How do cells repair their damaged DNA—and what happens when that process is hindered and cancer arises? Sarah Moser has taken a closer look during her PhD, uncovering surprising insights that could help improve future cancer treatments.

Stel je voor: het licht gaat uit. Geen internet, pinpas en navigatie. Klinkt als science fiction, maar het kan allemaal gebeuren door ruimteafval. Sterrenkundige Thomas Wijnen legt in deze video van @universiteitvannl.bsky.social uit waar ruimtepuin vandaan komt en hoe we het kunnen opruimen.

Mini organs-on-chips allow us to study how diseases develop and how drugs work. Although the technology is not new, it is becoming increasingly advanced. PhD candidate Bart Kramer hopes it will eliminate animal testing in the future.

Leiden University, together with Utrecht University, the LUMC and 10 other Dutch universities and institutes, has been awarded a grant of more than €30 million in the NWO call Roadmap Large-scale Scientific Infrastructure (GWI).

Physicists from Leiden University wrote the script and ensured that every experiment in the performance was scientifically accurate. The kickoff of the major educational project of the Amsterdam Light Festival was a huge success — and there’s much more to come.

Join us next week during the Tuesday Talk with Ilze Bot. She will talk about how certain immune cells play a role in atherosclerosis, and what new treatment strategies might help to reduce the risk of sudden cardiovascular events. Be there! www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/20...

The Leiden Academic Centre for Drug Research (LACDR) has received a €750,000 grant from ZonMw for QPharmNL. This is a continuing education programme that trains professionals in computational techniques in pharmacology for innovative drug development.

Leiden researchers have found clues to why a rare pregnancy disorder is mild in some babies but life-threatening in others. Their discovery opens the door to a test that could identify severe cases during pregnancy. Fortunately, a treatment already exists.

Leiden researchers, led by Sebastian Pomplun developed a new method to screen hundreds of thousands of molecules for drug discovery, using mass spectrometry instead of DNA tags. ‘We wanted to make drug discovery faster and more accessible.’

Studying video games for your PhD research. It might sound unlikely, yet it is exactly what PhD candidates Giulio Barbero and Matthias Müller-Brockhausen did. Read more:

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded Vidi grants to 14 Leiden researchers. This grant of a maximum of 850,000 euros will enable them to start a new research group and develop their own line of research over the next five years.

🎉 NWO Vidi grant for Bas Hensen and Evert van Nieuwenburg! These two physicists will continue their research on🧲Levitated magnets with a twist and a spin: towards macroscopic quantum superpositions and 🎮Formal games for solving hard quantum control problems. @leidenscience.bsky.social

Exotic marsh frogs from distant lands are colonising the south-east of the Netherlands. This has been demonstrated by biology students from our faculty. Although the amphibians thrive in our little country, they are harmful to native biodiversity.

Astronomers have found complex organic ice outside the Milky Way for the first time. The discovery shows that the building blocks of life could arise early in the universe - and under a variety of conditions, said Leiden astronomer Will Rocha.

When you imagine a scientific conference, you might think of endless presentations and coffee breaks. But at the Lorentz Center in Leiden, things are a little different. Here, scientists don’t just listen—they collaborate, debate, and design the future of their field.

On 11 November, there is a Tuesday Talk by Ilze Bot. She will explore how certain immune cells play a role in atherosclerosis, and what new treatment strategies might help to reduce the risk of sudden cardiovascular events. Make sure to register! www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/20...

Thomas Moerland studied medicine and mathematics in Leiden and has a lifelong fascination with the origins and workings of intelligence. He brought all that together in his popular science book Van IQ naar AI (From IQ to AI). Read more:

On December 10, Kazakh pianist and composer Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin will perform at the Stadsgehoorzaal in Leiden. A remarkable event where music and modern physics come together. Read more:

One and a half hectares of polder, a large volume of water, and a group of curious researchers and scientific backgrounds led by ecologist Maarten Schrama. These are the ingredients needed to answer the question: how do water retention areas affect nature, animals, and our health?

The antibiotic EVG7, developed in Leiden, has proven capable of fighting the dangerous gut bacterium C. difficile with only a minimal dose. What’s more, the bacterium is far less likely to return, a major issue with existing antibiotics. The research was published in Nature Communications.

From telescopes to science fiction: in just one semester, students with no background in physics or astronomy get to explore the universe. The first group of students started last month in the new minor Our Universe. Read more:

The supermassive black hole at the center of the Circinus galaxy is being fed with gas by two spiral arms. This is what PhD candidate Wout Goesaert discovered. But only a small percentage disappears into the black hole, the rest is ejected.

For the first time, an international team of scientists led by Leiden Observatory and SRON can explain the extreme jet streams observed around the equators of all the giant planets using a single model.

See connected press release at #LeidenBiology @leidenscience.bsky.social www.linkedin.com/posts/instit...

How often do you consider the impact of your choices? 10 October is Sustainability Day: a good time to introduce the new bachelor's programme Science for Sustainable Societies. Read more:

On 14 October, there is a Tuesday Talk by Kim Bonger. She will explain how click reactions make it possible to control therapeutic activity with extraordinary precision, opening new pathways for safer and more effective treatments. Make sure to register! www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/20...

