Atherosclerosis is the most prominent underlying pathology of cardiovascular disease and an important cause of major adverse cardiovascular events.

The outbreaks of AIDS and COVID-19 showed clearly how infectious viruses can influence people’s lives. Investigating the changes in the host metabolism may provide a paradigm shift to consider immune-metabolic interactions as therapeutic targets.

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

Promotor: Johan Kuiper, Co-promotor: Saskia C.A. de Jager

This thesis describes the design and synthesis of fragments of various cell wall carbohydrates of the Streptococcus species, including the branched Group B-specific antigen (GBC) of Group B Streptococcus, glycerol phosphate (GroP) modified group A carbohydrate (GAC), and the O-acetylated type 1 capsular…

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

Ongewenste associaties met seks kunnen afgeleerd worden, maar terugkeren als de omstandigheden veranderen. Daarom moet het afleren in diverse situaties plaatsvinden. Het geneesmiddel D-cycloserine biedt mogelijk uitkomst. Dat ontdekte psychologe Mirte Brom.

The soil-dwelling, filamentous bacteria of the genus Streptomyces are renowned for their production of useful secondary metabolites including antibiotics. The work described in this thesis provides new insights on the role and regulation of antibiotic production and resistance in these bacteria.

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

Synthesis and application of chemical biology tools to study immunomodulatory signaling lipids.

Things that Matter: Material and Culture in/for the Digital Age. Bern, 23-27 June 2025.

Promotie

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. Metastasis, the process by which cancer cells spread to other parts of the body, makes treatments less effective. It is important to unravel the mechanism of metastasis.

Promotie

In recent decades, climate change has led to more frequent and severe drought events, causing serious consequences such as increased forest mortality and significant crop yield losses. Understanding how drought affects plants, especially economically important herbaceous species, is crucial for predicting…

Exploring metabolomics-based biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment response monitoring of community-acquired pneumonia

Carbohydrates are present on the surface of bacteria making them suitable antigen candidates for vaccine development. This thesis deals with the synthesis of two carbohydrate-based components; the capsular polisaccharide of S. aureus type 5 and teichoic acids from staphilococci and enterococci speci…

Interactive exploration of large volumes of data is increasingly common, as data scientists attempt to extract interesting information from large opaque data sets. This scenario presents a difficult challenge for traditional database systems, as (1) nothing is known about the query workload in advance,…

This thesis focuses on using liposomes in two different treatment strategies; vaccination (or immunotherapy) and delivery of a small molecule, and in two different disease models; cancer and atherosclerosis.

Glucocorticoids are potent anti-inflammatory drugs widely used clinically to treat various inflammatory and immune conditions. However, two main clinical problems limit their use. GCs trigger severe side effects and they induce acquired glucocorticoid resistance, especially during chronic systemic treatment…

Epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity (EMP) and tumor cell migration play an important role in cancer progression, and an improved understanding of the mechanisms underlying these concepts is essential for developing new targeted approaches.

Dissolving microneedles are a subgroup of microneedle types that completely dissolve within the skin. During this dissolving process the vaccine, stored in the needle matrix, is released into the skin.

In order to be able to develop effective medicine and treatments to prevent or cure autoimmune diseases or cancer we need to understand the mechanisms how they arise and what drives their course.Unravelling the fundamental molecular mechanisms influencing the onset and course of diseases such as allergies,…

The aim of this thesis was to develop novel treatment strategies for different types of eye melanoma utilizing zebrafish models. We first establish orthotopic and ectopic xenograft models for uveal and conjunctival melanoma by engraftment of the immortalized cells derived from these tumors into zebrafish…

The aim of this thesis was to study phage infection in Streptomyces, focused on cell wall-deficient cells. Bacteriophages (or phages in short) attach to the cell wall of bacteria after which they replicate and lyse the host cell.

In the traditional theory of linear elasticity, superposition dictates that the response of a material does not depend on the sequence of the applied mechanical actuations.

Van Galileo Galilei tot Albert Einstein, van Anna Maria van Schurman tot Anton de Kom: het is slechts een greep uit 25 auteurs die met hun boeken en ideeën een buitengewone invloed hebben gehad op de wereld, soms zelf tot nu. De Universitaire Bibliotheken Leiden en het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden organiseren…

Almost all bacteria are enveloped by a cell wall that provides cellular protection.

Nanodiscs are small, disc-shaped structures designed to mimic biological cell membranes, composed of a lipid bilayer stabilized by scaffold proteins. Membrane proteins play crucial roles in essential processes such as nutrient and waste transport, molecular recognition, and cell signalling, making them…

During embryonic growth, cells proliferate, differentiate, and collectively migrate to form different tissues at the right position and time in the body.

Academici hebben op het gebied van inlichtingen geworsteld met de vraag onder welke voorwaarden internationale samenwerking op het gebied van inlichtingen plaatsvindt. De meeste richten zich op transactionele motieven en gegarandeerde opbrengsten, de zogenaamde ‘Quid pro Quo’. Tegelijkertijd wordt vertrouwen…

This dissertation presents the synthesis and evaluation of antibody recognition for various capsular polysaccharide (CP) fragments of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus).

Promotor: M. Ubbink, Co-Promotor: R. T. Dame

Promotor: J.M. Memelink

Drug induced organ toxicity is the main problem of the drug development and drug usage in the clinic. The liver and kidneys are the most sensitive organs towards drug induced toxicity.

Promotor: T. Schmidt, Co-promotor: S. J.T. van Noort

Atherosclerosis is a progressive disease resulting in the formation of an arterial plaque. Despite lipid lowering, recurrent cardiovascular events remain a risk. While atherosclerosis is primarily lipid-driven, the immune system plays a critical role in the pathophysiology.

Although plant domestication has significantly altered crop genetics and phenotypes, its effects on the taxonomic and functional diversity of plant-associated microbiomes are not well understood.

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

In this thesis, bioorthogonal chemistry is combined with correlative light-electron microscopy to selectively label and study pathogenic intracellular bacteria within the host immune cell.

The investigation into the bidirectional communication between the gut and its host is a rapidly growing area of research, attracting considerable attention for its potential to provide crucial insights into health and disease.

The plant hormone auxin regulates plant growth and development through polar cell-to-cell transport-generated maxima and minima. PIN FORMED (PIN) auxin efflux carriers determine the direction of this auxin flow through their asymmetric placement on the plasma membrane (PM).

A new publication on changes in the relationship between news and their public in Chile

Mechanical metamaterials are carefully engineered materials whose properties are controlled by their structure, not by their composition, which allows using metamaterials to study and control physical effects in detail⁠.

Kinase inhibitors are key therapeutic agents, particularly in oncology, yet their clinical efficacy is often hampered by off-target effects and limited understanding of their cellular target profiles.

Promotor: J.A. van Veen, Co-promotor: E.E. Kuramae

The PID-directed shift in PIN polarity has been broadly accepted as one of the essential mechanisms for the regulation of auxin transport polarity.

This thesis aimed to investigate the impact of exposure dynamics, relative contributions of ENPs(particle) and ENPs(ion), and dosing regimens on the toxicity of ENPs varying in different physico-chemical properties, on the composition and functioning of soil microbial communities.

Het was weer gezellig druk in het Rijksmuseum van Oudenheden! Op 22 juni is de zomertentoonstelling ‘Books that made History’ van Universitaire Bibliotheken Leiden (UBL) en het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden (RMO) geopend. In de tentoonstelling zijn 25 Leidse boeken uit de collecties van de UBL te zien die…

Discovery and development of Central Nervous System (CNS) drugs is hampered by high attrition rates.