Veni, Vidi and Vici grants awarded to the University of Groningen in 2019

Grants awarded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO, Innovational Research Incentives Scheme).

Vidi awards

High accuracy calculations for fundamental research with atoms and molecules

Dr Anastasia Borschevsky (FSE - Van Swinderen Institute for Particle Physics and Gravity)

Atoms and molecules can act like tiny laboratories for sensitive experiments that probe the fundamental structure of matter and search for new laws of physics. Scientists will develop a novel method of unsurpassed accuracy and use high performance computing to calculate parameters needed to support and interpret these experiments.

De reactie van materialen op licht bekijken

Dr Giulia Mancini (FSE - Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials Nanophysics/technology )

Global points via locally analytic functions

Dr Steffen Müller (Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence)

An equation given by a polynomial in two variables with integral coefficients looks simple, but how many rational solutions does it have? This problem has been at the heart of number theory for millenia. The project will develop new methods to understand many of these equations in theory and practice.

Veni awards

What makes cardiometabolic syndrome different in men versus women?

Dr D.V. (Daria) Zhernakova (UMCG - Genetics)

Cardiometabolic diseases are the major cause of death worldwide, yet we still do not know why they are so different in men and in women. This project will identify the genetic, environmental and molecular basis of this sex difference and create a sex-specific risk prediction model for disease incidence.

Tuberculosis treatment with a Trojan horse

Dr J. (Jeffrey) Buter (UG - FSE - Stratingh Institute for Chemistry)

Probing Lightning Dynimifs with LOFAR

Dr B.M. (Brian) Hare (UG - FSE - KVI - Center for Advanced Radiation Technology)

While lightning has been an object of scientific investigation for centuries, we do not understand how it is initiated or propagates through the sky. Researchers will use the LOFAR radio telescope to probe lightning with meter scale resolution, smaller than previously possible, to resolve the physics of lightning propagation.

Nanomaterials for energy technologies

Dr L. (Loredana) Protesescu (UG - FSE -Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials )

The latest revolution in materials for optoelectronics such as solar cells and light emitters has two drawbacks: the materials contain lead, which is toxic, and they are not very stable. Researchers will develop novel materials without lead and include a smart nano-encapsulation that protects the materials without diminishing its functionality.

Expecting the unexpected through diversity?

Dr MGP (Monique) van der Wijst (UMCG – Genetics)

During aging some cells become more alike, while others become more disparate. This has unclear consequences. Does this prepare cells for the unexpected? Or does it hinder efficient collaboration between cells? The researcher will determine the consequences of these changes on immune function during aging.

Printing of complex structures for musculoskeletal repair

Dr M.K. (Malgorzata) Wlodarczyk-Biegun (UG - FSE - Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials)

Healing of injuries in patients is particularly difficult in the areas where different tissue types are in contact, for example soft muscle and hard bone. This work utilizes the newest 3D printing technique to reconstruct these complex body zones.

Changing networks: New models to detect changes in psychiatric disorders

Dr L.F. (Laura) Bringmann (UG - Behavioural and Social Sciences)

Symptom networks are a new way of studying psychiatric disorders such as depression. However, current network models cannot change over time. To better understand how patients progress into and out of a disorder, this research will develop a network model that can change over time.

Back to Nightingale: A social network perspective on the development of professional commitment in nurses

Dr J. Brouwer (UG - Behavioural and Social Sciences)

Prematurely leaving a profession due to declining professional commitment creates labour shortage concerns in nursing. Using a social network perspective, this research investigates the role of social support; social network and work experience data gathered by multiple methods will establish insights into nurses’ professional commitment.

Inventing the People: ideas of community in late-medieval encounters along the African Atlantic

Dr J. (Julia) Costa López (UG - Arts - International Relations)

How did we come to think of a world organized in nations? Can we imagine political communities without the nation? This project looks for answers by tracing how the idea of a political community evolved in the contacts between European and African peoples in the later Middle Ages.

In Inductive Logic, There Are No Morals: Carnap’s Philosophy of Scientific Reasoning

Dr M. (Marta) Sznajder (UG - Philosophy)

Rudolf Carnap’s inductive logic is a formal theory of how we learn from observations. This project will study the history and foundations of this theory. It will help us to understand how philosophy can be used to create better concepts and what it means for our beliefs to be rational.

Refurbishing human fatty livers to increase the donor pool for transplantation

Dr V.E. de Meijer (UMCG - Department of Surgery)

Due to widespread obesity, an ever-increasing share of donor livers is too fatty to be suitable for transplantation. In this project, hyperthermia is used to stimulate metabolism and mitigate reperfusion injury in machine-perfused livers. The goal is reconditioning of fatty livers to increase the number of donor livers for transplantation.

Bringing diagnostic accuracy to primary care

Dr G.A. Holtman (UMCG - Department of General Practice and Elderly Care Medicine)

Tests must be evaluated before they can be used by general practitioners: however, this process is time-consuming and is usually only performed in hospitals. This researcher will develop a faster method that uses existing data from hospitals to evaluate whether tests could be useful in primary care.

Genetic nurture – how parental genes influence their children’s risk of depression through the environment

Dr H.M. van Loo (UMCG - Psychiatry)

Depression runs strongly in families. Its transmission occurs partly through the genes that parents give their children. But parents’ genes may also act indirectly on their children, via the environment they provide, the so-called “genetic nurture”. This research uses new genomic methods to investigate this largely unknown pathway to depression.