Can we establish a new quality control system for herbal medicines that is based on bioactivity rather than a few abundant chemicals?

Can the (industrial) herbal extraction process be mathematically described and can this model be used to optimize the extraction in terms of quality and economical parameters?

What are the biological effects of Chinese herbal medicine in regulation of cancer cell metastasis?

Can we link multiple components from herbal extracts with their biological activities?

Promotor: Prof.dr. E.F. Smets, Co-promotor: T.R. van Andel

Education in (Chinese) Medicinal Plants associated to the Hortus botanicus in Leiden - Which Traditional Chinese Medicinal plants can be grown in the Hortus? - Establishing of a database which Chinese medical plants are available in Dutch Botanical Gardens - Data validation (correct identification,…

Promotor: Jan van der Greef; Co-promotors: Mei Wang; Eduard van Wijk

Within the Chinese medicine, more than 80% of the constituents of the preparations are derived from plants. Like any other organism, plants are constantly interacting with their changing and often harsh environment during the various phases of their life cycle.

The Leiden University-European Center for Chinese Medicine and Natural Compounds (LUECCM) is a virtual research Centre bringing together research projects of many different researchers from different origin.

Chair of LU-European Center for Chinese Medicine and Natural Compounds, Institute of Biology, Leiden University - the Netherlands

With an ageing population it is becoming increasingly important to find means to repair cells, tissue and organs through regenerative medicine.

Can zebrafish larvae be used as a behavioural model for screening natural products as potential neurotropic drugs?

Which plants are depicted, described or collected in these century-old objects? Who made these objects, where and for what purpose? What is their scientific and societal relevance today?

The Faculty of Medicine

The Metabolomics Facility of the University of Leiden has brought together two research groups from the Faculty of Science that are well-known for their expertise in two different fields: the Biomedical Metabolomics Facility Leiden, experts in clinical metabolomics and the Natural Products Laboratory,…

Chronic pain, nausea or vomiting due to chemotherapy. If you suffer from such ailments, medicinal cannabis can be a godsend. Though a downside is that it can make patients high. Therefore, Leiden researchers from the Oncode Institute are investigating alternatives that do not make you high. In Nature…

What are the differences between the trade in Chinese herbal drugs in Europe between 1800 and now? Can we see the major metabolic changes after 200 yours?

Getting personal

Assessing and implementing new diagnostics strategies for stratifying patients

Leiden University offers a unique interdisciplinary joint-degree Master programme in technical medicine together with TU Delft, Erasmus University Rotterdam and their academic medical centers.

The mission in this research group, headed by Ad IJzerman, is to design and synthesize novel and better ligands for drug targets. Drug discovery is a lengthy but inspiring adventure. It is often an interplay between academic institutes and pharmaceutical industry, in which scientists at university develop…

More and more medicines are becoming available that target a tumour’s specific traits. The use of chemotherapy is continually undergoing improvement.

Methods of treatment for chronic illnesses are limited. Doctors and researchers at Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and Leiden University are working on new therapies as an alternative for organ transplants. The goal is to cure the illnesses by restoring organs to their original function. Stem…

We are very happy to welcome you to spend a semester or year studying or doing an internship with us at the Leiden University Medical Center. Here you will find information on your course timetables and registration.

Promotor: C.A.M.J.J. van den Hondel, Co-promotor: Sandra de Weert

This joint Master programme will equip you with the necessary competences to play a key role in the emerging field of transfusion medicine. Its current concept includes both transfusion of blood components and hematopoietic transplants, cellular and tissue therapy and immunotherapy. Areas that are integrated…

Are you thinking about studying Transfusion Medicine and Cellular and Tissue Therapies? Learn more and watch our video of our live-presentation we held at the Online Master's Open day.

This study documents and translates the Saa (Zapotec) cultural heritage of the Bene’ Ya’a/En’ne I’ya peoples, the Zapotec inhabitants of the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca.

Core Facilities are shared resources that provide access to instruments, technologies and services to researchers across the Institute of Biology. They are staffed by scientists with vast experience in their field, ensuring that all researchers can count not only on the latest available technology…

Can drug screening for tuberculosis treatment be made more efficient?

Cell-based medicinal products (CBMPs) show great promise when it comes to the treatment of genetic disorders. However, there is limited knowledge about CBMP stability during their production, storage, and administration to patients. The main focus of my research is the characterization of CBMPs using…

We have developed a microfluidic platform for complex 3D organotypic cell cultures (so-called organ-on-a-chip systems) which are suited for integration in 96 or higher well plate format.

The main objective of this thesis was to develop clinically relevant survival models for patients with high-grade soft tissue sarcoma of the extremities, in particular the development and validation of prediction models for use in clinical practice.

PhD defence

Dr. Mei Wang, chair of ‘Leiden University - European Center for Chinese Medicine and natural compounds’ has been awarded the ‘Qihuang prize’. The prize is awarded by the Chinese Medicine Society in recognition of her significant contribution to Chinese medicine outside China and to further stimulate…

Can the pink-pigmented microbe Methylobacterium extorquens be genetically engineered to convert the sustainable raw material methanol into antibiotics?

The overall objective of this project is to identify novel drug candidates that are capable of slowing down the progression of neurodegeneration in the subset of Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with overt mitochondrial dysfunction. Multimodal phenotypic characterisation of cohorts of monogenic PD…

The main aim of my Ph.D. thesis is to further explore the value of using early developing zebrafish larvae (up to 5 dpf) as a model to study anxiety-like behaviour and their pharmacological modulation with drugs.

Collecting as much information as possible about administering a new medicine to people can save a lot of money.

In the interests of knowledge exchange and research, a delegation from the China Academy of Chinese Medicinal Sciences (CACMS) in Beijing paid a visit to the Hortus botanicus in Leiden. The visit was part of a joint research study on herbal medicine.

An investigation into how racial stereotypes were created and used in the European Middle Ages.

Source: J Cheminform, Volume 6, Issue 1 (2014)

Medicines do not follow the one size fits all principle, because genetic differences can influence their efficiency. That is what research by PhD candidate Julia Hillger shows. She defends her PhD dissertation Take it Personal on Thursday 7 December.

The predication of the effect (efficiency and toxicity) of a drug in a patient is very important in (i) clinical decision support and (ii) the development of novel drug treatments.

Skåne University Hospital, Lund University and Leiden University Medical Center will work together to expand their research, teaching and development relating to Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products. That is the essence of a Memorandum of Understanding signed at SciLifeLab near Stockholm on Wednesday…

Medicines are becoming increasingly precise and innovative, but at the same time increasingly expensive. With their innovations, it is up to universities to increase competition, thus causing prices to drop. This is what newly appointed Professor of Biomolecular Analysis Hubertus Irth argues. His inaugural…