Five talented researchers from Amsterdam Neuroscience have been awarded a Vidi grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Congratulations to Elsmarieke van der Giessen, Elseline Hoekzema, Max Koppers, Anouk Schrantee and Jorien Treur. NWO has granted a maximum of 850.000 euros to the researchers. With the help of the Vidi grant, the scientists can start their own line of research and further develop their talent.

The NWO Talent Program gives researchers the freedom to pursue their own research based on creativity and passion, fostering innovation and curiosity. Curiosity-driven research contributes to and prepares us for tomorrow’s society.

Elsmarieke van der Giessen Mark van den Brink

Elsmarieke van de Giessen, Amsterdam UMC, Brain Imaging

The inflamed brain: neuroinflammation in
dementia
Neuroinflammation plays a key role in Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. Novel treatments targeting neuroinflammation are emerging. Our knowledge of the development of the neuroinflammatory process
during the disease is very limited though, and it is still unknown when neuroinflammatory treatment could be most effective during the disease process. The researcher will characterize the neuroinflammatory process and develop
measures that can be used to determine the phase of the neuroinflammatory
process.
Elseline Hoekzema

Elseline Hoekzema,
Amsterdam UMC, Mood, Anxiety, Psychosis, Stress & Sleep

Mind the Mother: A spotlight on the maternal brain and hidden disorders of maternal mental health
Previous research has shown that pregnancy renders changes in brain structure and function, which relate to mother-infant bonding. Hoekzema’s project will address key gaps in
knowledge related to peripartum brain changes. First, she will investigate the brain in women suffering from mother-infant bonding disorders, serious postpartum conditions that can severely impact both mother and child but for which the neural bases are not known yet. In addition, she will compare women's pregnancy-induced neuroplasticity with brain changes in rodents and monkeys. Finally, she will investigate the impact of a second pregnancy on a woman’s brain and her neural responses to infants.

Max Koppers, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Cellular & Molecular Mechanisms

Spatiotemporal regulation of protein synthesis in neuronal circuit formation
We can walk, talk and form memories because neurons in our brain communicate with each other via thousands of small connections called synapses. These synapses are often formed far away from the cell body of a neuron, which makes it enormously challenging for neurons to gather all the proteins required to make these synapses at the right place and the right time. This project aims to understand how neurons achieve this by using innovative molecular techniques
to study the local production of proteins at synapses.
Anouk Schrantee

Anouk Schrantee, Amsterdam UMC and University of Amsterdam, Compulsivity, Impulsivity & Attention

Neurotransmitters and brain networks: key to psychiatric treatment
Mental health disorders affect nearly 1 billion people worldwide, yet current treatments, like pharmacotherapy and neuromodulation, often have limited success and significant side effects. Schrantee’s project investigates how brain chemicals (neurotransmitters) influence communication networks in the brain, a key factor in these disorders. Using advanced brain imaging techniques, Schrantee will map how these chemicals shape brain connections in healthy individuals and those with conditions like ADHD, OCD, and depression. By understanding how medications and brain stimulation treatments affect these chemical networks, this research could lead to more precise and personalized mental health treatments.
Jorien Treur

Jorien Treur, Amsterdam UMC, Complex Trait Genetics & Compulsivity, Impulsivity & Attention

Harnessing triangulation to uncover next-gen risk factors for mental health problems
Mental health disorders are a major global health issue, and there's an urgent need to understand how modern behaviours like vaping and sedentary lifestyles might cause these problems. Traditional studies can't always answer such questions, so researchers use advanced methods like genetic analyses and hypothetical trial simulations. However, these methods also have their limitations and can't provide definitive answers alone. To address this, the concept of "triangulation" is used, combining multiple methods to minimize biases. Treur’s project aims to refine triangulation techniques and apply them to determine if vaping and sedentary behaviour impact mental health, utilising diverse methods and datasets.

NWO Talent Program - Vidi grant
Vidi is a funding instrument in the NWO Talent Program. It allows researchers who have already spent several years doing postdoctoral research to develop or expand their own innovative line of research. This year, NWO has awarded a Vidi grant to 149 researchers.

Read more about the awarded Vidi grants here.

Other interesting researchers who were awarded a Vidi grant and are worth checking out:

  • Iris Groen – BrainShorts: Identifying neural mechanisms of dynamic video perception with deep learning.
  • Joshua Snell - Preserving reading ability in macular degeneration
  • Sara Magliacane - CANES: a CAusal NEuro-Symbolic approach to integrating perception and abstract reasoning
  • Pascal Mettes - HyperVision: Hyperbolic Computer Vision
  • Jianbo Zhang - iGuMI: An infant Gut-Microbe-Immune-on-a-chip model to decipher crosstalk between bacterial colonisation, mucosal barrier integrity and macrophage function in early life
  • Jan-Willem van Dalen - Clever use of blood pressure lowering medication for dementia prevention