What is the function of the insect serosa?

One of the most crucial aspects of our behaviour is our motivation to explore novel environments and interact with new people. This became painfully clear during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when many people suffered from lack of new experiences and real-life social interactions. The relevance of novelty…

Promotors: Prof.dr. T.H.W. Bäck, Prof.dr. B. Sendhoff (Technische Universität Darmstadt)

This project has two main aims: I. Determine when novelty promotes fear extinction. II. Discover the neurobiological mechanisms underlying these effects.

This project aims to identify which aspects of exploring a novel environment produce beneficial effects on memory. The effects of novelty will be investigated across the lifespan, including children, adolescents and older adults.

The master’s specialisation Evolutionary Biology at Leiden University investigates biology at all levels. The specialisation includes genomics, functional developmental genetics, paleobiology, behavioral biology and evolutionary ecology.

How did early modern people find out about new knowledge? And did that make them more willing to accept innovation? In the coming years, we will study how and to what effect, new knowledge anchored among the wider public in the early modern Low Countries.

Promotor: Erik F. Smets, Co-promotores: Barbara Gravendeel, Niels Raes

How do balanced lethal systems originate and persist in nature?

This thesis describes the use of the evolutionary approach in the study of language change, aiming to provide a better insight in the mechanisms that play a role in language change and to validate this approach in the field of language change.

Which traits did change due to the invasion process of plants and how do these traits contribute to the invasiveness of such species. What is the role of carbohydrate accumulation? What is the function of carbohydrate accumulation in plants? Is genetic variation depleted in invasive species under se…

We developed the bitterling as a unique, well-studied model organism in the area of the evolutionary ecology of brood parasitism. The bitterling-mussel relationship, interspecific mussel host preference, and mussel gill structure are studied in detail, to help understand the developmental adaptation…

Multi-objective evolutionary computation aims to find high quality (Pareto optimal) solutions that represent the trade-off between multiple objectives.

Multi-objective optimization is an effective technique for finding optimal solutions that balance several conflicting objectives. It has been applied in many fields of our world, because practical problems usually have more than one desired goal. For example, developing a new vehicle component might…

The explosive radiation and diversification of the advanced snakes (superfamily Colubroidea) was associated with changes in all aspects of the shared venom system. Morphological changes included the partitioning of the mixed ancestral glands into two discrete glands devoted for production of venom ormucous…

Promotor: Prof.dr. E Gittenberger, Co-Promotores: C.H.J.M. Fransen, Dr. B.W. Hoeksema

Animal Sciences’ contributions to the Evolution & Biodiversity research theme include evo-devo research, the evolution of cognitive and behavioural traits, and the evolutionary mechanisms of stress adaptation. This research involves both indoor and outdoor studies.

How has early development in R. ocellatus been modified as a result of its parasitic embryonic lifestyle?

In this thesis, I targeted the orchid genus Lepanthes, one of the six genera of angiosperms that surpasses 1,000 species in the Neotropics, as a study model to investigate the evolutionary processes that promoted species diversifications.

Promotor: Prof.dr. P.G.L Klinkhamer

Merijn de Bakker and colleagues of the IBL-research group of Prof. Mike Richardson provide a unique view on digit evolution in crocodiles and birds in their recent study published in Nature.

We perform multidisciplinary research at molecular, cellular, and organismal levels of animal biology to increase fundamental understanding of health and disease.

Paul Brakefield, Professor of Evolutionary Biology at the Institute of Biology in Leiden (IBL) has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant for his research. He will receive 2.5 million euro to develop his research programme over a period of five years.

Plants can’t run away from enemies. Still, it would like to keep life-threatening herbivores at a distance. This can be done with odours. Klaas Vrieling of the Institute of Biology Leiden found out with his team how plants change odour production to keep the munchers at a distance.

Asexual procreation in female wasps leads to an accumulation of genetic mutations, and the shrivelling of their sex organ. Leiden biologist Ken Kraaijeveld published this discovery in Evolution. His research is one of the first experimental studies into the consequences of asexual procreation.

On September 15th a new series of lectures will start, the Joint Lectures on Evolutionary Algorithms (JoLEA). This series of events is aimed at disseminating the latest, top-quality research on EAs. The lectures will feature world-renowned speakers, local researchers, and PhD students.

This thesis involves three topics: benchmarking discrete optimization algorithms, empirical analyses of evolutionary computation, and automatic algorithm configuration.

In this thesis it is posed that the central object of preference discovery is a co-creative process in which the Other can be represented by a machine. It explores efficient methods to enhance introverted intuition using extraverted intuition's communication lines.

Promotor: Prof.dr. G.R. de Snoo

However tempting it may be to lock yourself in your room or in favourite library nook in the days running up to an important exam, it's not a very wise choice, stresses neuroscientist Judith Schomaker.

Biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) for natural products are widespread in microbial genomes, and they are rapidly exchanged. This research assesses the factors that control the spread of BGCs and resistance genes in nature. This includes risk assessment for the spread of engineered DNA in nature.

How to stimulate novel research in science and innovation

On a structural level, the properties featured by a majority of mechanical metamaterials can be ascribed to the finite number of soft internal degrees-of freedom allowing for low-energy deformations.

Thomas Bäck wins the 2015 IEEE CIS Evolutionary Computation Pioneer Award for his contributions in synthesizing evolutionary computation.

To make the right clinical decisions or develop effective diagnostic tests and treatments, it is important to understand the underlying mechanisms of a condition or behavior.

We are all at home in familiar surroundings. Not only is this boring but it can also have a negative influence on our learning, explains cognitive neuropsychologist Judith Schomaker. ‘Discovering new environments gets our brain learning and remembering. We are now missing this stimulus.’

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Promotor: E. Gittenberger, Co-promotores: L.P. van Ofwegen; B.W. Hoeksema

Evolution & Biodiversity is one of the four research themes of the Institute of Biology Leiden.

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Find out how to apply for Evolutionary Biology at Leiden University by following our step-by-step guide.

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