Leiden/Amsterdam Center for Drug Research Participants Research groups of Leiden University (Center for Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences) and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Department of Pharmacochemistry). Mission LACDR aims to be a leading academic centers in the world in learning, in teaching and in advancing innovative drug research, developing knowledge and expertise crucial for drug discovery, evaluation and (clinical) application. This also involves fundamental understanding of drug action as the basis for efficacy and safety of drugs. This aim is to be achieved by the concerted performance of the following main activities: State-of-the-art multidisciplinary drug research; training of undergraduate students; training of graduate students; collaboration with the (pharmaceutical) industry. Research fields Medicinal Chemistry, Molecular Toxicology, Pharmacology, Medical Pharmacology, Toxicology, Biopharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Technology, Analytical Bioscienses, Pharmacognosy, Clinical Pharmacology, Bioanalytical Chemistry. Research focus Molecular mechanisms and drug design, hormones and brain function, molecular and cellular mechanisms in toxicology, drug targeting by endogenous transport routes, kinetics of drug effects to optimize drug delivery, absorption mechanisms and design of delivery systems, bio-analytical mass spectrometry, plant cell biotechnology, human drug research, development of radio-pharmaceuticals. Key words Drug design, hormones, brain function, drug targeting, drug delivery, kinetics of drug effects, absorption mechanisms, analytical mass spectrometry, biotechnology, histamine ligands and receptors, toxicity of xenobiotics, Alzheimer's disease, P450, biomonitoring and biomarkers, gluthatione conjugation, cytotoxicity, apoptosis, endogenous transport routes, blood-brain barrier, drug transport, PK/PD, drug absorption, biosynthesis of indole alkaloids, lead finding, drug synthesis, adenosine, mutant receptors, molecular modeling, b-lyase, radioligand displacement, reactive intermediates. Research capacity Total staff: 191 fte (full time equivalents), Scientific staff: 20.2 fte; Ph.D. students: 66. Research budget* NLG 18 x 106 (36% supported by third parties) *support by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research not included. Research directorate Prof. dr. Gerard J. Mulder (Professor Toxicologie) and Prof. Dr. Henk Timmerman (Prof. dr. Rob Leurs (Professor of medicinal Chemistry), January 2003). Address PO Box 9502, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands. tel: +31 71 527 4341 fax: +31 71 527 4277 e-mail: m.ham@lacdr.leidenuniv.nl, internet: www.lacdr.nl