Promotor: Prof.dr. A.P. IJzerman, Co-Promotor: Dr. L.H. Heitman

Discovery and development of Central Nervous System (CNS) drugs is hampered by high attrition rates.

In the theme Drug research we generally work with rodents.

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…

Human and animal cells are very complex: very different chemical processes are going on at the same time, but they are separated from each other because the cells are divided in compartments. These compartments may also have a profound effect on the potential efficacy of therapeutics, because the drug…

Promotor: M. Ubbink, Co-promotor: G. Siegal

From the Big Bang to superconductivity. Many ground-breaking discoveries have been made in Leiden University’s long history.

Is is possible to better predict the validity of drug candidates?

Our research in the area of safety sciences aims to increase the mechanistic understanding of cellular toxicity of drugs and, in a broader sense, chemicals.

Can zebrafish provide a fast, sensitive in vivo vertebrate model for identifying novel mechanisms of Ewing sarcoma progression and for development of new anticancer compounds in a time- and cost-effective manner?

Lecture

The Night of Discoveries is an annual event in Leiden, focusing on science and culture. The Young Academy Leiden is a recurring contributor to the Night of Discoveries.

In previous studies at our laboratory it was demonstrated that drug exposure of HepG2 cells can lead to an altered TNFα-induced NF-κB oscillatory phenotype, concurrent with a synergistically increased sensitivity for TNFα-induced apoptosis.

Promotor: M. Danhof Co-promotor: O.E. Della Pasqua

He’s a fast and animated speaker, which is only logical because Gerard van Westen is driving an express train. His destination? A virtual human, consisting of algorithms that predict what an administered substance will do in the body. The train is already a long way down the line and the pharmaceutical…

Can we develop a generic method for Quan/Qual analysis of small molecule drugs, their metabolites and endogenous metabolites in (pre-)clinical samples?

In this thesis an activity-based probe was discovered that could visualize the activity of PLAATs. With an optimized gel-based ABPP assay in hand, screening of a compound library led to the discovery of alpha-ketoamides as a hit for PLAAT3.

Scientists from the Faculty of Science present recent discoveries to colleagues of various fields. In a 15-minute talk, a colleague of the Faculty of Science presents his or her ongoing research. The presentations are aimed at a broad audience.

Mechanisms fro drug resistance

Can drug screening for tuberculosis treatment be made more efficient?

Glycosidases are important enzymes in the turnover of polysaccharides and glycoconjugates, and are involved in a range of human pathologies including genetic disorders such as Gaucher and Pompe disease, but also in various cancers.

How can zebrafish models be used to gain a better understanding of host-pathogen interaction mechanisms and to screen new drugs for infectious disease treatment?

How do macrophages and neutrophils contribute to metastatic onset?

Promotores: A.P. IJzerman, H.W.T. van Vlijmen

Promotor: Prof.dr. A. P. IJzerman, Co-Promotor: Dr. L.H. Heitman

In the research programme Microbial Sciences we perform state-of-the-art research in the field of biotechnology and microbial sciences.

Division contact information & address

A novel mathematical model describes spatial-temporal drug distribution within one or more brain units, which are cubic representations of a piece of brain tissue with brain capillaries at the edges.

Drug Discovery and Safety consists of 120 European Credit Transfer System (EC) points.

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…

Lecture

Do understudied animals contain hidden species?

Inaugural Lecture

Promotor: Prof.dr. B. van de Water, Co-promotor: L.S. Price

A next, general pharmacological problem to be tackled is how drug-target binding kinetics in vivo, affects target occupancy as an important indicator of the time-course of drug effects.

The research conducted at the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research is clustered within the divisions of BioTherapeutics, Drug Discovery & Safety and Systems Biomedicine and Pharmacology.

The division of Drug Discovery and Safety combines the former divisions Toxicology and Medicinal Chemistry.

The zebrafish is a promising vertebrate model organism in early drug discovery and development.

In the Master’s programme in Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences of Leiden University you are trained for a scientific career in drug research and development.

Promotor: A.P. IJzerman

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

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.