Radboudumc researchers receive various grants from the NWO for their scientific research. Jeroen de Baaij and Felix Hol both received a Vidi for their research into magnesium deficiency in type 2 diabetes and into malaria, respectively. Martine Hoogman and Jeanette Mostert jointly receive an NWA-WECOM subsidy for communication about ADHD.
The kidney in focus: magnesium deficiencies due to genetic causes and diabetes – Jeroen de Baaij
Physiologist Jeroen de Baaij has received a Vidi grant to investigate how it is possible that about ten to thirty percent of people with type 2 diabetes develop a magnesium deficiency. This deficiency arises because the kidneys do not absorb magnesium and it leaves the body through the urine. De Baaij wants to use this subsidy to develop cells in the lab that he can use to map out what goes wrong in the absorption of magnesium, after which he can test it through animal experiments. With this knowledge, he can test drugs in order to arrive at a treatment for this large group of patients. He will receive a subsidy of 800,000 euros.
Do parasites make mosquitoes better at transmitting malaria? – Felix Hol
Biophysicist Felix Hol receives a VIDI grant for malaria research. Mosquitoes succeed extremely well in making people sick by biting them and infecting them with parasites. He wants to investigate how interactions between mosquitoes and parasites influence the spread of malaria. He does this by means of a manufactured artificial skin. By letting mosquitoes loose on this, he wants to map out how the parasite influences the biting behavior of the mosquito. Do some parasites make mosquitoes more hungry? He wants to use film to map out how mosquitoes can find people’s blood vessels. Because the artificial skin is transparent, this process can be visualized exactly. Finally, he hopes to gain more knowledge about how the parasite moves through the skin into the human bloodstream after the mosquito spit it out. He will receive a grant of 800,000 euros from the NWO.
Knowledge about ADHD for young people – Martine Hoogman and Jeanette Mostert
Martine Hoogman and Jeanette Mostert (Departments of Psychiatry and Genetics) have received an NWA science communication grant of 50,000 euros for the ADHDplaza project. Research shows that knowledge about ADHD in young people is limited, but that there is a great need for more information. To give young people more knowledge about ADHD, Hoogman and Mostert have set up a consortium of Dutch ADHD experts. They collaborated with the Dutch organization for people with ADHD, dyslexia and dyscalculia, Impuls & Woortblind. In their project, specially trained PhD students visit secondary schools to share information about ADHD and find out what young people want to know about ADHD. The knowledge that this provides will be placed on the ADHDplaza.nl platform, so that it is available to all young people in the Netherlands.
About the subsidies
The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded 101 experienced researchers a Vidi grant of 800,000 euros. This will enable them to develop their own innovative line of research and set up a research group over the next five years. Vidi is aimed at experienced researchers who have already conducted successful research for a number of years after their PhD. Vidi, together with the Veni and Vici grants, is part of the NWO Talent Programme.
The aim of the call ‘NWA Science Communication’ is to strengthen the connection between science and society through good science communication. For example, by bringing science closer to existing and new target groups so that interaction can be established and mutual understanding is strengthened. An innovative approach to science communication can contribute to this.