Solar energy harnessed by plants and algae has great potential to be converted into biofuels for future generations.

We aim to develop A. niger strains that produce more starch degrading enzymes even in the absence of starch.

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.

Disseminating to the future generation of researchers the multidisciplinary working practices, expertise and scientific view that has been developed in research within the Plant BioDynamics Lab over the past years is an important objective in our collaborative efforts. The research papers of PBDL bring…

Does a high quality prairie restoration in an urban/agricultural landscape provide invertebrates necessary for a sustainable ecosystem?

Light-Harvesting Complex II (LHCII) is responsible for light absorption and excitation energy transfer in plants and photosynthetic algae, while in high light it undergoes conformational changes by which it quenches excitations to prevent photodamage.

This thesis describes the functional analysis of the Arabidopsis AHL15 gene.

Human impact and plant subsistence in Dutch wetlands during the Late Mesolithic and Early and Middle Neolithic (5500-3400 cal BC)

This article describes the creation of an app that can help raise climate awareness and the action globally.

Can we establish a new quality control system for herbal medicines that is based on bioactivity rather than a few abundant chemicals?

Professor at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria - South Africa

This book provides the answers, presenting clear insights into the current state of affairs and exploring future prospects.

The mycorrhizal symbiosis is among the most widespread species interactions on Earth⁠. This thesis focuses on orchid mycorrhiza, a unique mycorrhizal type that has caught scientists’ attention for centuries⁠.

Chinese materia medica (CMM), comprising a diverse array of natural substances from plants, animals, and minerals, has been integral to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) throughout history. This study investigates the dynamic evolution of CMM, noting shifts in species for improved therapeutic effects…

Two Leiden research projects that focus on increasing the biodiversity of Dutch production systems for food and ornamental horticulture have started thanks to funding from the Dutch Research Council's KIC research programme.

The treasure houses of Leiden's University Library and Naturalis house wonderful historical collections with dried plants and botanical drawings. Tinde van Andel, extraordinary professor of History of botany and gardens, studies these collections.

For information about the programme, please contact one of the following persons.

The research provides insight into disease behavior in both rural and semi-urban areas in Serengeti in Tanzania.

The Metabolomics Facility of the University of Leiden has brought together two research groups from the Faculty of Science that are well-known for their expertise in two different fields: the Biomedical Metabolomics Facility Leiden, experts in clinical metabolomics and the Natural Products Laboratory,…

Our facilities cover:

In the Life Science & Technology (LST) degree programme you study the functioning and applications of the living cell: the building block of all plants, humans, animals and micro-organisms. This can be your contribution to a clean and healthy world.

Leiden heeft de oudste botanische tuin van Nederland, gesticht in 1590.

A management strategy has been developed for field margins to reduce pesticide drift to non-target areas and to promote biodiversity on arable land. To this end, 3 and 6 m wide strips along the edges of winter wheat, sugar beet and potato crops have been left unsprayed with herbicides and insecticides…

In populations with a seed-bank, individuals can temporarily become dormant and refrain from reproduction until they can become active again. The repository of all dormant individuals in the population is called the seed-bank. Seed-banks are observed in many taxa, including plants, bacteria and other…

In September 2023, we will be transforming a under-utilised outdoor space into a greener and more biodiverse garden in which all students and staff of the Schouwburgstraat can relax and enjoy.

Natural vanilla flavor is one of the most important in the world. However, the cost of this flavor is expensive. Production of this flavor by alternative methods, could reduce the cost.

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…

Climate change is a challenge for both current and future generations. New biological resources have to be developed in order to meet the demand for energy as well as the demand for food.

The Spanish Society of Soil Science has chosen as the best thesis of 2015 (call 2016) in Spain to the CML-researcher Daniel Arenas Lago, for his research at the University of Vigo that expands and deepens in new knowledge about adsorption and retention of heavy metals in soils, an issue increasingly…

Investigating the intercultural connections that shaped practices of knowledge production in colonial Dutch Brazil.

The oldest university in the Netherlands has produced many well-known scientists. Some of them are known to the wider public; others are perhaps less well known, but their achievements are no less impressive.

Pathogenic bacteria are increasingly resistant to today’s antibiotics. Professor Gilles van Wezel seeks new forms of antibiotics in good bacteria that live in the soil.

Why do flowers often smell so wonderful? And some other plants are very horrible? Come smell it, see it and discover it in the visitor center in the Old Observatory. Suitable for young and old.

How will we celebrate our anniversary in 2025?

Publication of Johann Natterer's (1787-1843) word lists of Amazonian languages.

The Advisory Board of the IBL consists of five eminent scientists with specialist expertise in complementary disciplines. They all have prominent positions for the field of Biology in the Netherlands outside our own institute.

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 AOPs (adverse…

PhD defence

PhD defence

We live in a world of things and people in the past must have been as closely entangled with their material surroundings as we are now. In the Laboratory for Artefact Studies Van Gijn takes a close look at the biographies of objects: what kind of raw material an object is made off and what is its provenience,…

The research aims to understand how did Cuban and Dominican landscape encapsulate historical conceptual transformations about human –nature spiritual interaction after the Spanish conquest? More specifically, what are the present day cultural associations with Cuban and Dominican natural landscape?…

Leiden University's Citizen Science Lab supports and organizes initiatives where anyone can get started with scientific data and research. This is how we enrich research with insights from the community, make science accessible to all, and tackle important local issues together.

Through his project we will unravel the global regulatory networks that control gene expression in Streptomyces bacteria and allow them to properly respond to major changes in the environment; we will then harness this knowledge to activate and identify novel antibiotics

Increasing above- and belowground biodiversity in arable leek cultivation to stimulate pest control by natural enemies.

On 11 May 2016 a prestigious NWO Vidi grant (NWO's Innovation Research Incentives scheme) has been awarded to Nadia Soudzilovskaia for her research proposal entitled “Do mycorrhizal fungi mediate soil carbon fate?”, aimed to understand mycorrhizal impact on soil carbon sequestration.

Chromatin is an ubiquitous protein-DNA complex that forms the structural basis of DNA condensation in all eukaryotic organisms.