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

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.

Governance and Global Affairs, Leiden University College The Hague

Science, Leiden Observatory

In this thesis, a system pharmacology approach, integrating metabolomics, pharmacology and chemical biology, was applied to understand and modulate the endocannabinoid system across different model systems (cells, zebrafish, mice and humans).

Promotores: Prof.dr. H. S. Overkleeft, Prof.dr. G. A. van der Marel

Efficient gene-targeting during meiosis

In the last decades, activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) has emerged as a powerful chemical tool that may aid the ever-challenging drug discovery process.

The current projects of the Molecular Physiology group focus on kinases and proteins of the endocannabinoid system.

An integrated approach for the simultaneous prediction of polypharmacology and binding affinity/potency of small molecules.

Grants awarded to molecular physiology research

Our education responds to questions and needs from society. With the knowledge and skills they acquire through education, empowered and critical citizens will be able to contribute to a better world. Students can already start contributing during their programme, with community-based projects (Service…

Dendritic cells (DC) play a prominent role in the priming of CD8(+) T cells. Vaccination is a promising treatment to boost tumor-specific CD8(+) T cells which is crucially dependent on adequate delivery of the vaccine to DC.

PhD Defence

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We focus on a better understanding of the mechanisms of cancer drug resistance and metastasis.

On Friday May 3rd 2013 NWO has announced that Dr. Mario van der Stelt, Division of Bio-Organic Synthesis (LIC) and Dr. Laura Heitman, Division of Medicinal Chemistry (LACDR), have been awarded with an ECHO-STIP grant for their project, entitled: “Novel target engagement biomarkers for better drug ca…

In this research group, headed by Laura Heitman, novel receptor concepts in drug discovery are studied, aiming to increase the effectivity of medicines. Many drugs act via so-called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and therefore our research is mainly focused on understanding and improving drug-receptor…

In this research group, headed by Prof. Erik Danen, the aim is to unravel cellular signaling mechanisms in normal and diseased cells, with a long-standing interest in cell adhesion signaling. In complex multicellular organisms such as ourselves, a division of labor emerges where different tissues and…

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…

Promotor: Prof.dr. B. van de Water, Co-promotor: E.H.J. Danen

Not taking into account the saturation of drug targets can lead to wrong conclusions about the duration of a drug's action. This is what former PhD candidate Wilbert de Witte writes together with the Leiden professors of pharmacology Meindert Danhof, Piet van der Graaf, and Liesbeth de Lange in Nature…

How effective is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy in targeting epilepsy-related anxiety?

PhD Defence

PhD Defence

De lichtheid van literatuur: Engagement in de multiculturele samenleving (The Lightness of Literature: Engagement in the Multicultural Society) is a plea for the social relevance of literature. The book delves into an age-old debate about literature and social engagement, which has recently been reinvigorated…

Exploiting metabolic vulnerabilities to identify anticancer compounds in zebrafish synthetic lethality screens.

Doctors are expected to apply recent insights from research to improve patient care. This is one of the reasons for integrating research into medical education.

In what way can new tools and techniques be used to develop drug candidates for the treatment of neurological disorders?

The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) has been pleased to announce Dr. Elizabeth de Lange as a recipient of the 2013 AAPS Fellows Award at the 2013 AAPS Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Antonio.

Didactics

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death worldwide. The most important risk factor for developing this disease is high cholesterol levels in the blood.

Exploring the mechanism of targeted nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery using the zebrafish model

The research is aimed at development of an efficient gene targeting method that allows controlled integration of DNA at a preselected site in the Trichoderma genome.

How do old and new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) relate to new social and political movements in Central Africa? What does this tell us about Africa and the Information Age?

Leiden University and VU Amsterdam are developing a joint research project for a digital platform on which you can compose and share storylines with the use of images. Such interactivity will make a boring high school history lesson much more exciting and personalized. Furthermore, it will stimulate…

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.

Pupils and students learn best if they are actively doing something with the material. Professor Wilfried Admiraal is studying the best teaching methods and assignments to achieve this.

PhD Defence

Discovery of metastasis promoting candidate drug targets

Nietzsche has often been considered a thinker independent of the philosophy of his time and radically opposed to the concerns and concepts of modern and contemporary philosophy. But there is an increasing awareness of his sophisticated engagements with his contemporaries and of his philosophy's rich…

How do learners engage during project-based learning (PBL) and what is the impact of PBL on their learning outcomes?

The skin is our natural barrier and lipids are a key part of this barrier. In the outer skin layer, the stratum corneum (SC), lipids form a densely organized structure dependent on the composition of these lipids.

Source: ChemMedChem (2015)

The cannabinoid CB2 receptor (CB2R) represents a promising therapeutic target for various forms of tissue injury and inflammatory diseases. Although numerous compounds have been developed and widely used to target CB2R, their selectivity, molecular mode of action and pharmacokinetic properties have…

Both psoriasis and atheroslcerosis are diseases characterized by a chronic and systemic inflammatory profile with local lipid disturbances that alter the barrier function of the skin (psoriasis) and cause the development of atherosclerotic plaques (atherosclerosis).

A new publication on changes in the relationship between news and their public in Chile

The research described in this thesis focused on identifying novel drug targets and synergistic combinations for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), a virulent subtype of breast cancer with a dismal prognosis and limited therapeutic options.

Large parts of the research described in this Thesis aims at the development of oligopeptide-masked toxins and their in situ immunoproteasome-mediated activation.