which are used in the clinic or in biotechnology.

On the 21st of September, Benjamin Suchard succesfully defended his PhD-thesis and graduated. LUCL congratulates Benjamin on this great result.

Yi-Wen Cheng defended her thesis on 28 May 2015

To investigate the effectiveness of an online self-help programme for people with HIV and depressive symptoms.

How can the transport of molecules in living cells help to target medicines at exactly the right place?

The surface and the edges of graphene are expected to provide higher sensitivity and specificity in detecting and characterizing single molecules. However fundamental physical limits exist in reaching an ultimate precision in detecting the dynamics of chemical and biological systems. The research in…

Lecture, Tuesday Talks: Science Insights

Key publications of the Biologics Formulation group

Allosteric modulation has long been recognized as a general and widespread mechanism for the control of protein function. Modulators bind to regulatory sites distinct from the active site on the protein, resulting in conformational changes that may profoundly influence protein function. This concept…

This study focuses on the local level impacts of a highly globalised industry: the international trade in tropical timber.

Intrigued by the way cells autonomously regulate their fate, we strive to understand and visualize cellular processes as the basis of Cell Signaling.

Netherton Syndrome (NTS) is a rare genetic skin disease caused by mutations in the serine protease inhibitor Kazal-type 5 gene, which encodes the lympho-epithelial Kazal-type-related inhibitor. NTS patients have a profound impaired skin barrier function. Because SC lipids play a crucial role in the…