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.

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…

Lezing, This Week's Discoveries

Promotie

Symposium

Lezing

Bead microrheology: Analysis of active and passive transport in living cells

Gold nanorods are biocompatible nanoparticles that present an excellent two-photon signal that can be used to get high spatial resolution inside living cells. Gold nanorods are photostable and therefore can be followed inside cells for long time, with possible applications as trackers in live cells.

The six-feet society is being built up rapidly; arrows and planes made of tape, circles and stripes of chalk, fences and other barriers are popping up around us. Danica Mast, PhD-student at LIACS, collects photos of all these solutions on her website www.1meter50.nl, now that her research is partly…

Can light-activatable ruthenium compounds be used as a more selective anticancer treatment?

The Immune Activation and Tolerance group is headed by Dr. Bram Slütter. Vaccination is an experimental, but promising, treatment strategy for atherosclerosis. Previous work has shown that immunization of mice with modified LDL particles can reduce atherosclerotic lesion development, however such vaccines…

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…

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

Promotor: B. van de Water

The type-IV secretion system (T4SS) is a machinery able to transfer DNA and proteins between bacteria and in certain cases also to eukaryotic cells.

Deficiency of glucocerebrosidase (GBA) underlies Gaucher disease, a common lysosomal storage disorder. Carriership for Gaucher disease has recently been identified as major risk for parkinsonism. Presently, no method exists to visualize active GBA molecules in situ. We here report the design, synthesis…

The applications of studying the early development of insects range from agriculture to material science.

Death in all types of melanomas is generally caused by metastasis. Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most common intraocular melanoma, there are currently no (patient-derived) animal models that faithfully recapitulate metastatic dissemination of UM.

Activity-based protein profiling (ABPP) is a functional proteomics technique for directly monitoring the expression of active enzymes in cell extracts and living cells. The technique relies on irreversible inhibitors equipped with reactive groups (warheads) that covalently attach to the active site…

Alexander Kros and co-workers describe how mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are delivered into cells via membrane fusion thereby omitting endocytosis pathways. Fusion is induced by a pair of complementary coiled-coil lipopeptides inserted into the membrane of cells and in the bilayer of lipid-coated…

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?

Promotores: Prof.dr. H. S. Overkleeft, Prof.dr. G. A. van der Marel

In human cells, a meter-long DNA is condensed inside a micrometer-sized cell nucleus. Simultaneously, the genetic code must remain accessible for its replication and transcription to functional proteins.

Promotie

Promotie

How do macrophages and neutrophils contribute to metastatic onset?

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

Discovery of metastasis promoting candidate drug targets

Image-Pro Plus, ImageJ, Cell Profiler, R, Knime and NIS-elements

Establishing human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) CRISPR-Cas9-based fluorescent reporter cell lines for NF-kB signalling. We will use this to enable studying the dynamic activation and downstream signalling of Toll-like receptor and cytokine signalling in iPSC-derived differentiated cells in a…

Symposium

In autoimmune diseases such as rheumatism and diabetes the immune system attacks autologous proteins. Leiden researchers are trying to discover how this comes about.

Human and animal cells are very complex: very different chemical processes are going on at the same time, but they are separated from each other because the cells are divided in compartments. These compartments may also have a profound effect on the potential efficacy of therapeutics, because the drug…

What are the life-cycle environmental impacts and risks to human health and ecosystems of a III-V/Si PV system? How can these be expected to change when the system is deployed at industrial scale? What are the most favourable recycling scenarios?

In this project, we aim to develop mathematical models to mechanistically and quantitatively predict the dynamics of cellular stress pathway activation and its relation with toxic effects when cells are exposed to various toxicants.

Lezing, This Week's Discoveries

Congres/symposium

As of April 1, 2018, Erik Danen has been appointed as Professor of Cancer drug target discovery at the Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR). His discipline is cell biology of cancer, in which he focuses on the mechanisms underlying metastasis and therapy resistance.

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

Source: Mediators Inflamm (2014)

Dr. Foks obtained this fellowship for the project “Can promotion of efferocytosis induce regression of atherosclerosis?”, in which she aims to identify novel targets to promote regression of atherosclerosis. This research grant allows her to initiate independent research for the next three years.

Exploring the mechanism of targeted nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery using the zebrafish model

Pharmaceutical companies, governments and the general public have become increasingly aware that animal models used in drug testing lack vital aspects to serve as an accurate representation of human biology. As models of the human body should become more physiologically relevant, animal models no longer…

Lezing

The CCLS seminars take place on the 2nd Tuesday of the month at 16 hrs, unless otherwise announced.

List of Support Departments at LION and the Faculty of Science

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.

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting millions of people world-wide.

Promotor: B. van de Water