In the near future oral polio vaccine (OPV) will be replaced by inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) as part of the eradication program of polio. For that reason, there is a need for substantial amount of safe and more affordable IPV for low-income countries. Bioneedles, which are biodegradable mini-implants,…

This thesis describes the development of improved formulations and alternative delivery strategies for polio vaccination.

Promotores: W. Jiskoot, F. Ossendorp

Promotores: Prof.dr. J. A. Bouwstra, Prof.dr. W. Jiskoot

Main challenges in skin vaccination are overcoming the stratum corneum (SC) barrier and targeting the antigen presenting cells (APC) in the epidermis and the dermis.

Promotor: A. Kros, Co-promotor: R.R.C.L. Olsthoorn

In the literature, several types of microneedles have been extensively described. However, porous microneedle arrays only received minimal attention. Hence, only little is known about drug delivery via these microneedles. However, porous microneedle arrays may have potential for future microneedle-based…

Promotores: Wim Jiskoot; Ferry Ossendorp

The Delivery of Biotherapeutics research group is led by Prof. Matthias Barz and focusses on the synthesis and characterization of polypept(o)ids and their application in nanomedicine to improve existing therapies or enable novel diagnostic or therapeutic approaches.

Promotoren: G.F.A. Kersten, W. Jiskoot, Co-promotor: J-P. Amorij

Vaccination via the skin or the mucosae

Promotor: A. Kros

Is there a sufficiently large market for drug screening and testing in Zebrafish larvae using membrane fusion?

Promotor: A. Kros

Because of their large surface area and immunological competence, mucosal tissues are attractive administration and target sites for vaccination.

The Campus Model makes it necessary to demolish a neighbouring housing complex. Leiden University and the Municipality of Leiden have sought attractive alternative locations for the present residents.

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting millions of people world-wide.

Alexander Kros and co-workers describe how mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are delivered into cells via membrane fusion thereby omitting endocytosis pathways. Fusion is induced by a pair of complementary coiled-coil lipopeptides inserted into the membrane of cells and in the bilayer of lipid-coated…

In summary, the collective results described in this thesis show that nanoparticulate vaccines can be delivered intradermally by coated and hollow microneedles and evoke antigen-specific immune responses.

On May 23rd, Ernanda succesfully defended her doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Ernanda on this great result.

Data science offers exciting new instruments for governments to reach out to citizens, for example by using data-driven information channels, providing real-time simulations, or personalizing services based on citizen data. At the same time, the possibilities and use of data science methods can have…

Petra van der Bekerom, Joris van der Voet, and Johan Christensen, three assistant professors at Leiden University, conducted a large-scale survey experiment about whether citizens are more negative about failing service delivery than private organizations.

Dendritic cells (DC) play a prominent role in the priming of CD8(+) T cells. Vaccination is a promising treatment to boost tumor-specific CD8(+) T cells which is crucially dependent on adequate delivery of the vaccine to DC.

Promotores: Prof.dr. G.F.A Kersten, Prof dr. J.A. Bouwstra

Microneedle-based vaccination has several advantages over vaccination by using conventional hypodermic needles.

The group of Dr. Roxanne Kieltyka designs and synthesizes molecules that self-assemble into polymeric materials using specific non-covalent interactions. These substrates can be used for numerous applications in medicine ranging from disease detection to cell delivery depending on the (bio)molecular…

Exploring the mechanism of targeted nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery using the zebrafish model

Appropriate animal models for intradermal vaccine delivery are scarce. Given the high similarity of their skin anatomy to that of humans, minipigs may be a suitable model for dermal vaccine delivery.

The aim of this work was to study the applicability of antigen-coated pH-sensitive microneedle arrays for effective vaccination strategies. Therefore, a model antigen (ovalbumin) was coated onto pH-sensitive (pyridine-modified) microneedle arrays to test pH-triggered antigen release by applying the…

This book describes the different approaches for drug delivery to the brain with an emphasis on the physiology of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the governing principles and concepts for drug delivery across the BBB

The RNA guided endonuclease based on the CRISPR/Cas system of Streptococcus pyogenus is a potent new tool for genome engineering in plants.

Lecture

Arabic and its Alternatives discusses the complicated relationships between language, religion and communal identities in the Middle East in the period following the First World War.

The potential of liposomal cancer vaccines

Matthias Barz has been appointed full Professor of Biotherapeutics Delivery at the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR).

Promotor: Prof.dr. B. van de Water, Co-promotores: L.T.M. van der Ven, A.S. Kienhuis

Do sustainability values play a role in motivating people to act for biodiversity in successful projects and in successful leadership action? And how could these values be incorporated in current economic valuation methods?

The project ‘Founding an Inclusive Space’ investigates the histories of various LGBT+ archives in the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Influenza CD8(+) T-cell epitopes are conserved amongst influenza strains and can be recognized by influenza-specific cytotoxic T-cells (CTLs), which can rapidly clear infected cells. An influenza peptide vaccine that elicits these CTLs would therefore be an alternative to current influenza vaccines,…

This thesis describes the design, characterization and application of dextran based crosslinked network.

PURPOSE: To determine the effect of elasticity on the skin permeation of ketoprofen from surfactant-based vesicular formulations and elastic liposomes.

Promotor: E. Bouwman, Co-promotor: S. Bonnet

Markus Davidsen defended his thesis on 16 October 2014

The goal of this study is to systematically investigate how intonation (speech melody) is conveyed in whispered speech.

Electrons that spin synchronously around their axis, turn out to stay superconducting across large distances within magnetic chromium dioxide. Electric current from these electrons can flip small magnets, and its superconducting version could form the basis for a hard drive without energy loss. Publication…