Veni grant for six researchers Radboudumc

17 July 2024

Six researchers from Radboudumc have received a Veni grant of up to 320,000 euros. This amount will allow them to further develop their own research ideas over the next three years. These are the following researchers and projects:

 

Sabrina van Heukelum - The female brain on stress: uncovering molecular and circuit mechanisms of stress susceptibility

Twice as many women suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than men. Yet, preclinical research into the neurobiological mechanisms underlying trauma susceptibility is heavily male biased. Considering prior observations of sex-specific brain and behavioral responses to trauma, I aim to investigate the mechanisms of trauma susceptibility in female mice. I will chart the response to trauma by combining behavioral readouts, brain and gene transcription measures, and provide proof-of-principle data for treatment of PTSD-like symptomatology in females. This research has the potential to uncover how trauma susceptibility is encoded in the female brain, creating handles for optimal future treatments of women.

 

Laura de Vries - Take your vitamins! Exploring vitamin B6 metabolism as potential target to block malaria transmission

Mosquitoes spread the parasite that causes the devastating disease malaria. Resistance against malaria medication and insecticides stops the goal of eliminating malaria. The researcher will investigate the role of vitamin B6 in both the mosquito and the parasite and will study new chemicals that could reduce mosquito fertility and the spread of parasites. This project could help in the design of new strategies to eliminate malaria by simultaneously decreasing the mosquito population and curing the mosquitoes of the malaria parasite.

 

Alessa Hering - Spotting the Differences: AI-based change detection in medical images

This research proposal addresses the growing need for efficient cancer diagnosis and follow-up assessment in the current context of rising cancer rates and a shortage of diagnostic personnel. It focuses on developing AI-driven methods that combine images from multiple timepoints to identify clinically relevant changes between them. This innovative tool will empower radiologists to interpret studies with greater efficiency and higher accuracy, leading to better diagnosis and improved treatment selection and monitoring, and earlier detection of ineffective therapies.

 

Suzanne de Bruijn - SensoR: Deciphering the regulatory code of inherited sensory disorders

For about half of the individuals with inherited hearing or vision loss, no genetic diagnosis can be established. It is hypothesized that this can be partially explained by variants in regulatory DNA-elements that control the activity of genes. Because of a lack of understanding, regulatory DNA-variants are currently being excluded from standard genetic analyses. This project aims to establish a multistep workflow to find and interpret these disease-causing regulatory variants. A combination of innovative bioinformatic and experimental tools will be employed with the goal of increasing knowledge about regulatory DNA-variants and to improve the diagnostic yield for inherited sensory disorders.

 

Sanne van Lith - Unleashing the success of FAP-targeted radionuclide therapy in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

Activated support cells residing in the tumor microenvironment play an important role in the poor survival of patients with pancreatic cancer. In this project the researchers will develop radioactively labeled drugs that bind specifically to these activated support cells, in order to kill these cells with radiation. The researchers will study the efficacy and the mechanism-of-action of these novel radioactive drugs in animal models for pancreatic cancer.

 

Floris Schreuder - Having an eye for cerebral amyloid angiopathy

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy can lead to brain bleeding and dementia. This disorder is characterized by depositions of the amyloid protein within the blood vessels of the brain. However, these depositions cannot be detected without a brain biopsy. This research project will determine whether a patient-friendly method can aid in the diagnosis of cerebral amyloid angiopathy, by imaging amyloid depositions within the retina.

 

Talent Program

The Veni is part of the NWO Talent Program. It is a personal scientific grant for researchers who have recently obtained their PhDs. The Talent Program gives researchers the freedom to conduct their own research based on creativity and passion, thus stimulating innovation and curiosity. Free research contributes to and prepares us for tomorrow's society. This is why NWO is committed to a diversity of scientists, domains and backgrounds. Together with the Vidi and Vici grants, Veni is part of the Talent Program.

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