Promotor: H.P. Spaink, A.H. Meijer Co-promotor: R. Marin-Juez

In this thesis, we aimed to better understand the underlying mechanisms involved in TNBC progression and metastasis formation and discover new targets to reduce breast cancer related deaths.

In this thesis, I study 1) metabolic alterations in tuberculosis related to wasting syndrome in human patients as well as in rodent and fish animal models. 2) effects of the mutation of the leptin gene on cachexia and diabetes in rodent and zebrafish animal models.

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

Promotor: Prof.dr. H.P. Spaink, Co-promotor: Prof. dr. A.H. Meijer

Which brain cell does what, when Parkinson's disease arises? It won't be long before this jigsaw is solved piece by piece. Ahmed Mahfouz, computational biologist, combines bio-knowledge from Leiden with algorithms from Delft and is getting closer to finding the key.

Pathways of toxicity

This thesis describes the functional analysis of the Arabidopsis AHL15 gene.

The human body consists of hundreds, perhaps thousands of different types of cells, each with different morphologies and functions, despite having the same genome.

PhD defence

We study cell-fate decision-making using embryonic stem cells as a model system. Stem cells integrate a large number of cues to direct their development into a great variety of cell types.

What is the mechanism of action preceding a physiological effects induced by metallic nanoparticles?

PhD defence

Which immune mechanisms are involved in host defense against Staphylococcal infection?

How can zebrafish research help understanding human diseases?

Vaccination via the skin or the mucosae

The goal of target discovery is to identify and validate proteins and biological pathways that are involved in the disease process. Modulating these target proteins and pathways with small molecules, therapeutic proteins or other biomolecules (e.g. mRNA) could deliver an effective and safe drug or v…

Animal Sciences’ contribution to the Bioactive Molecules research theme includes research on molecules from natural sources, such as plants, insects, and snake venom, with the aim to identify novel anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anti-diabetic agents.

Promotor: Prof.dr. B. van de Water, Co-promotores: J.W. van der Laan, C.L.E. Siezen

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…

The overall aim of CAM-PaC is to contribute to solving the socioeconomic and health challenges of PDAC by an integrative and systematic functional analysis of pancreatic cancer candidate genes. CAM-PaC will develop novel cellular and animal models, as well as novel strategies to analyse and integrate…

The soil-dwelling, filamentous bacteria of the genus Streptomyces are renowned for their production of useful secondary metabolites including antibiotics. The work described in this thesis provides new insights on the role and regulation of antibiotic production and resistance in these bacteria.

Plant-microbe interaction resulted in different physio/chemical responses by host plant and interacting rhizobacteria.

In this research group, headed by Bob Van de Water, cell signaling programs that underlie adverse drug reactions as well as cancer development and progression are unraveled. Adverse drug reactions involve cell injury in critical target organ cells which leads to the activation of cellular stress response…

Science, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR)

Research aims: Identification of key genes involved in programming the cellular architecture of A. niger & Genetic engineering of A. niger in order to improve its secretory capacities and rheological behavior under industrial fermentation conditions.

How do plant defense genes get activated?

The aim of this project is to explore the use of statistical interaction models to quantify cross-omics and omics-drug interactions in large-scale clinical and experimental datasets

How can Staphylococcus aureus bacteria subvert the host immune system?

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.

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,…

To gain more insight into the evolutionary development of orchid flowers and fruits, the orchid species Erycina pusilla was studied. The evolutionary origin of the median petaloid sepal, the callus on the labellum, and the stelidia was studied.

How is vegetative development regulated in plants and how does this affect a plant’s life history strategy?

Our research in the area of safety sciences aims to increase the mechanistic understanding of cellular toxicity of drugs and, in a broader sense, chemicals.

The SNP genotyping line offers flexible genotyping for small and large projects at affordable price and high quality. The use as SNPs as molecular markers is very versatile and can be used for a wide variety of scientific questions ranging from paternity analysis, conservatuion genetis towards QTL…

This functional genomics project aims at understanding the biology of the underlying mycelium differentiation and autolysis processes in much more detail.

This project aims to further understand the molecular details related to the biosynthesis and function of Galf containing glycoconjugates in fungal Aspergillus spp.

The programme of the 3rd International Workshop on Klinefelter Syndrome, Trisomy X, and XYY. International Workshop theme: 'A life-course perspective'

Key publications of the Quantitative Pharmacology group

Unraveling the immune-suppressive actions of drugs like prednisone.

On Monday the 8th of December, the annual symposium of the IBL will be organized at the main building of the LUMC Leiden. This year’s theme is “Integrative Biology towards Healthy Communities”.

Science, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR)

Science, Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR)

The Faculty of Science

Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease are the most common neurodegenerative disorders. Unfortunately, no effective treatments are currently available to halt the progression of these neuroinflammatory diseases [1].

The need for novel drugs as well as innovations in their development and application is as urgent as ever. Below we present our vision , mission, and our key research areas.

Science, Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL)