Nine Utrecht-based researchers receive Vici-grant

The Vici grant is one of the largest personal scientific grants in the Netherlands, and, according to NWO, intended for ‘senior researchers with academic qualities that clearly exceed what is usual’. The award offers laureates the opportunity to develop an innovative line of research over the next five years and further develop their own research group. A total of 43 scientists will receive a Vici grant from NWO.

Utrecht-based laureates and research topics

Shortening diffusion Pathways for Energy Dense and Ultrahigh Power Lithium Ion Batteries (SPEED-UP-LIBs)

"The findings could pave the way for ultra-fast charging, making it possible to fully charge high-areal-capacity batteries in just one minute"-Martin Haase

Thick batteries store large amounts of energy, essential for applications like electric vehicles requiring long driving ranges. "But why does it take tens of minutes to charge these lithium-ion batteries?”, asks Martin Haase, a physical chemist at the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science. “The main limitation lies in the slow diffusion of lithium-ions through thick battery materials."

To solve this problem, Haase’s Vici project explores the potential of a novel synthetic nanomaterial to enable thick, energy-dense batteries with dramatically reduced ion transport resistance. “The findings could pave the way for ultra-fast charging, making it possible to fully charge high-areal-capacity batteries in just one minute”, says Haase.

Beyond periodicity: Unravelling the self-assembly of aperiodic crystals

"We will investigate how and why aperiodic crystals form, and how aperiodicity can be exploited to design new materials"-laura Filion

The standard picture of a crystal consists of periodic arrays of atoms or molecules, repeating out to infinity. However, some crystals break this pattern, giving rise to unique material properties. In this project, Laura Filion and her team will focus on two extraordinary types of crystals – quasicrystals and high entropy alloys – which are inherently not periodic. Using recent advances in machine learning, the researchers will develop new simulation methods designed specifically to address aperiodic crystals. “We will investigate how and why aperiodic crystals form, and how aperiodicity can be exploited to design new materials”, Filion says.

Decoding the action of antibiotics against bacterial superbugs

"This grant enables us to focus entirely on making the next big steps in fighting antibiotic resistance"-Markus Weingarth

Biochemist Markus Weingarth has been awarded a Vici grant for his research on developing more effective antibiotics against drug-resistant bacteria. His project investigates how antibiotics target the protective outer layer of bacteria. Weingarth will focus on Mycobacteria and Gram-negative bacteria, which are among the most dangerous pathogens according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Using advanced structural biology techniques, Weingarth aims to map the molecular interactions between antibiotics and bacterial cell envelopes. His team’s insights will provide the pharmaceutical industry with a molecular-level understanding of how antibiotics work, allowing for the rational design of next-generation drugs rather than relying on trial and error.

This could pave the way for improved drugs that are both more effective and safer, and the societal impact of this could be immense. Antibiotic resistance is a rapidly growing global problem, and pharmaceutical companies have little economic incentive to develop new antibiotics. If Weingarth’s research leads to breakthroughs in antibiotic design, this could offer hope for millions of people, particularly in regions heavily affected by drug-resistant infections of tuberculosis.

The road to success: sperm capacitation and egg interactions

"I am thrilled we can now study sperm functional maturation in the female reproductive tract and reveal how it interacts with an egg"-Tzviya Zeev-Ben-Mordehai

The long journey of mammalian sperm in the female reproductive tract involves navigation, penetrating the different layers surrounding the egg, and, ultimately, delivering the paternal genetic material. For the journey to be successful, sperm need to be highly motile and need to adapt their motility pattern on the way. In this project, we will study how the sperm tail regulates the different motility patterns and how sperm establish an interaction with an egg. Gaining a deeper understanding of these processes could lead to improved assisted reproductive technologies, for which there is a growing demand, and may contribute to the development of non-hormonal contraceptives.

Care and Coercion. Patriarchy, (Forced) Labour and Caregiving in the Household in the Dutch Empire, c. 1750-Present

"This project highlights the historical role of gender and ethnicity in household power dynamics in the former Dutch colonies"-Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk

Around the world, domestic and caregiving work are highly gendered as well as racialised. “This project highlights the historical role of gender and ethnicity on power relations within the household in the former Dutch colonies,” says Van Nederveen Meerkerk. “By doing so, we gain a deeper understanding of unequal labour relations based on sex and skin colour in our current postcolonial society.”

“We focus on Indonesia, Suriname, and South Africa. Under Dutch colonial rule, various forms of forced labour existed, from slavery to more subtle forms of coercion. Connecting metropole and colonies, this study allows us to compare developments across different continents, both during colonial times and in the post-independence era, including the postcolonial Netherlands.”

Multilingual Adaptations in Novel Language Learning

"Does being multilingual really make it easier to learn new languages? That’s what we hope to find out with this study"-Elena Tribushinina

Children who grow up speaking multiple languages from an early age tend to pick up foreign languages more easily than those raised with just one language, says Tribushinina, but we don’t know why. “With this study, we hope to answer this question. Does being multilingual really make it easier to learn new languages? And can occasional exposure to other languages, such as in the playground or through TV shows, have a similar effect?”

“We will be looking at how exposure to different languages during the first years of life influences the ability to learn foreign languages at school. Our findings will help us develop a new therapy for language disorders, where we recreate a multilingual environment though English lessons.”

Understanding mRNA decoding; how mRNA translation kinetics shape gene expression - Marvin Tanenbaum - Hubrecht Institute

Genes contain all the information needed to assemble proteins. However, recent work has identified a hidden layer of information inside genes that instructs not only which proteins to produce, but also how much protein to produce. In this project, we will use cutting-edge microscopy methods to bring this hidden layer into view to understand how it works, and how viruses use the hidden information in genes to translate their own proteins in host cells.

Directing engineered T cell behavior towards enhanced performance against diffuse midline glioma - Anne Rios - Prinses Máxima Centrum voor kinderoncologie

T cells, fighter cells of the immune system, can be engineered to recognize and destroy tumor cells. Their dynamic nature is crucial yet unexploited in enhancing their therapeutic potential. This project will leverage cutting-edge imaging technologies to study the behavior of these T cells in patient-representative models of a deadly brain tumor in children. By observing their actions under the microscope and identifying new targets that govern T cell behavior, researchers aim to discover the most potent therapies and sharpen their cancer-targeting abilities. The ultimate goal is to develop a powerful T cell therapy to combat this life-threatening brain cancer. Read more.

A ‘bloody good host’: the thymus as the driver of successful hematopoietic cell transplantation - Stefan Nierkens - UMC Utrecht

Children with hard-to-treat leukemia or immune or metabolic disorders can receive a stem cell transplant from a healthy donor as a last resort. Unfortunately, this is effective in only half of them.
Evidence suggests that children whose immune cells recover quickly have a better chance of survival than those whose cells are slow to recover. We are investigating which factors are responsible for the rapid recovery of transplanted immune cells, with particular attention to the surprising role the thymus plays in this process. Fast recovery of the thymus might improve survival rates after a stem cell transplant. Read more.

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded Vici grants to nine Utrecht researchers. The researchers will each receive up to 1.5 million euros to (further) build up their own research group. This year, there are four awards at the Faculty of Science and two at the Faculty of Humanities. There is also an award at the UMC Utrecht, Princess Máxima Centre and the Hubrecht Institute.

Bron: Utrecht University