It has been a long-standing mystery how complex biological structures emerge from such seemingly uncoordinated building blocks as cells and tissues, in the presence of only minimal environmental guidance.

A remarkable population of short period transiting rocky exoplanets with equilibrium temperatures on the order of 2,000 K has recently been discovered.

At the moment, over 350.000 chemicals are registered worldwide for production and use. Their application, however, may harm human health and the environment.

Promotor: J.G.E.M. Fraaije, Co-Promotor: A. Kros

This thesis describes the synthesis and biological evaluation of TLR2/6, TLR4, TLR7/8 and TLR9 ligands, of which the activity can be conditionally controlled.

In this work, we attempt to answer the question:

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…

Cardiovascular diseases are among the most frequent causes of death in the world. The main underlying pathology of cardiovascular diseases is the development of atherosclerosis in the medium and large-sized arteries.

Single-molecule spectroscopy has become a powerful method for using organic fluorescent molecules in numerous applications.

This ecological community has long been known to affect host biology, and their diverse roles have been further clarified in recent years following numerous studies of animal:microbiota interactions in diverse systems.

The availability of indicators based on social media has opened the possibility to track the online interactions between social media users and scholarly entities.

Material circularity and energy efficiency are highly relevant and intertwined issues for the transition towards a carbon-neutral and circular built environment. In the Netherlands, the building sector has been rendered a priority towards a circular and low-carbon society.

Promotor: A. Doelman, Co-promotor: J.D.M. Rademacher

This thesis considers multi-prover commitment schemes whose security is based on restrictions on the communication between the provers.

Chemical-induced organ toxicity is a major concern in the development and use of chemicals, including drugs, pesticides, industrial chemicals and cosmetics. In the last decades, the onset and progression of chemical-induced organ toxicity has been linked amongst others to perturbation of mitochondri…

The formation and evolution of galaxies is fundamentally driven by the formation of new stars out of cold gas.

Thermodynamics is one of the founding scientific pillars that has helped us better understand heat engines, biology, ecosystems, and even black holes. While it fundamentally describes large systems by examining the bulk behavior of their constituents, it is anchored in the statistical equivalence of…

Promotor: E.F. Smets, Co-promotor: T.R. van Andel

Promotor: J. Zaanen

Ice, the solid state of water, plays an important role on our planet as well as the entire universe.Despite the fact that an individual water molecule has a very simple structure, its chemical bonding in the solid phase can be surprisingly complex.

Inactivating mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes predispose to several types of cancer.

Promotor: J.M. van Ruitenbeek, Co-Promotor: S.J. van der Molen

Despite being the object of intense study, embryonic development has been difficult to model due to a number of reasons. First, complex tissues can be comprised of many cell types, of which we probably only know a subset.

Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) has become the standard for business processes diagrams.

Promotores: T.H.W. Bäck, Y. Tan, Co-promotor: M.T.M. Emmerich

Complex Organic Molecules (COMs) have been detected in objects across different stages of stellar evolution.

This thesis is comprised of three chapters covering the theme of studying semistable varieties by looking at their dual combinatorial objects.

Promotor: Prof.dr. R. Verpoorte, Co-Promotor: Dr. Young Hae Choi

Promotor: Prof.dr. W.T.F. den Hollander

Supervisor: P.J.J. Hooykaas Co-Supervisor: R. Offringa

Promotor: Prof.dr. B. van de Water, Co-promotores: L.T.M. van der Ven, A.S. Kienhuis

Vitamin A or retinol is essential in embryonic development, the visual cycle and the immune system.

How soil microbial composition impacts structure and composition of the aboveground plant and animal communities?

Promotor: H.S. Overkleeft, J. Neefjes, Co-promotor: M. van der Stelt

Pectin is a plant cell wall polysaccharide made of mainly D-galacturonic acid (GA) subunits. The potency of the filamentous fungus Aspergillus niger to naturally secrete high amounts of pectinases to degrade pectin has been utilized for the industrial production of pectinases.

International trade has played a major role in defining the modern global economy. Trade, however, entangles the environmental pressures of economic sectors, giving the illusion of environmental improvements, while the opposite may be occurring.

The marine shipping industry is one of the strongest emitters of nitrogen oxides (NOx), a pollutant detrimental to ecology and human health. Over the last 20 years, the pollution produced by power plants, the industry sector, and cars has been decreasing.

This work has described synthetic strategies towards well-defined structures resembling capsular polysaccharide (CPS) fragments, CPS mimics, teichoic acid (TA) fragments as well as a third-generation ring-closing tandem metathesis (RCM) linker to better exploit the potential of automated synthesis.

Throughout the history of computer science, a major challenge has been how to assert that software is free of bugs and works as intended. Software bugs can lead to serious negative impacts on any software system. Throughout the main body of the thesis, we implemented a series of studies on exploring…

Big Science, commonly defined as conventional science made big in three dimensions, namely organizations, machines, and politics, brings a plethora of different stakeholders together, often for a long period of time. This includes policymakers, scientists, (scientific) managers as well as local “host”…

Een compacte maar theoretisch innovatieve ontdekkingstocht naar hoe Islamofobie en radicalisering op elkaar inhaken en elkaar versterken.

Carmen van den Bergh, universitair docent Italiaanse Letterkunde, heeft Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer geïnterviewd over Italië en cultuur. Ongeveer 350 studenten zagen via Zoom hoe de schrijver een pleidooi hield voor de geesteswetenschappen.

Tijdens de slotbijeenkomst van de Scriptiewerkplaats op 10 februari in 'Pand Zuidwest' in Den haag, presenteerden verschillende studenten hun scriptie. Studenten vanuit verschillende disciplines doen hier onderzoek naar geformuleerde praktijkgerichte uitdagingen in Den Haag Zuidwest. ‘De Scriptiewerkplaats…

Hard aan het studeren op een van onze locaties? Ben je onderzoek aan het doen in het lab? Of zit je lekker op een terrasje? Leg jouw zomer in Leiden en/of Den Haag vast en zie je foto terug op onze Facebookpagina – wie weet win je wel de grote prijs!

Op 7 december won Marlisa den Hartog de Volkskrant-IISG Scriptieprijs voor Geschiedenis. De titel van haar bekroonde werkstuk luidt ‘The Pleasure that is Taken in Bed: Perceptions of Sexual Desire and Sexual Identity in Italy, 1450-1500’. De scriptie van de laureate werd uit 37 inzendingen gekozen.

Geïnspireerd door een goodie gekregen op een buitenlandse conferentie, ging Laura Kamsma, coördinator van FGGA International Office, op zoek naar een nieuw relatiegeschenk voor de vertegenwoordigers van internationale uitwisselingsprogramma’s van de Universiteit Leiden – Campus Den Haag. Het moest aan…

A brief review essay on some of the work that has been recently published in the emergent field of digital ethnography.

Around the world, mindfulness has become big business. This course combines conventional scholarly inquiry from multiple disciplines with experiential learning to provide a responsible, comprehensive, and inclusive education about mindfulness as a contemporary phenomenon.

The main aim of this project is to reveal and unravel the invisible histories of the UN, transcending the dominant Western perspective to recover the historical agency of Global South actors. The research will investigate how the UN has both facilitated and limited their role in shaping global order…

Een verhaal van Twee Mosuls, De wederopstand van de Irakese strijdkrachten en de militaire nederlaag van ISIS. In dit artikel, gepubliceerd in het Journal of Strategic Studies, bespreken de auteurs Maarten Broekhof, Martijn Kitzen en Frans Osinga de militaire aanpassing door de Iraakse strijdkrachten…