The research in the Biosyn group is focused on the design, synthesis and function of the four major types of biomolecules: nucleic acids, carbohydrates, peptides and lipids and hybrid structures thereof. These biomolecules and their derivatives are used in drug discovery and chemical biology, to develop…

Biological chemist Nathaniel Martin is going to test an alternative antibiotic that can combat common resistant bacteria such as MRSA. For this purpose, he will receive 350,000 euros from the NWO's NACTAR programme. ‘We want to know how safe and effective our antibiotic is in a realistic situation.’

Lecture

PhD students at Bio-organic Synthesis are invited to present their work during the weekly Monday Morning Biosyn Talks.

Contact Bio-organic Synthesis

Research projects

The Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC) is the basis for research and collaborations of the Leiden chemistry groups. Chemistry is the central science enabling a healthy future in a sustainable society. Chemistry researchers at Leiden University take a fundamental approach in finding tailored solutions…

Bachelor and Master students of all chemistry related studies are more than welcome to take part in our research activities. We have projects on design and synthesis of biologically relevant compounds within an ongoing research project. Supervision, following the apprentice/teacher model, is one of…

The Leiden Institute of Chemistry is proud to offer the “Leiden Chemical Biology Lectures”. This lecture series aims to bring excellent researchers in the field of chemical biology to our university, and to expose our students to top science conducted in this area.

Marjolein Soethoudt was awarded the Unilever Research Prize 2013 for the University of Leiden. The prize was bestowed upon her because of her thesis about her 9-months Master’s internship that she performed in the department from September 2011 until July 2012, in combination with her other study re…

Research at the BIOSYN group is comprised of the following research themes:

As of July 1, Professor of Bio-organic Synthesis Hermen Overkleeft will be appointed as the Scientific Director of the Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC). He will succeed Jaap Brouwer, who has been managing the institute for the past twelve years. Overkleeft has been appointed for a period of four…

Science

Thomas Bakkum en Tom van der Wel, two PhD candidates from the Leiden Institute of Chemistry, have both won poster prizes at the EMBL Chemical Biology Conference 2018 in Heidelberg.

Anthe Janssen graduated ‘summa cum laude’ for the master’s programme Chemistry.He used NMR methods to gain insight in the syntheses and behavior of bio sugars. With this knowledge future therapeutics and research tools in hemical and medicinal biology can be developed. Anthe was awarded € 2.500.

On Friday May 3rd 2013 NWO has announced that Dr. Mario van der Stelt, Division of Bio-Organic Synthesis (LIC) and Dr. Laura Heitman, Division of Medicinal Chemistry (LACDR), have been awarded with an ECHO-STIP grant for their project, entitled: “Novel target engagement biomarkers for better drug ca…

Researchers at Leiden University have made a breakthrough in the study of the hereditary Pompe disease. Together with colleagues in York, they have developed a molecule that binds to the enzyme that is key to the progress of the disease. The findings have been published in ACS Central Science.

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences has elected five Leiden professors from different disciplines as new members. Two of the new members are women.

Lecture

A new technique using fluorescent imaging to track the actions of enzymes might aid drug design for new anti-cancer, inflammation and kidney disease treatments. Researchers at the University of York and Leiden University have published these findings in Nature Chemical Biology.

An objective of this research was to achieve direct, well-defined and non-rate-limiting electron transfer between respiratory enzymes and the electrode surface by means of 'Q-wires'.

Lecture

Lecture

NWO has awarded a Vidi subsidy to a total of 89 young and innovative researchers. Leiden researchers have won twelve of these subsidies and three subsidies have gone to the LUMC. Each researcher will receive up to 800,000 euro to develop a particular research theme or to set up a research group.

Promotor: G.A. van der Marel, Co-promotor: J.D.C. Codée

Lecture

Lecture

The master's specialisation Drug Discovery and Safety at Leiden University provides students with research-oriented education into the discovery of new drug targets and new lead molecules, particularly in the field of cancer, through a combination of advanced imaging techniques (‘systems microscopy’),…

The LST and Education master specialisation gives you the opportunity to combine fundamental LST studies with excellent education in becoming a chemistry or biology teacher.

The Leiden Institute of Chemistry offers a unique tailor-made programme in Life Science and Technology. You can adept the programme to your own interests and ambitions with the help of your own personal mentor. Your study will focus on either a Biomedical and Molecular approach of Life Sciences.

The fundamental and applied research in Leiden is focussed on either a Biomedical or Molecular approach of Life Sciences. During the Master you will be part of one of our multidisciplinary research teams.

The Life Science and Technology and SCS master specialisation gives you the opportunity to combine a fundamental study in Life Sciences with different aspects of science communication.

Combine research in Life Science and Technology with different aspects of business studies. Learn to build bridges between science and business.

Promotor: G.A. van der Marel, Co-promotor: D.C. Codée

Abrupt Climate Change and Cultural Transformation

Glycoconjugate vaccines are composed of microbial poly- or oligosaccharides covalently linked to a carrier protein.

Chapter 2 describes a post-synthetic methodology to introduce a fluorescent label in highly lipophilic, Pam3Cys based conjugates.

Promotores: Prof.dr. H. S. Overkleeft, Prof.dr. G. A. van der Marel

The thesis focuses on synthesis strategies in oligosaccharide campaigns, and the influence of protecting groups.

Less than 1 in 10 drug candidates that enter phase 1 clinical trials actually gets approved for human use.

Science, Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC)

Sphingolipids are important membrane compounds with a variety of functions. In mammalian cells, different enzymes are involved in the metabolism of sphingolipids, but interruption of this metabolism process leads to different diseases.

This project aims at determining the market value of hydrogen peroxide (HP) that is produced via our electrochemical methods that have been developed as part of the ERC-StG Cu4Energy project.

Nathaniel Martin has been appointed professor in the field of Bioorganic Chemistry within the Faculty of Science at the Institute of Biology Leiden, starting from 1 March 2018. His research focuses on using new (bio)chemical approaches to combat infectious disease, as well as on developing new molecular…

Promotores: H.S. Overkleeft, G.A. van der Marel, Co-Promotor: J.D.C. Codee

Promotor: G. A. van der Marel, Co-promotor: D. V. Filippov

This Thesis describes a strategy to synthesize 1,2-cis-oligosaccharides modulated by additives, such as dimethylformamide (DMF), triphenylphosphine oxide (Ph3P=O) and N-methyl(phenyl)formamide (MPF), using building blocks that carry solely benzyl type protecting groups and are therefore of uniform r…

In this thesis, the discovery and optimization is described of chemical tools to study the N-acylethanolamine (NAE) biosynthetic pathway.

The Leiden Bio Science Park (BSP) will become a real campus in the coming years, with more houses, and attractive places where scientists, students and entrepreneurs can meet to discuss their plans.