Physics professor Jan Aarts starts a collaboration with chip manufacturer Intel to perform fundamental research in low-power, cryogenic computing.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. This makes fundamental research on the precise cause of the illness of vital importance. One of the possible suspects is a certain protein filled with iron. Leiden physicist Lucia Bossoni (LION/LUMC) has now developed a new way of investigating…

Electrons that spin synchronously around their axis, turn out to stay superconducting across large distances within magnetic chromium dioxide. Electric current from these electrons can flip small magnets, and its superconducting version could form the basis for a hard drive without energy loss. Publication…

The proposed investigation focuses on the Pre-Hispanic archaeological site Aguas Buenas recently documented by Dr. Alexander Geurds

On 7 February, the first co-creation event of the Expanding (Event) Horizons project took place at Leiden University. Nearly 30 educators, scientists and consultants from diverse backgrounds designed inclusive projects for engaging students from underrepresented minority groups with educational Science…

Conducting fieldwork against a backdrop of public policy interests and professional reputations in your own place of residence adds a whole new level to the experience. As a researcher in this context, you are essentially caught in a game of piggy in the middle between the subjects of policy, the objects…

Bringing the theoretical world of mathematics and computer science to more applied research areas. That is what Daan Pelt, assistant professor at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) is trying to achieve with the methods he is developing as a solution to challenges in image proc…

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

The updated MRI scanner at the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC) will become operational on 29 September. The new version is faster and better than the current model.

Central in coordination and organometallic chemistry is the synthesis of new chelating ligands, the synthesis and characterization of metal complexes with these ligands, and the study of their properties. An important goal in my research is to create understanding of the relation between the structures…

A Dutch-Italian-German team of astronomers has observed a huge glow of radio emission around a cluster of thousands of galaxies. They combined data from thousands of LOFAR antennas that were focused for 18 nights on an area the size of four full moons. This is the first time astronomers have been able…

Using the Dutch-led Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope, astronomers have discovered unusual radio waves coming from the nearby red dwarf star GJ1151. The radio waves bear the tell-tale signature of aurorae caused by an interaction between a star and its planet. The radio emission from a star-planet…

At Leiden Observatory, researchers investigate the origin of stars and their planetary systems. They detect and characterize planets around other stars (exoplanets). They study how stars and planets form. And they follow molecules from interstellar clouds to nascent planet systems. This way they address…

The master’s specialisation Research in Physics, Quantum Matter and Optics at Leiden University offers a thorough experience on the front line of physics research with a practical training of communicative and computer skills. The programme focuses on Condensed Matter problems, such as Molecular Electronics,…

A couple of years ago, theoretical physicist Carlo Beenakker tracked down the Majorana particles and inspired Leo Kouwenhoven from TU Delft to try to create them in a superconducting nano-structure. He succeeded in doing so in 2012, and the news made headlines around the world. But a lot of work still…

Bead microrheology: Analysis of active and passive transport in living cells

Metabolomicshas emerged as an important discipline to study molecular and cellular processes in living cells and organisms with the ultimate aim to obtain an answer to a given biological/clinical question.

Promotor: H.J.M. de Groot

The long term goal of the Biophysical Organic Chemistry/SSNMR group, headed by Prof. Huub de Groot, is to reach an understanding of structure, dynamics and functional mechanisms of membrane proteins and self-organized biological assemblies and to translate this knowledge into new concepts for nano-devices,…

Are you interested in taking up an extra challenge during your master’s programme?

Are you interested in taking up an extra challenge during your master’s programme?

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…

A full overview of MCBIM PhD theses.

To ensure that the growing global flows of labour migrants are guided correctly, we need knowledge. Why do people leave home, why do they go to specific countries, and how can that choice be influenced? And what are the consequences of their leaving for the people who stay?

Social anxiety runs in families, but the neurobiology underlying this genetic vulnerability is until now largely unknown. The unique Leiden Family Lab study on Social Anxiety Disorder (LFLSAD) aims to broaden our knowledge with respect to this genetic susceptibility.

Is it possible to pharmacologically condition oxytocin responses in healthy individuals and identify the neural circuitry underlying such conditioning?

NWO has granted Jan Aarts en Vadim Cheianov a Physics Projectruimte, a granting instrument for small-scale projects that propose innovative fundamental physics research that has a scientific, industrial or social urgency.

