Since 2024, AGEM introduced the AGEM Grant Award Ceremony. As of this year, we consider the festive event a tradition. The success of the event was largely thanks to our wonderful 2025 grant winners, 2024 Best Publication Battle, previous grant laureate presentations, and delicious snacks and drinks.
The event took place in the Orange Box at Amsterdam UMC, AMC. What usually functions as a networking lunchroom was converted into a platform for the stories of great, talented researchers. Our AGEM directors opened the event by welcoming the roomful of enthusiastic AGEM members (and AGEM member relatives!) and showing an animation about the history of AGEM grants. This summary of how many grants were awarded and what the grant meant for the projects was received well by the audience and set the mood for a fun rest of the event. We started by letting our grant laureates take the stage to tell us – what did they do with their grant? What did it mean for them?
Koen Dreijrink, winner of the clinical research matching grant in 2020, was the first to explain to us what his work was about. Initially, Koen was asked to talk about another grant he was awarded, but following his enthusiasm to speak about this matching grant instead, we were thrilled for him to share his research on assessing the effects and safety of progesterone for breast development in trans women. The results of his study are not yet open for sharing, but what he could share with us was that this novel treatment was in part possible due to the funding that AGEM provided.
The announcements of the Innovation Grant winners of 2025 followed. Maria Tretowicz was unfortunately unable to attend the ceremony, and therefore one of her team members received the cheque. Lucky for us, Maria had prerecorded a short video of herself explaining her project on drop-of-blood metabolomics, highlighting how this innovative method will reduce the burden on patient care, and how future implications could extend to all sorts of blood analysis.
Kitty Latupeirissa was able to receive her award in person, with a whole support crew of family watching her attentively, as she enlightened us on her valuable project that may result in a more inclusive thyroid screening across the Netherlands.
Rimke de Kroon was up next, and she gave a very well-supported talk, breaking down the narrative to justify each step she will take to hopefully develop a novel amniotic fluid-based diagnostic tool. By profiling the amniotic fluid of her study group, she hopes to determine the role of amniotic fluid in gut development and initiation of gut microbiota, as well as identify biomarkers that may lead to postpartum interventions.
The last of our four 2025 Innovation Grant winners was Romy de Kroon, who spoke about her project on improving the diagnostics of a hormone disorder (non-classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia), by investigating the specificity of 21-deoxycortisol. This refined diagnostic method can lead to a more accurate, faster, and cheaper diagnosis.
To split the event up we had a talk by Geert D’Haens, celebrating his valorizations (a new segment in the ceremony), and our 2024 Best Publication Battle. Geert spoke about three case studies — three studies that have had important impact on patient care, or research aiming to improve patient care. The Best Publication Battle was between three AGEM researchers: Felipe Correa da Silva, Heleen Jansen, and Lotte Slooter. Candidates for the Best Publication Battle are first submitted by the Research Board, and then selected before they attend the pitch workshop and take the stage at the Grant Award Ceremony.
This year all three presentations were strong, but only one researcher could take the prize: Heleen Jansen!
Following that excitement, Dirk Jan Stenvers told us about the Talent Development Grant he received in 2021 to investigate the role of the central brain clock in the pathophysiology of insulin resistance. His engaging talk on chronobiology had everyone’s attention, and his recognition of AGEM’s contribution to the work was wonderful to see.
Our 2025 Talent Development Grant announcements were the final part of the event before our vegetarian buffet would be delivered and our award attendees could raise their glass to all the successes that AGEM has to celebrate! Our two winners of this category showed exceptional talent in their proposals and interviews, managing to win this financial boost to their careers. This year’s winners were Sofie Bosch and Marte Molenaars!
Sofie Bosch presented her research on the development of an electronic nose (eNose). Sofie is contributing an important step in the field of using stool gases as an early detection method for colorectal cancer (CRC). Currently, research already shows the potential of stool gases for CRC diagnostics, but Sofie wants to bridge the gap between biomarker discovery and clinical application by developing a low-cost eNose that can be used by the public. An exciting project, with a clear vision of how AGEM’s funding can support the research’s trajectory.
Marte Molenaars followed with an excellent talk on how the AGEM grant will help her study iron metabolism. A problem you are probably familiar with in one way or another: iron deficiency. Marte hopes to improve iron status by optimizing iron intake according to one’s circadian rhythm. This promising research into a novel association has the potential to improve the field of iron metabolism, hopefully leading to more positive clinical outcomes than those we see today.
Lastly, we had a short closing note from our directors, closely followed by the Dutch vegetarian bittergarnituur and a large selection of drinks. Thank you to the Amsterdam UMC catering! Chit chats here and there could be heard about the interesting topics that were presented during the event. Questions from the audience, answers from our researchers.
This festive event already has us looking forward to next year, and even more so, to seeing where our 2025 AGEM Grant winners take their research next!
