Striga hermonthica, commonly known as witchweed, infests major cereal crops in Sub-Saharan Africa causing severe yield losses and threatening the livelihood of millions of resource poor farmers.

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

Leiden astronomer Anthony Brown is part of Nature’s 10: the ten people who mattered in science in 2018, according to the leading science journal. Working behind the scenes, Brown is the astronomer who coordinated the release of Gaia’s long-awaited bounty of Milky Way data.

Astronomers at ASTRON and Leiden University have used the LOFAR radio telescope to discover a 'brown dwarf' – a faint object more massive than Jupiter, but significantly less massive than the Sun. The discovery of the object dubbed Elegast, opens up a new path that uses radio telescopes to discover…

How humans and rats cohabit the cityscape and what consequences this has for both sides of the conflict?

Schistosomiasis is an acute and chronic disease caused by blood dwelling parasitic trematodes of the genus Schistosoma, and it is classified as the second most socioeconomically devastating parasitic disease, second only to malaria.

Parasitic worms and stomach bacteria suppress immune reactions such as allergic responses. Parasitologist Hermelijn Smits and lung specialist Christian Taube from the LUMC are trying to learn from these micro-organisms.

Chiodo

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…

The infectious diseases malaria and tuberculosis are responsible for 2.1 million deaths every year. Leiden researchers are currently testing a new tuberculosis vaccine.

Promotores: H.A. Udo De Haes, P.M. Brakefield

How can Staphylococcus aureus bacteria subvert the host immune system?

The first photo of a black hole and measuring anxiety in the brain... From 13 until 22 May we're serving a free slice of science with your pizza.

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…

On March 12th, Jonathan Brown succesfully defended his doctoral thesis and graduated. The Leiden University Centre for Linguistics congratulates Jonathan on this great result.

Health workers have always sought ways to fight disease in vulnerable groups in the population. It is now clear that such research also benefits more prosperous countries. African worm infections and innovative thermometers have shown Leiden researchers how to fight diseases of affluence and keep health…

Promotor: E.F. Smets Co-promotor: J. Geml

Does roadside management in the mid-west USA increase invertebrate diversity similar to practices in Europe?

Promotor: G.A. van der Marel, Co-promotor: D.C. Codée

What is the function of the insect serosa?

Lecture, Com(parative) Syn(tax) Series

PhD defence

What are the main factors associated with the stranding of the two seal species? What are the factors influencing the prevalence of disease in the two species? Which human-related factors influence the populations of the two seal species?

How is it possible that people kill each other? And above all: how is it possible that people who are able to peacefully live with each other at one moment, can kill each other at another one?

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

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

Research into research improves the academic system. CWTS studies and evaluates the academic system in various ways. One way is to provide information on the productivity and impact of academics by documenting how many publications they or their universities produce and how often these publications…

Supervisor: S.F. Portegies Zwart Co-Supervisor: A.G.A. Brown

More than 5,000 exoplanets have been found over the past couple of decades. These exoplanets show a tremendous diversity, ranging from scorching hot Jupiters, common super-Earths, to widely separated super-Jupiters on the planet/brown dwarf boundary.

In an innovative study, Radboudumc and LUMC jointly tested a candidate vaccine based on a genetically weakened malaria parasite. The results of this clinical trial, published in Science Translational Medicine, show that the vaccine is safe and elicits a defense response against a malaria infection.

November 2020 saw the publication of the book ‘Financial Collateral; Law and Practice’. This book was published by Oxford University Press, and edited and authored by Professor Matthias Haentjens. Other authors who contributed to the book are Anthony Zacaroli (High Court, Chancery Division), Yael Diamant…

Diverse types of exoplanets such as gas giants on close-in orbits (hot Jupiters) and young massive giants on wide orbits (super Jupiters), with no analogs in the Solar System, pose challenges but also opportunities to our understanding of planet formation and evolution.

Get the most out of your advanced master programme at Leiden University by taking part in our extracurricular activities.

Of the 109 Spinoza Prizes that have been awarded since 1995, 26 have gone to researchers from Leiden University. The NWO Spinoza Prize is the highest Dutch award in science. The younger NWO Stevin grant goes to researchers who have achieved great success in the field of knowledge utilisation for society.…

When foreign matter enters our body, our immune system has to make a choice whether or not to go on the attack. There are times when the system goes wrong, and we end up with an illness or an allergic reaction. Researchers at LUMC are trying to steer the immune system. The dossier on Immunity, Infection…

For nine years he worked on the three-volume standard work Plant Galls of Europe. It yielded 2300 pages about 10,000 species of European galls, abnormal outgrowths in plants caused by parasites. Hans Roskam from the Institute of Biology Leiden: ‘The abundance of galls says something about the natural…

This study aims to provide a long time perspective of human landscape manipulation. Studying the roles of prehistoric foragers in past ecosystems is of great importance to establish the character of past 'natural' landscapes and to enhance the management of current ones.

The key subject of the research programme Cities, Migration and Global Interdependence 1500 - Now (CMGI) is Inequality (at local, national and global levels).

In October 2014 a new publication on artistic research has been launched. The book is called Artistic Experimentation in Music. An Anthology, edited by Darla Crispin and Bob Gilmore, and published by Leuven University Press.

Making sense of the world around us depends on the fundamental ability to parse the world into distinct objects and keep track of them. This process is defined as object individuation. Research indicates that it is not always easy for infants.

This dissertation and the corresponding films and recordings presented here are an effort to distil an approach to performing the orchestral music of Johannes Brahms that is significantly different from what has hitherto been produced in the fields of both Mainstream Orchestral Performance Practice…

Environmental Humanities is one of the LUCAS research themes, bringing together members of the three LUCAS clusters.

This research cluster is a part of the Institute of Political Science’s research programme ‘Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviour’. Its members examine the sources, design, effects and contestation of norms, rules, institutionalised practices and formal organisations that operate across national…

KNAW has elected eighteen new members, including two professors at Leiden University and one who studied and obtained his PhD in Leiden. The New Academy members will be installed at a later date this year.