How are Dutch universities working together in times of corona, and which solutions are they offering? On 15 May VSNU chairman Pieter Duisenberg presented the e-zine ‘Universities in times of corona’ (LINK) to Ingrid Van Engelshoven, Minister of Education, Culture and Science. The e-zine contains a…

Dr. Kirsten Leiss and Prof. Peter Klinkhamer received 900.000 euro’s from “Stichting Toegepaste Wetenschappen (STW)” and the company “Rijk Zwaan” to develop plants that are resistant to thrips, a major agricultural pest all over the world.

Unfortunately, Covid-19 won’t be the last infectious disease to sweep across the world. To nip such diseases in the bud, a team of Leiden students is developing a test kit that will be able to detect infectious diseases at an early stage. With this idea, they won the Grand Prize of the international…

Zijn corona-complotten waanzin? Jelle van Buuren, universitair docent bij het Institute of Security and Global Affairs van de Universiteit Leiden, discussieert in de online talkshow De Groene Live #25 vanuit Pakhuis de Zwijger over dit thema.

The Department of Medical Microbiology of Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) will investigate the efficacy of a new experimental vaccine from the pharmaceutical company Jansen against the coronavirus. The research is being conducted in collaboration with the The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies…

LUMC research has shown that women who previously had a miscarriage due to COVID-19 are not at increased risk of having another miscarriage or a stillbirth. Nor are preventive drugs needed during the pregnancy.

On April 8th 2020, Ivan Romashchenko successfully defended his doctoral thesis on 'Related party transactions and corporate groups: When Eastern Europe meets the West'.

The infection rate is rising again in the Netherlands, which means it may also be rising among Leiden University’s students and staff. How is the University responding? And what dilemmas is it facing? We spoke to our Rector Magnificus, Chief Security Officer and two other administrators.

Researchers from the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) have successfully used stem cell gene therapy to treat a baby with the severe congenital immune disorder SCID. An important milestone: it is the first time stem cell gene therapy of Dutch origin has been administered to a patient, and also…

Has the Netherlands responded well to the corona crisis? Or are we, as Geert Wilders terms it, the ‘dunce’ of Europe? A group of authors including Leiden professor Arjen Boin have analysed the Dutch approach and come up with valuable lessons for the next pandemic.

Why have some European countries responded faster to the coronavirus outbreak than others? While in some countries the lockdown had already been declared when relatively few cases were known, others did not take action until thousands of people were already infected and hundreds were already dead. What…

September 26 is the European Day of Languages. There are 24 official languages in Europe but some 200 languages in total are spoken on our continent. What good are all these different languages? And should we all learn Azerbaijani or Swedish? We asked Lisa Cheng, Professor of General Linguistics.

All the world leaders have had to choose an approach during the global Covid-19 crisis. But which approach is the most effective? André Gerrits, Professor of International Studies & Global Politics, who lectures in the BA International Studies, is observing some interesting developments. ‘Democracies…

Imagine: you are at the end of your fieldwork in Peru and ready to go home when all flights get canceled because of Covid-19. It happened to master student Visual Ethnography Mark Lindenberg. By now, four months later than scheduled, he is back in the Netherlands. How does he look back? And what was…

The National Chamber of Student Associations (LKvV) launched a coronavirus campaign today: ‘That’s why.’ The campaign was launched together with Ingrid van Engelshoven, Minister of Education. The aim of this national campaign is to get students to follow the coronavirus rules. The virus is still spreading…

Children and young people feel the government is not listening to them during the coronavirus pandemic and this is a cause for concern in light of international children’s rights. This is the conclusion of a recent report by a research team from Leiden University on how children and youngsters have…

Leiden University announced on 19 March 2020 that there would be no more face-to-face teaching for the rest of this academic year. That was a big decision with big consequences, but students in Leiden are staying positive and trying to make the best of it. Read on to be inspired by how Leiden students…

Fourteen bachelor’s and master’s students are representing Leiden University in this year’s International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM). Their plan: to create a kit that can be used to quickly identify infectious diseases in case of an outbreak.

The current COVID-19 vaccination campaign involves injecting the vaccine into muscle tissue, but injecting a smaller amount of vaccine in the skin might also provide good protection. The #wakeuptocorona crowdfunding campaign has enabled Anna Roukens (LUMC) to examine the safety and efficacy of vaccination…

There is an ongoing struggle between the Minister of Public Health, Hugo de Jonge, and the Dutch Municipal Health Services (GGDs). De Jonge wants the GGDs to speed up testing, conduct more tests, and allow priority testing but the GGDs are pulling on the brakes. The waiting lists for a corona test have…

Four scientists from the Faculty of Science will receive a grant of up to 50,000 euros in the Open Competition Domain Science - XS from science financier NWO. This category emphatically strives to encourage curiosity-driven and bold research involving a relatively quick analysis of a promising idea.…

The 18.8 million euro NWO Zwaartekracht grant for quantum software which Amsterdam, Delft and Leiden landed collectively, means for Leiden University among others the appointment of two new permanent scientific staff members, who will each form their own research group, divided among Computer Science,…

When mosquito eggs hatch in nutrient-rich water, the mosquitoes are larger and they can also fly further. That is the first conclusion of a study from by the Netherlands Centre for One Health (NCOH) by PhD-student Sam Boerlijst.

