NVBMB Dutch Structural Biology Day, 15 Years of NeCEN & EMPower Kick-off
15 Years of NeCEN, Dutch Structural Biology Day & EMPower Kick-off in Leiden on 26 November 2026
On Thursday 26 November 2026, we celebrate 15 years of NeCEN and look ahead to the future of structural and biomedical research with the official EMPower kick-off. We are excited to announce that this year’s anniversary meeting also hosts the annual NVBMB Dutch Structural Biology Day.
As an international open-access facility for high-end cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET), NeCEN enables researchers to study biological structures and therapeutic targets at high resolution. Over the past 15 years, NeCEN has grown into an essential national hub for scientists working across a wide range of biomedical and structural biology fields.
Join Us
📅 Date: Thursday, 26 November 2026
🕘 Time: 09:30 – 18:30 CET
📍 Location: Gorlaeus Building (Atrium EM1 & Lecture Hall CM1.26), Einsteinweg 55, 2333 CC Leiden
🎟️ Tickets: Morning session – Free
Whole day - €25 (including catered lunch - payment required before 18 November)
📌 Scientific Posters: PhD candidates, postdocs, and researchers are warmly encouraged to bring and present a poster! Please indicate your poster title on the registration form.
🔗 Registration: https://fd24.formdesk.com/universiteitleiden/fifteenyearsofnecen
Programme
|
Time |
Session / Topic |
Speaker / Location |
|
09:30 – 10:30 |
Registration & Welcome Coffee |
Atrium EM1 |
|
10:30 – 10:40 |
Welcome Address |
Faculty of Science, Leiden University |
|
10:40 – 10:55 |
Start of NeCEN: 15 Years of Cryo-EM |
Bram Koster (Leiden UMC) |
|
10:55 – 11:10 |
NEMI: Netherlands Electron Microscopy Infrastructure |
Judith Klumperman (UMC Utrecht) |
|
11:10 – 11:25 |
EMPower: Powering the Future of Cryo-EM in The Netherlands |
Friedrich Förster (Utrecht University) |
|
11:25 – 12:00 |
Ceremonial Kickoff & Unveiling of Titan Krios 5 |
NeCEN Entrance |
|
12:00 – 13:00 |
Lunch, Poster Presentations & VIP Facility Tours |
Atrium EM1 |
|
13:00 – 13:10 |
Dutch Structural Biology Day: Scientific Opening |
Meindert Lamers (Director, NeCEN) | Lecture Hall CM1.26 |
|
13:10 – 13:35 |
Scientific Presentation |
Arjen Jakobi (TU Delft) |
|
13:35 – 13:50 |
How the complement convertase switches its substrate specificity |
Karla de la O Becerra (Utrecht University) |
|
13:50 – 14:05 |
Scientific Presentation |
Albert Guskov (University of Groningen) |
|
14:05 – 14:30 |
Scientific Presentation |
TBC (Netherlands Cancer Institute - NKI) |
|
14:30 – 14:45 |
Structure, mechanisms and inhibition of the bacterial terminal oxidase, cytochrome bd |
Lars Jeuken (Leiden University) |
|
14:45 – 15:10 |
Chasing curiosity with cryo-EM |
Miguel Leung (Hubrecht Institute) |
|
15:10 – 15:20 |
Instruct-ERIC: European Structural Biology Access |
Harald Schwalbe (Instruct-ERIC / Goethe Univ Frankfurt) |
|
15:20 – 15:50 |
Coffee & Tea Break |
Foyer next to CM1.26 |
|
15:50 – 16:05 |
Scientific Presentation |
Sneha Hakke (Maastricht University) |
|
16:05 – 16:30 |
Scientific Presentation |
Willem Noteborn (NeCEN) |
|
16:30 – 17:15 |
Keynote Lecture |
Sir Richard Henderson (Nobel Laureate, MRC LMB Cambridge) |
|
17:15 – 18:30 |
Celebratory Drinks, Poster Session & Facility Tours for All |
Atrium EM1 |
Poster Session, Drinks & Facility Tours
From 17:15 onwards, join us for celebratory drinks and bites in the Atrium next to NeCEN. Browse posters from academic and industrial peers, connect with fellow structural biologists, and take part in a guided tour of NeCEN and the new Titan Krios 5.
Scientific Poster Presentations: PhDs, postdocs, and researchers are warmly encouraged to bring and present a poster for the Dutch Structural Biology Day. You can register your poster title directly via the online registration form.
Sponsored byThermo FIsher Scientific, DENS solutions, CryoSol, CryoCloud
We look forward to welcoming you on 26 November in Leiden!
NeCEN & Faculty of Science | Leiden University
Contact: events@science.leidenuniv.nl