Medical oncologist and researcher Judith Kroep conducts research into ovarian cancer. She received €70,000 for her research project from the Willemijn Charity Golf Day crowdfunding campaign on steunleiden.nl.

The effects of encephalitis, inflammation of the brain, are varied but have a huge impact. With the aid of the LUF, Dr Jutte de Vries, a medical microbiologist at the LUMC, is working on a solution.

The aim of the Leiden Empowerment Fund (LEF) is to enable all students and academics at Leiden University to realise their ambitions by creating an academic environment with equal opportunities for all.

People with chronic intestinal inflammation, such as Crohn's disease, often have high numbers of the gut bacterium Ruminococcus gnavus (R. gnavus) in their intestines. But why? To answer that question, LUMC researchers have for the first time mapped the complete genetic code (genome) of this bacterium on a large scale. And to accelerate further research on R. gnavus, they are offering all data for free to other researchers.

Immunotherapy stimulates the cancer patient's own immune system to attack the cancer. However, this therapy is not effective in all patients. With a grant from the Nypels-Van der Zee Fund, Dr Noel de Miranda has developed a rapid, effective test to select suitable patients.

The Leiden University Thesis Prizes were awarded on Alumni Day on 15 February. The nominees came with their family and friends to the Kamerlingh Onnes Building for the award ceremony for these annual prizes for the best theses.

Femicide is a serious issue in the Netherlands: around 40 women are murdered each year. Yet the circumstances surrounding these deaths are not recorded. To change that, Marieke Liem, Professor of Security and Interventions, launched the Femicide Monitor. ‘To develop effective interventions, we need to understand what’s really happening.’

As a sixth-year medical student at Leiden University, Marianne van der Vaart got the chance to reseach pain perception in infants. With a LISF-scholarship, she travelled to Oxford to work on her computer model at the university's department of pediatrics.