Congres/symposium
15 Years of NeCEN, Dutch Structural Biology Day & EMPower Kick-off
- Datum
- donderdag 26 november 2026
- Tijd
- Bezoekadres
-
Gorlaeus Gebouw
Einsteinweg 55
2333 CC Leiden - Zaal
- Atrium & CM.1.26
On Thursday 26 November 2026, we celebrate 15 years of NeCEN and look ahead to the future of structural and biomedical research with the official EMPower kick-off. We are excited to announce that this year’s anniversary meeting also hosts the annual NVBMB Dutch Structural Biology Day.
As an international open-access facility for high-end cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET), NeCEN enables researchers to study biological structures and therapeutic targets at high resolution. Over the past 15 years, NeCEN has grown into an essential national hub for scientists working across a wide range of biomedical and structural biology fields.
📅 Thursday 26 November 2026
🕘 09.30–18.30 CET
📍 Gorlaeus Building (atrium EM1 & CM.1.26), Leiden
🎟️ Tickets:
- Morning session – Free
- Whole day - €25 (including catered lunch - payment required before 18 November)
📌 Scientific posters: PhD candidates, postdocs, and researchers are warmly encouraged to bring and present a poster. Please indicate your poster title on the registration form.
Please register early as seating capacity is limited.
Dutch Structural Biology Day: Science, discovery and connection
The programme brings together researchers and experts from across the scientific community to reflect on NeCEN’s impact and explore the frontiers of structural biology:
- Morning kick-off & unveiling: opening reflections on the start of NeCEN by Bram Koster (LUMC), infrastructure perspectives from Judith Klumperman (NEMI/UMC Utrecht) and Friedrich Förster (EMPower/Utrecht University), followed by the official EMPower kick-off and unveiling ceremony of the Krios 5 at the NeCEN entrance.
- Scientific presentations: the afternoon holds the scientific progamme with speakers from all over The Netherlands and a keynote lecture by Nobel Prize winner Sir Richard Henderson (MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge).
- Drinks, posters & facility tours: we conclude the day from 17.15 hr onwards with celebratory drinks and snacks, academic and industry poster presentations and guided tours of NeCEN and the new Krios 5.
A new chapter: installation of latest generation microscopes & EMPower Kick-off
As NeCEN celebrates 15 years of scientific discovery, it is similarly looking firmly to the future. The symposium also marks the official kick-off of NWO Large Scale Research Infrastructure consortium EMPower, which enables the renewing of the electron microscopy infrastructure in the Netherlands. This event opens a new chapter for structural biology in The Netherlands with NeCEN expanding to two locations (Leiden and Utrecht) and the installation of two brand new Krios 5 microscopes.