Andrew Webb, Professor of MRI Physics at LUMC and teacher at the Physics education at Leiden University, has been awarded the 2017 NWO Simon Stevin Master Prize. The prize includes a cash award of 500,000 euros. Webb is planning to use the prize to develop new MRI techniques that allow diseases to be…

Biophysicist Anjali Pandit has been awarded a FOM 'Projectruimte' research grant for her proposal ‘Tuning into the photosynthetic membrane with atomistic precision’.

Since 2015 the United Nations have declared 11 February the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Leiden University organized a public event for over a hundred visitors. In between a lecture on the building blocks of life and a talkshow on the impact of science on society, high school students…

With the aid of physics and a minuscule magnet, researchers have discovered a new structure of telomeric DNA. Telomeres are sometimes seen as the key to living longer. They protect genes from damage but get a bit shorter each time a cell divides. If they become too short, the cell dies. The new discovery…

For their research many neuropsychologists use the brain scanners at the LUMC. At the start of the pandemic, the rules for visiting the hospital became stricter and a large amount of psychology research looked as though it would fall through. Thanks to good protocols the researchers can now pick up…

The project has been done in the High field MRI and clinical applications department under the supervision of Prof.dr. Andrew Webb. The title of the presentation is: ''Developing an Open Source Budget-MRI Using Permanent Magnets.

The project has been done in the Quantum Matter & Optics group under the supervision of Prof.dr.ir. Tjerk Oosterkamp.The title of the presentation is:

In the latest episode of DWDD University on 'Light', Prof. Robbert Dijkgraaf used a number of experiments from the Leiden Physics Practicum Lab. He showed why the sky is blue, that light is a wave phenomenon, how magnetism and electricity are connected and that white light consists of all colors of…

Corinna Jentzsch, Assistant Professor of International Relations at the Institute of Political Science and co-convener of the Leiden University Center for International Relations (LUCIR) has conducted extensive fieldwork in Mozambique. Her resulting book, Violent Resistance: Militia Formation and Civil…

Alex Colling himself calls his bachelor's thesis ‘the highlight of his time in Leiden’. And according to his supervisors, that resulted in an outstanding thesis, with great attention to detail. The Mathematics and Physics student worked on a mathematical description of monopoles: hypothetical particles…

In an Advance Online Publication biophysicist John van Noort and others show using magnetic tweezers that DNA is folded in compliant helices of chromatin. This allows enzymes access to the DNA needed for gene expression. Van Noort's research group made the discovery in close partnership with researchers…

The way genes are folded determines their activity in our body. Leiden biophysicists are now the first to unravel this structure molecule-by-molecule. Publication on December 1st in Nature’s Scientific Reports.

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) announced on 25 April that it has appointed 18 new members. These include Leiden professors Andrew Webb and Jos Raaijmakers.

Vera Meester has won the annual Physics Image Award 2016, with her photo of 'smiling' colloids. The Volkskrant published the picture as Image of the Week.

Liquid nitrogen, frozen fruit and levitating market-goers. On Friday 8 April, visitors to the weekly market in the Merenwijk district were exposed to superconductivity. What is it exactly? And what does it look like? Young and old were impressed by the experiments demonstrated by Leiden students from…

The project has been done in the Biological Matter group under the supervision of Dr.ir. John van Noort. The title of the presentation is: ''G-Quadruplex structure in double-stranded DNA studied by a combination of FRET and Magnetic Tweezers.

During a working visit to a company that cleans up space debris, the British Prince Charles suggested that a climate agreement specifically for space might be a good idea. Experts, including Leiden Law School’s Tanja Masson-Zwaan, say the idea is wishful thinking.

Researchers from the Institute of Environmental Sciences of Leiden University started crowdfunding to raise 15.000 euro to build a laboratory in nature: The Living Lab. This is necessary to test the effects of chemical compounds in a natural situation.

Researchers from the Leiden Institute of Chemistry show proof of principle that live-cell structural changes and metabolic processes can be followed in real time with NMR spectroscopy. They performed their study on photosynthetic green algae that are metabolically flexible and can sustain energy generation…

A new NMR microscope gives researchers an improved instrument to study fundamental physical processes. It also offers new possibilities for medical science, for example to better study proteins in Alzheimer patients’ brains. Publication in Physical Review Applied.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2016 goes to David Thouless, Michael Kosterlitz and Duncan Haldane for theoretical discoveries in the field of topological materials. Haldane spent part of 2008 in Leiden; he is the 14th Lorentz Professor to win a Nobel Prize.