🎹Pianist Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin brings music and science together in Leiden during this concert at the Stadsgehoorzaal Leiden on December 10, 2025! Learn more about the concert: edu.nl/gc7hk, get your tickets: edu.nl/tutnx @sensevdmolen.bsky.social @unileiden.bsky.social @leidenscience.bsky.social

Emeritus-hoogleraar moleculaire astrofysica Ewine van Dishoeck is benoemd tot Citation Laureate door Clarivate, een bedrijf dat onderzoeksdata analyseert. Daarmee beschouwt Clarivate haar als invloedrijke wetenschapper met het kaliber om een Nobelprijs te winnen.

‘Wadden Sea Sounds’ is the name of a new project launched by the Waddenvereniging in collaboration with researchers from Leiden University and the University of Groningen. The aim is to find out how underwater noise affects marine life in the Wadden Sea. Read more:

Researchers from Leiden have developed a promising TB vaccine that users can self-administer via a special patch. This could be beneficial for countries with limited health services, says PhD candidate Malene Neustrup. Read more:

On October 14th, Kim Bonger (@kimmb1.bsky.social) will present her exciting research in our LED3hub at the @leidenscience.bsky.social Tuesday Talks to the Faculty. If you are interested, make sure to register: www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/events/20...

🐯The #Quantum Safari — an interactive journey that reveals how quantum is already part of our everyday lives, and how much more is possible. This Saturday, we’ll be at the #NachtvanOntdekkingen at the Oude Sterrewacht in #Leiden, starting from 7 PM @leidenscience.bsky.social @unileiden.bsky.social

Nine students dove into a challenging iGEM project this summer. With their idea, they aim to make antibodies more efficient - and in the meantime learn at least as much about collaboration, creativity and their own future. Read more:

📢 The House of Quantum in #Leiden has officially opened! At LION, we are very proud to host this first location of the HoQ outside of Delft! This new hub brings #quantum to the health, bio- and med-tech sector at the Bio Science Park! @leidenscience.bsky.social @unileiden.bsky.social edu.nl/aq6fa .

Micro- and nanoplastics cause stress to crops such as lettuce and carrots, PhD candidate Laura Julia Zantis found. This can lead to reduced growth and a lower nutritional value. Biodegradable plastics have this effect too, likely because of chemicals they release during degradation.

A new class of polymers has been used in patients for the first time. The compound is the first new drug solubilising agent in decades. Introduced in 2014 by chemist Matthias Barz from Leiden University, it offers a unique alternative to current options. Read more:

Predicting the collective behaviour of systems is no easy task. But there’s a theory that scientists have been using for decades to do just that: the theory of Gibbs measures. Last week, mathematician Mirmukhsin Makhmudov earned his PhD for refining this very theory. Read more:

Personalised treatment for patients with atherosclerosis. That is what the researchers of the AtheroNeth consortium are working towards. The Dutch Heart Foundation has awarded €6 million to this research project, of which €340,000 will go to Leiden. Read more:

Leiden Observatory has achieved a rare feat: two of its research teams have been awarded prestigious ALMA Large Programmes, allowing them to study how galaxies formed and evolved in the early Universe using cutting-edge telescope observations. Read more:

Lorentz Medal is awarded to professor Charles Kane of @upenn.edu on the 11th of December 2025, Robbert Dijkgraaf (@knaw-nl.bsky.social) will hand over this prestigious award for theoretical physics during our Symposium '100 Years of Spin'. Read more: edu.nl/aycdg

Looking for a #PhD in #medicinal #chemistry and #chemical #proteomics focused on #drugdevelopment for #infectiousdiseases? We have a vacancy!! Come join our interdisciplinary team @leidenscience.bsky.social & and help develop new approaches to treat mycobacterial infections 😀 tinyurl.com/3srxfr55

At the age of six, Barbara Gravendeel already knew what she wanted to be: a biologist. The seed was planted in the garden of her childhood home: an old orchard surrounded by a large hedge. Since 1 May, she has been the scientific director (prefect) of the Hortus botanicus in Leiden.

One used 3D cell models to study colorectal cancer, while the other used machine learning for more efficient blood donation. For these achievements, Marieke Vinkenoog and Simon Christian Hansmann were awarded the Krijn Rietveld Memorial Innovation Award on Tuesday 2 September. Read more:

The more data from cancer research we pool, the better we can search for new treatments. But how can we keep patient data safe when sharing it? Leiden researchers will tackle this challenge in a major European project.

Marc Koper, Professor of Catalysis and surface chemistry, has been awarded the EuChemS Gold Medal 2026. The prize is awarded every two years and recognises outstanding achievements in the field of chemistry in Europe. Read more:

Our dean, Jasper Knoester, opens the Academic Year at @leidenscience.bsky.social of @unileiden.bsky.social. Great to see him highlight the importance of the faculty priority themes including that of Drug Discovery and Developing of our @led3hub.bsky.social. www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/science/l...

A great mini symposium on #cancer research today at @leidenscience.bsky.social organized by the #MCBIM department of Sylvestre Bonnet. Petra Heffeter and Guy Ron talked about diverse aspects of cancer #diagnosis and #treatment. #ChemSky #ChemBio #DrugDiscovery

Eerste astro-nieuws van vandaag. Over een uurtje nog meer supergaaf nieuws. Allebei met astronomen van @leidenscience.bsky.social

Experiment: student Alicia Cai relied solely on AI tools such as ChatGPT and Claude for supervision while writing her thesis. It was only after she had finished writing it that Professor Bas Haring, who devised the experiment, assessed her thesis.

An international team of astronomers led by Matus Rybak (Leiden University) has proven, thanks to accidental double zoom, that millimetre radiation is generated close to the core of a supermassive black hole. Their findings have been accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.