Can we find and commercialise new treatments for chronic disease that affect our ageing population? And how can we customise this research and development programme to the small but highly-developed Netherlands research economy?

How safe are the nanoparticles in transparent sunscreen, anti-odour socks and bacteria-resistant plasters? Although microbes are present on all organisms, the tools that estimate the safety of nanomaterials still hardly take them into account. Bregje Brinkmann explored the role of these microbes during…

Can drug screening for tuberculosis treatment be made more efficient?

How to identify patients at risk of developing devastating, metastatic disease and facilitate the development of personalised treatment for prostate cancer patients?

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are widely prescribed as anti-inflammatory drugs due to their well-established immunosuppressive effects.

How is inflammation in tuberculosis controlled by interplay between autophagy and inflammasome signalling?

Promotor: Prof.dr. T. Hankemeier, Co-Promotor: R.J. Vreeken

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…

How has early development in R. ocellatus been modified as a result of its parasitic embryonic lifestyle?

An international research consortium led by Bob van de Water, Professor of Toxicology at Leiden University, has been awarded a prestigious Horizon2020 grant of 30 million euros.

This summer postdoctoral researcher Mónica Varela from the Institute of Biology Leiden was awarded a Veni grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Six questions about her project and hopes for the future.

Dutch researchers have developed a new tool to label DNA for studying chromosomes in live cells. The tool is non-invasive and can be applied in culture but also in living organisms, such as zebrafish embryos. The team published their findings in the journal Nucleic Acids Research.

Zebrafish-human communication shows that cancer cells lacking a signaling protein are less able to develop aggressive metastatic properties. This discovery has been made by molecular cell biologist Claudia Tulotta. PhD defence 14 June.

In this thesis we investigated the ability of two-photon multifocal microscopy for single-molecule microscopy in live cells and organisms.

Leiden molecular cell biologists in the research group of Annemarie Meijer have discovered novel early macrophage-specific genes in zebrafish, including a signal transducer pivotal for the migration of macrophages in the innate immune response to bacterial infection. Their findings were published on…

Recently, NWO has decided to grant two interdisciplinary research proposals for national and international consortia submitted by researchers from the Institute of Biology Leiden. One of the proposals is led by Prof. dr. Ariane Briegel, the other one by dr. Remko Offringa.

Promoter: J.G.E.M.Fraaije, Co-promotor: A. Kros

Promotor: A. Kros

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.…

PhD defence

Macrophages – the front line of our immune system – protect us from infections. But in the case of the tuberculosis bacteria, this often goes wrong. The group of Annemarie Meijer from the Leiden Institute of Biology has now discovered that macrophages in zebrafish are better able to eliminate tuberculosis…

Ecotox is a stimulating top-facility that provides an integrative research environment around the topic of ecotoxicological testing and experimental research. Research focus: Dose-response modelling Mode-of-actions and mechanism-of-actions Test method development, in view of targets in…

TRANSAUTOPHAGY is a European COST action to promote multidisciplinary research on autophagy and translation of knowledge to applications.

Can we exploit the cell death machinery of the host to develop new host-directed anti-TB treatments?

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

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.

Researchers from the Institute of Biology Leiden have discovered how good intestinal bacteria regulate our innate immune system. This surprising discovery could make it possible to treat diseases related to inflammation, such as diabetes and colitis, with a cocktail of good bacteria. Publication in…

On Tuesday 4 September, in a full lecture hall C1, Dean Geert de Snoo opened the Academic Year for the Faculty of Science. A year in which the ethics and responsibility of scientists will be invoked.

PhD defence

We have studied shape with a particular focus on the zebrafish model system. The shape is an essential appearance of the phenotype of a biological specimen and it can be used to read out a current state or response or to study gene expression.

PhD defence

How can novel bioimaging technologies and vertebrate model species be used to gain a better understanding of early cellular behaviours with the ultimate goal to increase our understanding of human development and disease processes?

What are the biological and biophysical mechanisms that control chemokine gradient sensing and migration of immune, endothelial, and tumour cells in tumour development?

What are the risks of nanoparticles?

Are there acoustic cues for settlement stage larvae in deep-sea soundscapes around hydrothermal vents?

Tuberculosis bacteria and other intracellular pathogens use cells of our immune system as Trojan horses to spread into tissues. Annemarie Meijer, professor of immunobiology, explains how research into innate defence mechanisms using zebrafish inspires novel strategies for infectious disease treatmen…

Animal Sciences’ contributions to the Development & Disease research theme include the mechanisms and evolution of embryonic development, the development of cognitive mechanisms, and animal models for understanding mechanisms of human disease.

Host-Microbe Interactions is one of the four research themes of the Institute of Biology Leiden.

Optical projection tomography (OPT) is a tomographic 3D imaging technique used for specimens in the millimetre scale.

GitLab is a single application for the entire software development lifecycle. We use the Leiden University gitlab services

Our facilities cover:

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

We developed the bitterling as a unique, well-studied model organism in the area of the evolutionary ecology of brood parasitism. The bitterling-mussel relationship, interspecific mussel host preference, and mussel gill structure are studied in detail, to help understand the developmental adaptation…

Promotor: J.G.E.M.Fraaije, Co-promotor: A. Kros

PhD defence

PhD defence