One of the major limitations in culturing complex tissues or organs is the lack of vascularization in the cultured tissue. Development of a functional capillary bed could overcome this problem.

New drugs for use as tuberculosis (TB) treatment are needed due to the constrains of classical antibiotics against TB and the rise of antibiotic-resistant strains, making TB a harder and harder disease to treat.

How does the extracellular matrix coordinate endothelial cell behavior during angiogenesis, and how do metabolic waste-products and matrix-degrading enzymes produced by the tumour modify the extracellular matrix so as the change the cellular coordination?

The potential of bioneedles to deliver influenza vaccines was investigated.

Worldwide resurgence of pertussis necessitates the need for improvement of pertussis vaccines and vaccination strategies.

Chiodo

Cationic peptide amphiphile nanoparticles are employed for co-delivery of immune modulator CpG and antigen. This results in better targeting to the antigen presenting cells and eliciting strong Th1 response, which is effective against the intracellular pathogens.

Promotores: Prof.dr. H.P. Spaink & Prof.dr. P.C.W. Hogendoorn, Co-promotor: Dr. M.J.M. Schaaf

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

We showed that constitutive and inducible chemical and morphological defenses against Western flower thrips differ between tomato and chrysanthemum plants.

Promotor: Prof.dr. J.N. Kok

PhD Defence

PhD Defence

Promotores: A.H. Meijer, H.P. Spaink

PhD Defence

Development & Disease is one of the four research themes of the Institute of Biology Leiden.

Overkleeft

Atherosclerosis, in particular rupture of atherosclerotic plaques, is the underlying cause of most heart attacks or strokes and is the leading cause of death worldwide.

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

How do macrophages and neutrophils contribute to metastatic onset?

When foreign matter enters our body, our immune system has to make a choice whether or not to go on the attack. There are times when the system goes wrong, and we end up with an illness or an allergic reaction. Researchers at LUMC are trying to steer the immune system. The dossier on Immunity, Infection…

PhD Defence

Cell adhesion signaling

How can zebrafish research help to understand and fight human cancer?

Transcutaneous vaccination is attractive because it is non- or minimally invasive, pain free and the site of administration (skin) is easily accessible. What’s more, transcutaneous immunization can lead to a strong immune response owing to the presence of immune-competent cells in the skin.

In this thesis, we will utilize embryonic zebrafish tumour models to understand the interaction between engrafted human cancer cells and macrophages from the host, test drug administration modalities and anti-cancer efficacies of newly-developed PDT and PACT compounds, and test a light-triggered liposomal…

The potential of liposomal cancer vaccines

The immune system plays an important role in the development of atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of cardiovascular diseases. Thomas van der Heijden has discovered that immunosuppressants may play a preventative role. PhD defence 19 December.

Projects within the theme ‘Computational Biology’ aim to employ mathematical or computational dynamical modelling approaches to discover novel concepts that are important for drug development.

PhD Defence

PhD Defence

With cancer, a person’s body cells grow uncontrollably. Putting together a detailed picture of how this comes about makes it possible to develop efficient therapies. Researchers at the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) and Leiden University are working together to gain a better understanding…

Invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) is the second most common type of breast cancer.

Atherosclerosis is the main underlying pathology of cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis is caused by an immune response which is directed against (modified) lipoproteins which accumulate in the vessel wall.

Vaccination via the skin or the mucosae

When the immune system attacks cancer, the tumour modifies itself to escape the immune reaction. Researchers at LUMC published on this subject in Nature on 28 June.

Liposomes – nano-sized spheres composed of fatty molecules – are very promising for vaccination. Bio-pharmaceutical scientist Naomi Benne discovered that the immune response in animal models can be steered by varying the charge of the liposomes. She obtained her PhD degree on 8 September for this research,…

Plants are able to resist a pathogen’s attack by a dual innate immune system. The relationship between the two pathways was not clear, but it turns out that they mutually potentiate each other, as assistant professor Pingtao Ding (Institute of Biology Leiden) and colleagues (The Sainsbury Laboratory,…

Ewa Snaar-Jagalska, Shuning He and colleagues from IBL, LION and LACDR reported on a new zebrafish study to understand micrometastasis of human cancer cells. They discovered a novel role for neutrophils in assisting metastasis formation, which provides critical insights for anti-cancer therapies.

An international group of scientists has discovered that certain cells of our immune system – the so-called T cells – communicate with each other and work together as a team. To fight an infection they stimulate each other’s growth, but at the same time, they inhibit each other when there is a surplus…

Promotor: B. vd Water, T. Schmidt, Co-Promotor: E.H.J. Danen

The molecular mechanisms that instigate a healthy cell to become malignant are fueled by (epi)genetic alterations in so-called driver genes.

PhD Defence

Control of infectious diseases poses continuous challenges for human health.

With cancer, the immune system is a double-edged sword: it can attack tumour cells, but can also help them grow and spread. It is a question of harnessing it. This is what Professor Karin de Visser argued in her inaugural lecture on 15 November 2019.

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

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