Prof.Dr. Herman van Vlijmen was appointed as Professor of Computational Drug Discovery at the Division of Medicinal Chemistry in Leiden on April 15th, 2008. He will give his Inaugural Lecture on May 18th, 2009.

We’re susceptible not only to viruses, but also to fear of viruses. What are the psychological principles at work here? Social and organisational psychologist Gert Jan Lelieveld on the Corona virus at the Dutch news website NRC. Read his 'behavior column' in English.

Leiden Lockdown Lab Lore is a series of short youtube videos aimed at keeping physicists lab instincts alive during the lockdown. This time, we have a physics contest: can you solve the Cola bubble mystery?

A message from our director

We exploit secondary metabolites of plant to develop pharmaceutical compounds and we genetically modify plant genomes to improve crops.

Denmark, Poland and Germany are a few of the countries that have closed their borders, entirely or certain sections, in response to the continued advancement of coronavirus. Normally, this is only possible when there is a threat to public order or national security.

Unfortunately we have to postpone the workshop with Ben Spatz due to the Corona-virus.

How can we diagnose the life-threatening condition sepsis in premature babies as quickly and accurately as possible? That is what PhD student Manchu Thangavelu from the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) wants to figure out.

PhD candidate Vincent Walstra reflects on alternative social interactions and mutual aid in the city of Rotterdam during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Decision makers are faced with dilemmas as result of the corona crisis. Dr. Jeroen Wolbers, Assistant Professor Crisis Governance at the Crisis Research Center explains the existing dilemmas and what makes the corona crisis unique when compared to other crises.

‘There’s a lot of evaluation in the Netherlands, but this doesn’t always lead to change,’ says Wout Broekema, Assistant Professor of Crisis Governance at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs. Learning from a crisis is complicated, but experts can help.

It is exactly one year ago that the university had to close, bang in the middle of the academic year. Suddenly, on that third Monday in March, we found ourselves at home, working and studying online – many of us from that cramped attic or student room. The momentous coronavirus year in pictures.

In recent weeks, Luuk van Middelaar has commented widely in the European press on the EU response to the corona crisis.

The International Institute of Air and Space Law (IIASL) has always been proud of its network, and most notably its alumni. These unprecedented Corona times mean that the students have not had the same opportunities as in past years to meet and engage in personal relationships with that alumni-base,…

In 2007, a spy from the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) planted a destructive computer virus at an Iranian nuclear site, halting the Iranian nuclear weapons programme. Dutch newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’ has revealed that the AIVD kept the crucial role of the Dutch spy a secret from…

In Green Bank, Virginia are some giant radio telescopes which astronomers use to study objects deep in space. Because these telescopes are built to capture very faint redio signals, the area around the observatory is officially a 'radio-quiet' zone, without WiFi, radio or Cell signal. Photographers…

The decision by the court in preliminary relief proceedings to immediately lift the curfew in the Netherlands – following a case brought by pressure group Viruswaarheid (Virus Truth) – has been overturned until the appeal on the case is heard this Friday. The government is doing everything in its power…

The Open Day of Leiden University, on the 8th of this month, was a success again: 483 prospective students came to find out what Leiden has to offer. The Institute of Biology Leiden was also present.

Physicist Daniël Geelen has developed a new microscope that uses low-energy electrons. Those are less harmful to biological and organic materials. Geelen defends his PhD thesis on May 31st.

What is the role of academia in solving societal problems such as the corona crisis? Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker spoke about this at the opening of the academic year on 31 August.

Ever since the coronavirus crisis began, people have been arguing about the legal justification for measures. The problem: far-reaching measures such as an obligation to wear face masks, get tested, or school closures violate the Constitution. The Cabinet had the difficult task of weighing fundamental…

During the coronavirus years 2020 and 2021, Dutch citizens became poorer, more anxious, less free and more rebellious. The State gained more power and entered the lives of citizens in all manner of ways to protect their health. Only recently did the State give citizens their freedom back – in part.

In the public debate on the coronavirus, bold assertions from academics, doctors and other medical practitioners are often heard. For example, that the coronavirus would be no more deadly than the flu. Or that measures to combat the virus like wearing face coverings are unnecessary.

Leiden Scientists are getting prepared to tackle future epidemics. A group of scientists led by Dr. Alireza Mashaghi has used innovative engineering approaches to make the first “Lassa Hemorrhagic Syndrome on-a-Chip”. World Health Organization has listed Lassa fever among diseases that pose the greatest…

The Janssen-Cilag International N.V COVID-19 vaccine has received authorization for emergency use by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on March 11. The vaccine was developed with fundamental support from the Molecular Virology group of the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC).

Following China and Italy, it appears that the United States is becoming the next epicentre of the coronacrisis. Can the US handle this crisis? Is president Trump dealing with the situation correctly? We asked Leiden America expert Sara Polak.

A night sky of more than 40 petabytes in size, simulating young star clusters and understanding how the body inhibits viruses: three Leiden projects have received computing time on one of the national computer systems.