Leiden University Medical Center

The Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) is committed to improving healthcare and the health of individuals. The LUMC staff put this mission into practice on a daily basis with their leading research, cutting-edge teaching and optimal, innovative healthcare.

By focusing on societal themes such as oncology, regenerative medicine and population health, we make a strong contribution to resolving key challenges in healthcare, such as the ageing of the population and the increase in the comorbidity of chronic diseases.

Oncology

Researchers at LUMC work on new fundamental insights and treatments for different forms of cancer, including immune therapy, where a person’s own immune system is primed to attack cancer cells. In addition, LUMC is part of the Oncode Institute, which brings together leading researchers in the area of fundamental oncological research. Our researchers also collaborate with partners ta the Leiden Bio Science Park, where drug development is a key theme. LUMC is the country’s leading expertise centre for patient care in many different specialist fields, for example in the treatment of bone tumours, soft tissue tumours, eye melanomas and skin lymphomas.

Also see: Oncology website (in Dutch)

Regenerative medicine

To cure patients suffering from chronic illnesses caused by diseased or damaged organs, the organs have to be repaired, replaced or restored. This is what regenerative medicine aims to do. Applying regenerative medicine broadly as a hospital treatment will entail major changes for our current healthcare system. Patients will no longer receive long-term treatment, but will visit the hospital for a single appointment, where a cure will be effected using their own cells, gene therapy or tissue manipulation.

LUMC researchers work on new regenerative treatment methods in such contexts as the RegMed (regenerative medicine crossing borders) public-private partnership. In this platform they lead the research on regenerative treatments for final-stage kidney failure and type 1 diabetes. LUMC researchers are also involved in the organ-on-a-chip consortium hDMT (human organ and Disease Model Technologies).

Also see: Regenerative medicine website

Population health

University medical centres and local partners such as municipalities and regional hospitals are increasingly being asked to contribute to solutions for keeping healthcare accessible and affordable in the future. LUMC’s contribution focuses on the prevention of disease in the population and ‘the right care in the right place’. Healthcare, research and education come together here under the heading of population health. Researchers focus on promoting the health of large groups of people with a similar profile, using information gathered from large amounts of data. At the Leiden Controlled Human Infection Center (L-CHIC), our researchers seek solutions for infectious diseases that pose a serious threat to population health.

LUMC makes an important contribution to disease prevention with such initiatives as the National eHealth Living Lab andLifestyle4health. LUMC also works with partner hospitals in regional education and training networks to develop optimal medical training programmes. These activities take place partly within LUMC Campus The Hague, in cooperation with research groups from LUMC and Leiden University.

Also see: Population Health website

Exemplary infrastructure

Good infrastructure is essential to excellent research and innovation and to the ability to compete internationally. The infrastructure we have built within LUMC and at the Leiden BioScience Park is exemplary. It includes the CHDR, the Leiden Genome Technology Center, the Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics, NeCEN and the Flowcytometry Core Facility, and will in the near future also include the Leiden Stem Cell Facility.