The Viral Vector Facility produces batches of lentivirus and adenovirus for preclinical research within the LUMC. And it assists researchers to produce their own virus.

Promotores: T. Hankemeier; R. Berger, Co-promotor: R.J. Vreeken

PhD defence

A main goal of MSBB research is to address the major bottle-necks in combatting viral diseases: the lack of experimental models that are representative of human pathology and are cost effective and versatile. Viral diseases such as those that cause viral hemorrhagic syndromes or severe acute respiratory…

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

The LUMC has a longstanding tradition researching the role of the immune system in infectious diseases, transplantation and auto-immune diseases.

Our immune system protects us against disease, but every now and then, something goes wrong: an enemy invades our bodies or our immune system attacks our own cells and we become ill. Doctors and researchers at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) want to be able to manipulate the immune system…

PhD defence

Can we enhance the capacity of host immune cells to kill mycobacteria via production of reactive nitrogen species?

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

The structure of bacterial cells provides crucial clues about their interaction with their host. What are the key structural features of a bacterial cell that determine pathogenicity? What roles do these structures play in the life cycle, and how do they change during the infection process?

Who benefits from CXCR/CXCL chemokine signaling during infection: host or pathogen?

Promotor: Prof.dr. J.N. Kok

How can Staphylococcus aureus bacteria subvert the host immune system?

The effective treatment of tuberculosis (TB) remains a major challenge to global health.

Promotor: Prof.dr. H.P. Spaink, Co-promotor: Dr. M. van der Zee

How can zebrafish models be used to gain a better understanding of host-pathogen interaction mechanisms and to screen new drugs for infectious disease treatment?

Monica Kaminska, Dennis Broeders and Fabio Cristiano have contributed a chapter to the proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Cyber Conflict (CyCon 2021), which gathers 20 articles from the law, technology and strategy domains.

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

Immunotherapies for cancer are an emerging class of therapeutic strategies which aim to treat cancer via augmentation of the immune system.

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

The function of TLRs in innate immunity has aroused worldwide attention soon after its discovery. Because of the broad functions of TLR2 in innate immunity, the drive for the development of TLR2-targeted vaccines or therapeutic treatments has accelerated in the last decades.

This thesis focuses on the role of chemokine receptors CXCR3 and CCR2 in the inflammatory process and infection control using the zebrafish model.

Chiodo

Bioprinters that enable scientists to engineer complex tissues and organs. It sounds like science-fiction, but not for the scientists of the Alireza Mashaghi lab at the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research. The lab has recently been equipped with two state-of-the-art bioprinters: BioX and LumenX+.…

Supervisor: Anna Vlachodimou

Many dangerous diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola and Q fever have jumped from animals to humans. But it is not only because of these diseases that we should include animals in our health policy, but also because of their right to health, writes PhD candidate Joachim Nieuwland. PhD defence on 13 May.

From Mexico and Indonesia to China and Italy: people from all over the world read about the Leiden Observatory publication on the birthplace of comets. This research suggests that all comets in our solar system might come from the same place: a specific range in the flat disk of dust and gas that once…

Epithelial cells play a crucial role in the lungs. PhD student Ying Wang researched the effects of cigarette smoke and viruses such as COVID-19 on these epithelial cells. ‘We hope to reduce the risk of pandemics in the future.’

Michiel van der Vaart with a team from Leiden University and the LUMC, led by IBL-researcher Annemarie Meijer, discovered that DRAM1 is a protein that regulates anti-bacterial autophagy, a defense mechanism against infections such as tuberculosis.

The cellular recycling system in zebrafish is capable of eating harmful bacteria and thus resist infections such as tuberculosis and salmonellosis. That is written by Leiden biologists from the group of Annemarie Meijer. Stimulating this form of defence could be used in new treatment methods against…

The opportunistic bacterium Burkholderia cenocepacia is feared by cystic fibrosis patients and is emerging in hospital-acquired infections. An international study sheds new light on the infection mechanism of this opportunistic pathogen that may have large implications for treatment strategies.

The infection rate is rising again in the Netherlands, which means it may also be rising among Leiden University’s students and staff. How is the University responding? And what dilemmas is it facing? We spoke to our Rector Magnificus, Chief Security Officer and two other administrators.

Leiden University and Leiden University Medical Center have joined the Netherlands Centre for One Health (NCOH), further strengthening the academic network in which such problems as antimicrobial resistance are studied.

Joost Beltman (LACDR, Leiden University) has provided novel insights in the way T cells migrate towards virus-infected cells. This was accomplished by a combination of experimental research in the group of Ton Schumacher (Dutch Cancer Institute, NKI) and computer simulations in collaboration with Rob…

Why are mycobacteria such successful pathogens? And are there defence mechanisms in the body that help reduce an infection? To find out, Annemarie Meijer has been awarded the NWO Open Competition ENW-XL grant. She will not explore this quest alone. Five other leading Dutch research groups are participating…

Globally, the number of deaths from infections is on the rise as more bacteria become resistant to antibiotics. New classes are desperately needed. A promising resistance inhibitor is now being developed by the research group of Nathaniel Martin, Professor of Biological Chemistry. Inaugural speech on…

The COVID Radar app is citizen science at its best. More than 200,000 users in the Netherlands are answering questions about their health and behaviour to help predict the development of the pandemic. Niels Chavannes, Professor of General Practice at Leiden University Medical Center, explains how the…

Chemist Sander van Kasteren aims to accurately map how our immune system responds to vaccines, particularly those aimed at curing diseases like cancer and chronic viral infections. The goal is to use this knowledge to improve vaccine design. An ERC Consolidation Grant will provide him with the funding…

Antimicrobial drugs constitute a fundamental part of modern medicine. The global rise in antimicrobial resistance poses a major threat to global health.

New and reemerging infectious diseases call for innovative and efficient control strategies of which fast vaccine design and development represent an important element.

On Monday May 8th, two Leiden Startups took part in the finals of the Philips Innovation Awards. One Leiden venture, Levels Diagnostics, was selected as the winner of the €10.000,- price in the category of ‘Rough Diamonds’.

The research described in this thesis has, using the zebrafish as a model system, shed new light on the intricate relationship between TB and DM2, in particular on the role of leptin, SHP-1 and glucocorticoids.

De crèche en het klaslokaal zijn misschien wel de meest gunstige plekken voor ziekteverwekkers. Toch is er relatief weinig bekend over hoe kinderen reageren op virussen en bacteriën en hoe het komt dat sommige kinderen veel beter beschermd zijn dan anderen. Simon Jochems, onderzoeker aan het Leids Universitair…

As part of the ZonMW Antibiotics resistance funding program, the LACDR cluster Systems Pharmacology was awarded €455.255 for a research project to develop novel clinical biomarkers for bacterial infections.