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Social evaluative fears during adolescence

Does the mineralocorticoid receptor play a role in the effects of cortisol and synthetic glucocorticoids on the immune response?

Unraveling the immune-suppressive actions of drugs like prednisone.

In this thesis, we have studied the potential of the zebrafish larval model in studying the ECS, as a complementary model to the existing rodent models.

The major aim is to unravel the central mechanisms of how peoples’ expectancies affect physical symptoms, immune and endocrine responses, and related health outcomes, through the use of pioneering multidisciplinary methods in experimental studies in healthy and clinical populations.

How is the development of physiological responses to social evaluation in adolescence affected by other normative developments, such as pubertal, socio-cognitive and psychosocial development? Are social anxiety and public speaking anxiety associated with characteristic patterns of stress responses…

Why does social anxiety increase in adolescence and how does it grow out of control in some adolescents?

How do genetic and environmental factors make us vulnerable to depression?

Psycho-physiological reactions to stress.

To what extent is sound a stressor to fish? And are behavioural and physiological phenotypes equally sensitive to disturbance by noise pollution?

What is the role of stress and stress-related hormones in emotion regulation?

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The Leiden Index of Depression Sensitivity (LEIDS) measures cognitive reactivity (CR) to sadness, an aspect of cognitive vulnerability to depression, conceptually similar to rumination.

Visualization of biomolecules in living cells by tagging with gold nanoparticles.

The Developmental Psychology specialisation of the Research Master’s in Psychology offers a strong theoretical background to provide the varied knowledge-base needed for a thorough understanding of emotional and cognitive development across childhood and adolescence.

The CIGR comprises research groups from the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), the Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC), the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) and the Leiden Institue of Physics (LION).

Members of our research team give different types of presentations and lectures.

The research of the Van Eck Group focusses on 3 interconnected research lines: 1) Identification and therapeutic targeting of key pathways/regulators in macrophages essential for prevention of atherosclerotic lesion development or stimulation of regression of existing lesions, 2) Atherosclerosis as…

Our response to stress is regulated by the ‘bliss molecule’ anandamide but how exactly remained unknown. Until recently, that is. Elliot Mock has now succeeded in developing a new substance that reduces anandamide, called LEI-401. This has made it easier to conduct research into the role of anandamide…

Chronic stress weakens the immune system, psychologist Jos Brosschot warns in an interview with Leidsch Dagblad newspaper. Social isolation can cause feelings of insecurity and stress. He therefore advises keeping in touch with others.

Nanoplastics influence the behaviour of larval zebrafish, says new research by the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) and the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML). The researchers observed that a certain type of nanoparticles leads to stress reactions in the sugar balance, resulting in hyperactivity…

Dr Sarah Schrader, an expert in the study of human remains, received a VIDI grant for a research project on health and inequality. In present day people with a high socio-economic status encounter fewer health risks than those in lower socio-economic strati. ‘Now we will look at this process in the…

Naomi Ellemers, Professor of Social Psychology of Organisations, is one of the four winners of the Spinoza Prize for 2010. ‘This is absolutely fantastic – something that as a researcher you hardly dare to dream of!’

Advanced fluorescence microscopy techniques have revealed how steroid receptors move inside the nucleus. The results were published by a team from Leiden University and the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, led by IBL-researcher Marcel Schaaf.

Since August 2017, dr. Sarah Schrader is working at the Faculty of Archaeology in the department of Archaeological Sciences. Her expertise is human osteology with a specific focus on the bio-archaeological reconstruction of daily activities. Recently she took over the management of the Osteoarchaeology…

Jos F. Brosschot has been appointed as a professor by special appointment on the chair ‘psychophysiological mechanisms of stress in daily life’. This chair has been created by the Foundation for Research into Psychosocial Stress.

Proactive zebrafish appear to have a much stronger wake-sleep rhythm than reactive fish. In the most reactive fish, rhythmicity appears to be lacking completely. This is shown with research by Leiden biologists, published in December 2018 in the journal BMC Biology.

A consortium of researchers from the Leiden Institute of Physics (LION), the Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL), and the Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC) received a FOM program grant to develop a novel way of studying individual proteins inside a cell using gold nanorods.

Health psychologist Aleksandrina Skvortsova has made clever use of the Pavlov effect to link the ‘cuddle’ hormone oxytocin with the placebo effect. This effect can alter the level of oxytocin in the body, making it possible for people to reduce the amount of medicine they need while still feeling good.…

Psychologists Marieke Tollenaar, Anne Miers and Esther van den Bos received donations from the Leiden University Fund and Stichting Praesidium Libertatis to take crucial first steps in research projects that may eventually contribute to the well-being of vulnerable youth.

Researchers at LUMC are trying to decipher the biological clock. This knowledge can help deal with luxury problems, such as jetlag, but can also counter diseases. Molecular neurobiologist Erno Vreugdenhil explains.

Misleading graphs, the erosion of democracy and the weakening of bones as a side-effect of medication. Researchers are starting work on these very topical problems, funded by subsidies from the Leiden University Fund awarded on 12 October.

Our vision of stress is starting to change fundamentally. We can suffer stress without even being aware of it, while sleeping as wall as during the day. Professor of Psychology Jos Brosschot will discuss this phenomenon in his inaugural lecture on 2 December.

The use of the pill, in combination with genetic factors, can influence experimental psychological research in women. More research is needed into the influence of the pill on mood disorders, concludes psychologist Daniëlle Hamstra. PhD defence on 30 September.

Lecture, Studium Generale

Burnout is on the increase. It is caused by group pressure, being ‘on’ all the time and asking too much of ourselves. Clinical psychologist Bart Verkuil advises lowering our expectations.

Electronic versions of our publications can be obtained by sending an e-mail to Esther van den Bos: bosejvanden@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

Lecture