The prestigious Veni and Vidi grants are awarded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) every year. This year, Jurjan Aman and Josine de Winter received a Veni grant worth up to 250.000 euros. Pim van Ooij was awarded a Vidi grant of 800.000 euros.

The NWO Veni grant is for excellent researchers who have recently obtained their doctorate. The grant provides the laureates with the opportunity to further elaborate their own ideas during a period of three years. The Vidi grant is aimed at more experienced researchers and enables them to develop their own innovative line of research and set up their own research group in the coming five years.

Veni laureates: Jurjan Aman and Josine de Winter

Jurjan Aman - Preserving the small pulmonary arteries to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension

Pulmonary arterial hypertension is an important contributor to heart failure at young age. What exactly causes this rise in pulmonary blood pressure is unclear. This research focuses on loss of small blood vessels as possible cause, and tests stabilization of small blood vessels as treatment strategy for pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Josine de Winter - Energizing molecular dance     

NEM6 is a disease that affects both skeletal and cardiac muscle. Due to disturbed energy supply, muscle cannot contract properly. The scientist has developed a novel setup and NEM6 models to screen for drugs that improve energy supply and muscle function in NEM6.

Vidi laureate: Pim van Ooij

Pim van Ooij - Less aortic motion in a diseased thoracic aorta

The thoracic aorta moves constantly under heart motion and blood flow which in a stiff, diseased aorta can lead to tearing. This research focuses on the development of novel MRI technology to map aortic motion and stiffness in three dimensions to improve risk assessment for lethal aortic events.

Source: NWO.