Cardiovascular disease is a major global burden and atherosclerosis is the main underlying pathological process.

Cardiovascular diseases are among the most frequent causes of death in the world. The main underlying pathology of cardiovascular diseases is the development of atherosclerosis in the medium and large-sized arteries.

In this thesis, the focus lies on studying glucocorticoid receptor dynamics in living cells with the aim of understanding how this transcription factor finds its DNA target sites to regulate transcription.

How are new drugs developed? This question is central to the Minor Modern Drug Discovery (MDD), which covers the entire trajectory from disease to drug molecule and vice versa. The various research groups involved offer a complementary and interdisciplinary perspective by connecting the diverse subjects…

ChEMBL is a large-scale drug discovery database containing bioactivity information primarily extracted from scientific literature.

Epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity (EMP) and tumor cell migration play an important role in cancer progression, and an improved understanding of the mechanisms underlying these concepts is essential for developing new targeted approaches.

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…

The discovery of new medicines is a tedious and lengthy process. On average, over 10,000 molecules need to be studied for one to become a drug and reach the patient. Part of that process are the very costly clinical trials in humans, and candidate drugs often fail due to side effects or lack of efficacy.…

PhD defence

PhD defence

The current projects of the Molecular Physiology group focus on proteins of the endocannabinoid system, kinases and antibacterial targets. MSc- and BSc-students can contact Jessica van Krimpen-Kraaijenoord to apply for research internships.

In this thesis, two potential therapeutic targets for diabetic nephropathy were dentified and investigated. First, we show that glomerular clusterin is upregulated in diabetic nephropathy and demonstrated that recombinant clusterin protein can protect the podocytes against oxidative stress in vitro.…

Autopaghy is an intracellular degradation system which targets cytosolic components to lytic compartments for degradation and recycling of the building blocks of the cell.

Effectiveness and Side-effects.

Promotor: F.S. de Boer Co-promotor: P. T. de Gouw

A very large part of intravenously administered nanoparticles are cleared through the liver. Within the liver, most nanoparticles are thought to be sequestered by macrophages (Kupffer cells). To achieve effective cell-specific targeting of drugs and non-viral gene delivery vectors, improved mechanistic…

PhD defence

PhD defence

PhD defence

PhD defence

The work described in this dissertation contributes to a better mechanistic understanding of nanoparticles in vivo. To achieve that goal, we used the zebrafish as a highly predictive pre-screening model of nanoparticles.

In this thesis, the discovery and optimization is described of chemical tools to study the N-acylethanolamine (NAE) biosynthetic pathway.

Key publications of the Cancer Drug Target Discovery group

Neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease (PD), are increasing in prevalence due to the aging population. Despite extensive study, these diseases are still not fully understood and the lack of personalised treatment options that can target the cause of the diseases, rather than the symptoms,…

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.

Key publications of the Predictive Pharmacology group.

Currently, several successful vaccines are available. However, for pathogens with a highly variable genetic composition, and for which serum IgG antibodies are not a useful correlate of protection, effective vaccines are yet to be developed.

The goal of hit and lead optimization is to optimize suitable chemical starting points that can modulate a drug target. The methods and technologies used are similar to those in Hit Discovery, but once the compound has shown activity in an animal model, it moves from 'hit' to 'lead.'

The Chemical Probe Facility is part of the Leiden Early Drug Discovery & Development (LED3) center. Activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) is one of the pillars of chemical biology. ABPP determines the activity of entire protein families in living cells and tissues under physiological conditions, such…

Conference, Workshop

This research project studies the distribution and impact of medieval malaria in the Netherlands.

Activity-based protein profiling (ABPP, also termed chemical proteomics), is one of the pillars of chemical biology, and at LED3 we have taken it to the next level. ABPP allows the assessment of protein function in live cells and tissues, which means that the activity of a complete protein family can…

Along with your application, you will have to submit a variety of documents. This information only applies to students who need to submit an application for admission. If you have a diploma that grants you automatic admission to a bachelor’s programme, you won’t need to submit additional documents.

Quantifying physical activity (using accelerometers) and combining the frequency and intensity of activities with health data (brain MRI, traditional clinical parameters and metabolomics) is of utmost importance to monitor mobility and health among older individuals and study health promotion during…

Fieldwork is an essential part of this research and of course this part of the project is also a joint effort by citizen scientists and professional archaeologists. Discover when fieldwork will take place and how you can participate.

Along with your application, you will have to submit a variety of documents. This information only applies to students who need to submit an application for admission. If you have a diploma that grants you automatic admission to a bachelor’s programme, you won’t need to submit additional documents.

Along with your application, you will have to submit a variety of documents. This information only applies to students who need to submit an application for admission. If you have a diploma that grants you automatic admission to a bachelor’s programme, you won’t need to submit additional documents.

Can the venom of snakes, scorpions and other animals be sources of new antibiotics?

Along with your application, you will have to submit a variety of documents. This information only applies to students who need to submit an application for admission. If you have a diploma that grants you automatic admission to a bachelor’s programme, you won’t need to submit additional documents.

Heritage Quest is a citizen science project in which volunteers help archaeologists in the quest for undiscovered archaeological heritage.

Zeynep Sarlak defended her thesis on 25 August 2020

Inspired by a critical reconsideration of current monolithic approaches to the study of Greek religion, this book argues that ancient Greeks displayed a disquieting capacity to validate two (or more) dissonant, if not contradictory, representations of the divine world in a complementary rather than…

On 18 December 2019, Mikhail Antonov defended his thesis 'Formalism, Realism and Conservatism in Russian Law'. The doctoral research was supervised by Prof. W.B. Simons.

Promotor: W. Jaffe, Co-promotor: K. Meisenheimer

The Horizon 2020 project Sybil-AA (Systems Biology of Alcohol Addiction) focuses on modeling and validating disease state networks in human and animal brains for understanding pathophysiology, predicting outcomes and improving therapy in alcohol addiction. Alcohol addiction, the most severe form of…

Promotor: Prof.dr. F.S. de Boer