We have studied shape with a particular focus on the zebrafish model system. The shape is an essential appearance of the phenotype of a biological specimen and it can be used to read out a current state or response or to study gene expression.

Optical projection tomography (OPT) is a tomographic 3D imaging technique used for specimens in the millimetre scale.

With tomography it is possible to reconstruct the interior of an object without destroying.

This study aims to make a practical contribution to a new understanding and use of 3D reconstructions, namely as ‘laboratories’ to test hypotheses and visualize, evaluate and discuss alternative interpretations.

In this thesis we present several methods to automate tomographic reconstruction algorithms and several novel tomographic reconstruction algorithms with the focus on being easily applicable and efficient to use.

Living cells on topographically-controlled substrates: Understanding Cell Motility in a Quasi-3D Environment

Promotor: K.J. Batenburg

An experimental approach to organic palaeolithic technology

Promotor: Prof.dr. J.N. Kok, Co-promotor: F.J. Verbeek

A new type of tripodal squaramide-based supramolecular hydrogels is developed and studied.

The research in this thesis is focused on tomographic reconstruction based on two imaging modalities in electron microscopy.

We live in a world of things and people in the past must have been as closely entangled with their material surroundings as we are now. In the Laboratory for Artefact Studies Van Gijn takes a close look at the biographies of objects: what kind of raw material an object is made off and what is its provenience,…

This dissertation presents a comprehensive description of Xinka, an indigenous language from southeastern Guatemala. The description is based on a missionary grammar that is titled Arte de la lengua szinca and was written by the priest Manuel Maldonado de Matos around 1773.

Dorothea Schulz & Martin Hense

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Promotor: Prof.dr. K.J. Batenburg

Traditional drug discovery approaches have been hampered by (in vitro) cell-culture models that poorly represent the situation in the human body.

The chaotic years after the Civil War are often seen as a time of uniquely American idealism—a revolutionary attempt to rebuild the nation that paved the way for the civil rights movement of the twentieth century. But Adam Fairclough rejects this prevailing view, challenging prominent historians such…

There is an urgent need for more physiologically relevant cell culture methods to guide compound selection in pre-clinical stages of the drug development pipeline.

What if you could watch a CT scan live, instead of analysing the images afterwards? If it is up to the Leiden mathematician Jan-Willem Buurlage, that will soon be a reality. He is developing methods to make the algorithms behind 3D scans faster. Quite a challenge: ‘Just like mathematicians, computers…

PhD defence

A research goal for ABS is to develop miniaturized platforms for research in (stem)cell, in-vitro systems and application in clinical and preventive research. Combined with the high throughput, this development will make it possible to study the dynamics of pathogenesis in human and cellular models…

An assessment of Libyan legislation

Leiden University archaeologists are reconstructing houses from the Stone Age, using only resources available during that period. This method offers surprising insights into the ingenuity of our distant ancestors, and challenges existing archaeological views.

Another research line is the development of a spatial CNS drug distribution model, by ultimately including the 3-dimensional anatomical organization of the CNS.

Joost Batenburg is a mathematician and computer scientist who works to build bridges to other disciplines. He hopes to bring intelligent software to fields where it can make a difference. Conversely, he also seeks connections to the disciplines that are needed to make AI a success.

Tomography is a powerful technique to non-destructively determine the interior structure of an object.Usually, a series of projection images (e.g.\ X-ray images) is acquired from a range of different positions.

Proceedings of the XVII UISPP World Congress (1–7 September, Burgos, Spain). Volume 7/Sessions A4b and A12

Image-Pro Plus, ImageJ, Cell Profiler, R, Knime and NIS-elements

The imaging group focuses on bio-imaging, image analysis and visualization.

Promotor: J.P. Abrahams, Co-promotor: T. Grüne

PhD defence

Bispecific antibodies with one Fab arm binding to effector cells, such as T-cells and NK-cells, while the other Fab arm recognizing a tumor associated antigen (TAA) can be used to redirect these effector cells for tumor specific killing. Using bispecific antibodies to treat hematological cancers is…

Lecture, Digital Archaeology Group

This project intends to provide an integrated linguistic assessment of the hypothesised migration route of the Tocharians.

Promotor: H.J.A. Röttgering, Co-promotor: M. Haverkorn

Anna Scott is a Canadian pianist-researcher interested in using the early twentieth century recordings of the Brahms circle of pianists to question persistent gaps between the loci of knowledge, ethics, and act in both modern mainstream and historically-informed performances of Brahms’s late piano w…

Attitudes towards cultural heritage have long been characterised by an ‘endangerment sensibility’ concerned with preventing losses. Recently, however, critical heritage scholars have argued that loss can be generative, facilitating the formation of new values and attachments. Their arguments have focused…

A technique originally developed for satellite imaging can now be used to recover pictographic texts from underneath the surface of a five hundred year old Mexican manuscript.

What can languages spoken in the Lesser Sunda Islands today tell us about the histories of its various population groups?

The Computer Systems, Imagery & media (CSI) research programme performs research on methods and techniques for the design, implementation and application of advanced computer systems, in particular parallel, distributed and embedded computer systems.

What kinds of vocal music were not typically transmitted in written musical notation? Can specific ‘lost’ song forms - siciliane, giustiniane, le Grechesche, gli stili “regionali“ nel canto del quattrocento - be more precisely identified than they have been until now, both in musicological research…

Since 2013, the National Natural History Museum of the Netherlands, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, is unearthing the largest bonebed of the horned dinosaur Triceratops discovered so far. In order to answer questions about sedimentology, taphonomy and palaeobiology, palaeontologists and geologists collaborated…

Female and male songbirds sing equally elaborate songs in some species, but in others, females do not sing like males or not at all. How did such pronounced differences in male and female communication evolve?

How to reconstruct the middle parts (videlicet haute-contres, tailles and quintes) from French orchestral pieces, which survived only in their reduced forms (featuring primarely dessus and continuo), according to historical examples?

From prow to stern, this little boat measures 30 micrometers, about a third of the thickness of a hair. It has been 3D-printed by Leiden physicists Rachel Doherty, Daniela Kraft and colleagues.

In 2010, the remnants of a 16th century indigenous village were discovered in St. Vincent, on the construction terrain of the new International Argyle Airport.

An enormous number of monumental buildings, such as burial tombs, appeared in Mycenaean Greece after 1600 BC. Why did this urge to build come to an abrupt end 400 years later? Archaeologist Ann Brysbaert investigates the possible causes thanks to her ERC Consolidator Grant.

This project aims to excavate and date the setting of the east gate of the Roman fortress of Udhruḥ. This will be compared with other Diocletianic military installations from the region. We also hope to retrieve another gate inscription which can shed light on the function and political embedding of…

Nano-plastics cause malformations. Meiru Wang, researcher at the Institute of Biology Leiden, looked at the extreme effects polystyrene nano-particles could have, using chicken embryos as a model. Her results were quite alarming. Especially as nano-particles are everywhere. In the air, floating through…