Grants and Awards in 2010
A selection of Grants and Awards in 2010 is given below
Cardiology
Caroline Cheng and Natasja de Groot both became recipients of a Erasmus MC fellowship grant.
At the most recent scientific meeting of the Dutch Society of Cardiology, PhD candidates Petra Opic and Heleen van der Zwaan were awarded for their presentations on “Heart Failure in congenital heart disease”. As most readers will know, in addition to € 200, the price comes with many flowers as well as with eternal fame. Additionally, Heleen van der Zwaan won the prestigious “Herman Snellen” award for best poster presentation in the Imaging session at the spring meeting of the Dutch Society of Cardiology.
Jasper Brugts obtained his PhD title “cum laude”. His thesis defence took place on February 17 and the title of his thesis was:”Tailored-therapy of ACE-inhibitors in coronary artery disease”.
Professor Wim van der Giessen became Clinical Leader and his experimental group part of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) NWO Innovative Medical Devices Initiative, under the title of NIMIT (Novel Instruments for Minimally Invasive Techniques). The central theme of this initiative, launched in November: to invest in technology for sustainable health care. As mentioned above, Wim van der Giessen will be the clinical leader, while Professor Jenny Dankelman (Biomedical Engineering, Techinical University Delft) will function as technical scientific leader. The mission of CoRE NIMIT is to develop innovative devices and procedures for minimally invasive interventions with an added value for science, society and business. More specifically, the initiative will bring together engineers with expertise in miniaturization of (steerable) instruments, optical sensing technique, biomaterials, ergonomics as well as haptics with clinicians who are playing a leading role in their clinical discipline including Cardiology, Surgery and Anesthesiology.
Professor Dirk Duncker and Professor Wim van der Giessen together with several other European investigators led by Professor Paulus of the VUMC received a Collaborative Project Grant within the European 7th Framework Program on the "MEtabolic road to DIAstolic heart failure (MEDIA) totalling 12 million euro."
Pharmacology, Vascular and Metabolic Diseases
The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) awarded Dr Antoinette Maassen van den Brink with the prestigious Vidi (including the Aspasia part for female researchers) grant,
totalling € 900.000. The title of her project is: “Migraine and female sex hormones; of mice and women”.
Dr. Anton Roks received a grant of € 246.0000 from the Dutch Heart Foundation for his research project: Cyclic Angiotensin-(1-7), a new tool to suppress post-MI myocardial remodelling. In addition, he obtained financial means from the Chinese Scholarship Council for a new 4 year long PhD project under the title “Pharmacological prevention of DNA damage: a new option for prevention of endothelial dysfunction”.
From the same Department, Joost Rutten, Marcel Meima and Ton van den Meiracker were granted € 92.000 by the Netherlands Foundation for Cardiovascular Excellence for their research project “On the inverse relationship between BMI and amino-terminal B-type natriuretic peptide: is insulin the missing link?”.
In Vancouver, Canada, during the meetings of the International Society of Hypertension,
Professor Jan Danser received the famous Robert Tigersted Award from the International Society of Hypertension (http://www.ish-world.com/default.aspx?RobertTigerstedtAward), for his distinguished work relating to the aetiology, epidemiology, pathology or treatment of high blood pressure.
For his presentation ‘DNA repair deficient progeria mice vasculature displays accelerated age-dependent eNOS dysregulation’ at the so called “FIGON Geneesmiddelendagen”, organised by the Dutch Society of Pharmacology in Lunteren, The Netherlands, from 4-5 October, PhD candidate Matej Durik was chosen as the best presenter among his numerous peers.
Vascular Neurology
Again, as in previous years, scientists from the Department of Neurology were very successful in obtaining additional financial means. In 2010, these included € 243.356 from the Dutch Heart Foundation, as aid in conducting the PROFIT trial. The grant was provided to Dr Heleen den Hertog and Professor Peter Koudstaal. The Dr. Jan Meerwaldtstichting as well as the Erasmus Trust funds also supported Dr Heleen den Hertog in attending various scientific meetings abroad as well as a longer stay in Belgium (Leuven University).
Lastly, the Dutch Society of Neurology recognised and awarded professor Peter Koudstaal’s exceptional skills as a teacher and presenter.
Hematology and Thrombosis
Dr Frank W.G. Leebeek gave his inaugural lecture “A moving balance” at the occasion of his appointment as Professor in Haematology, in particular Thrombosis and Haemostasis on February 5th, 2010. In addition, he received an unrestricted industrial (CSL Behring) research grant of € 200.000 euro to further delineate the role of the Willebrand factor in the Netherlands-2 study. This study tries to unravel the variability in bleeding phenotype in patients with von Willebrand disease, the most common inherited bleeding disorder.
The (now) Professor Frank Leebeek also received a research grant of almost € 100.000 from the Dutch Thrombosis Foundation (“Trombose Stichting”) to investigate the role of SNARE proteins in the regulation of von Willebrand factor concentration and other coagulation factors.
Dr. Moniek de Maat received the Outstanding Investigator Award 2010 from the International Fibrinogen Research Society for her continued research in the field of fibrinogen over the last years.
Lastly, Janine van Loon, PhD candidate, was awarded the Jeanne Stibbe bokaal for the best oral presentation at the joint meeting of the Dutch and British Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis in Noordwijkerhout in June 2010