Prestigious Vici grants for three top researchers from Groningen

Three top researchers from Groningen are to be given EUR 1.5 million each to carry out research over the next five years. They have been awarded a Vici grant under the Innovational Research Incentives Scheme of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Vici is one of the largest personal scientific grants in the Netherlands.

The apathetic brain
Prof. A. (André) Aleman (m) University of Groningen / UMCG
Apathy or lack of initiative or interest in undertaking work, hobbies or other activities is an important symptom of schizophrenia. This project will examine which brain circuits are disrupted in apathy and whether magnetic brain stimulation can be used to treat apathy.

Does depression really exist?
Prof. P. (Peter) de Jonge (m) University of Groningen – Psychiatry
Depression is becoming the illness with the greatest burden of disease. But does it really exist? Or is it merely a combination of symptoms devised by psychiatrists? The researchers will decide whether this is the case based on the degree of association between mood-related complaints among the population.

How bacteria get their vitamins
Dr D.J. (Dirk) Slotboom (m) University of Groningen – Biochemistry
Like humans, many bacteria need vitamins in their diet. An interdisciplinary team of biologists, chemists and physicists will try to get to the bottom of vitamin uptake in bacteria (pathogenic or otherwise) at the molecular level. This research may lead to the development of new antibiotics.