Drug development is a time- and resource-consuming process that starts with the discovery and validation of a (protein) target that contributes to pathogenesis or disease progression.

Lecture

Lecture

Chemical biology research at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry is aimed at understanding biological processes at the molecular level to strengthen the knowledge base of human health and disease. The approach to achieve this goal is a fundamental chemical one; with the aid of chemical probes biological…

Chemical biology research at the Leiden Institute of Chemistry is aimed at understanding biological processes at the molecular level to strengthen the knowledge base of human health and disease. The approach to achieve this goal is a fundamental chemical one; with the aid of chemical probes biological…

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

Chemical biology research aims at understanding and manipulating biological processes at the molecular level. Physiological processes that are behind human disease are subject of detailed chemical biology studies with the aim to identify new drug targets, but also leads for drug development or that…

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

Promotor: H.S. Overkleeft, Co-promotor: M. van der Stelt

From surface science towards industrial practice using high-pressure scanning tunneling microscopy.

This thesis describes biochemical investigations of glucocerebrosidase (GBA), the lysosomal β- glucosidase that is deficient in Gaucher disease (GD).

How can we develop new chemical biology tools and approaches to understand and interfere with glucosylceramide metabolism in relation to Gaucher disease?

Overkleeft

Promotores: H.S. Overkleeft, G.A. van der Marel, Co-promotor: B.I. Florea

Diacylglycerol lipases (DAGLα and DAGLβ) convert diacylglycerol to the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol. Our understanding of DAGL function has been hindered by a lack of chemical probes that can perturb these enzymes in vivo.

This thesis describes the use of an activity-based proteomics method to study the endocannabinoid system.

The main subject of this thesis is the design and synthesis of paramagnetic molecules for protein studies with NMR and EPR spectroscopy.

Glycosidases are essential in fundamental biological processes and are responsible for the degradation of most (oligo)saccharides, glycolipids and glycoproteins.

Promotores: H.S. Overkleeft; G.A. van der Marel Co-Promotor: B.I. Florea

Lysosomal glycosidases are acid hydrolases that fragment glycoconjugates in lysosomes.

Cannabis-like synthetic drugs may inhibit pain and inflammation, but their development is hampered by insufficient knowledge about the cellular receptor in the human body that such drugs should activate. Marjolein Soethoudt focused her PhD research on this receptor. She developed better molecular tools…

Promotor: H.S. Overkleeft, J. Neefjes, Co-promotor: M. van der Stelt

Issues such as climate change, the depletion of natural resources or social inequality are too complex to be addressed from a single scientific discipline or by a single country. Leiden University has the expertise to bring the resolution of these enormous problems a small step closer.

Research projects

The Chemistry research in Leiden is conducted in two major research areas: Chemical Biology and Energy & Sustainability. You will be part of one of our multidisciplinary research teams.

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

Combine fundamental Chemistry research with different aspects of business studies. Learn to build bridges between science and business.

The fundamental and applied research in Leiden is focussed on two major research areas: Chemical Biology and Energy & Sustainability. During your Master’s you will be part of one of our multidisciplinary research teams at the LIC.

The Chemistry and SCS master specialisation gives you the opportunity to combine a fundamental Chemistry study with different aspects of science communication.

Lecture

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

The cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB2R) is associated with several inflammatory diseases with an unmet medical need (e.g. Alzheimers, multiple sclerosis, reumatoid arthritis). Development of new chemical biology strategies to study this protein is essential to aid future development of drugs for these…

Overkleeft

Merel van ‘t Hoff is our Leiden Observatory's nominee for the C.J. Kok Jury Award 2019.

Plants produce an astonishing variety of secondary metabolites (SMs) which are thought to play vital roles in the fitness of plants through ecological interactions.

Advanced sensing techniques require graphene with high quality and well-controlled surface chemistry.

PhD Defence

Ramautar

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.

Promotores: T. Hankemeier; R. Berger, Co-promotor: R.J. Vreeken

Promotor: Prof.dr. J. Schaye, Co-promotor: Marcello Cacciato

It is an established fact that the Standard Model has to be extended to explain the so-called Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) phenomena: dark matter, matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe and neutrino flavour oscillations.

Hui Deng (MSc.), a PhD-student in the department of Molecular Physiology, has received an award for the best oral presentation during the 26th International Cannabinoid Research Society (ICRS) conference with more than 300 participants in Bukovina, Poland. Hui Deng presented her work on “Rapid and…

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.

This thesis described the development of novel scanning tunneling microscopy techniques to investigate strongly correlated electronic states in quantum matter.

In human cells, a meter-long DNA is condensed inside a micrometer-sized cell nucleus. Simultaneously, the genetic code must remain accessible for its replication and transcription to functional proteins.

To address the fundamental questions of how life on Earth emerged and how common life may be in the Universe, it is crucial to know the chemical composition of the planet-forming material.

Promotor: Prof.dr. E.F. van Dishoeck, Prof.dr. F.F.S. van der Tak (RUG)

A high-end label: Cyclophellitol aziridine-type activity-based probes allow for ultra-sensitive visualization of mammalian β-glucosidases (GBA1, GBA2, GBA3, and LPH) as well as several non-mammalian β-glucosidases (see picture). These probes offer new ways to study β-exoglucosidases, and configurational…