Utrecht University’s 23 researchers receive Veni grant

Twenty-three promising, young Utrecht researchers will receive a Veni grant of up to 280,000 euros from the Dutch Research Council (DRC). This will allow them to further develop their own research ideas over the next three years. Five Veni grants will go to the Faculty of Science, one to Veterinary Medicine, two to Humanities, four to Geosciences, two to Social and Behavioural Sciences, six to the UMC Utrecht,  two to the Prinses Máxima Centre and one to the Hubrecht Institute. Below is a summary of all research projects.

Bringing molecules together: Photoredox chemistry squeezed into small pores

This research proposal of Bettina Baumgartner aims to make chemical reactions more energy efficient. The goal is to convert CO₂ and CH₄ into basic chemicals using only sunlight. It is a translation of biological processes that help to convert molecules, such as photosynthesis. Experimental setups based on spectroscopy will be developed to study photoreactions on nanosecond timescales. This will lead to new insights, and eventually help to improve the efficiency of the photoreactions. The researcher will use small, confined spaces in materials called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs).

Cell Surface RNAs as Therapeutic Targets

“Catch me if you can!”, says cell-surface ribonucleic acid (RNA). RNA is an important biomolecule with many functions in the cell. Recent research suggests the presence of these molecules on the outer surface of living cells. These cell-surface localised RNAs (csRNAs) are challenging molecules to study, because of the lack of tools to detect and identify them. In this research project, Jack Li will develop technology to study and understand the functions of csRNAs, and demonstrate the therapeutic potential of targeting them.

Inside the matrix: Modelling cell-matrix mechanics to predict cell migration modes in cancer metastasis

Cancer is a significant healthcare challenge. Some cancers are benign and can be cured by surgically removing the tumour. Others are malign, meaning that the cancer cells move away from the original tumour to make new tumours elsewhere in the body, otherwise known as metastases. Once a tumour has spread, the chances of successful treatment worsen. Erika Tsingos will develop better computer models of how cells move inside tissues of the body. Ultimately, the researchers want to understand why some cancer cells sit still while others move, and how we can artificially bring them to a halt.

Make it better, not worse: Using formal methods to safely adopt memory-safe languages

Certain types of programming mistakes can have a tremendous impact on software systems. A single mistake is often sufficient to make the entire system vulnerable to cyberattacks. A new generation of so-called ‘memory-safe’ programming languages eliminates these vulnerabilities from the software. However, when developers gradually migrate their systems to these languages, they can accidentally introduce new vulnerabilities in the software and make existing vulnerabilities more dangerous. This leaves the system even more vulnerable than before the migration. With this project, Marco Vassena aims to use mathematical logic to enable developers to migrate their systems so that they will become safe.

How has ageing impacted the evolution of cooperation during two major evolutionary transitions?

Social animals are known to age much slower than non-social animals. For example, naked mole rats are small rodents live in social colonies and hardly suffer from ageing. The question is whether these social species are more likely to become long-lived, or whether long-lived species are more likely to become social. Analogously to how individuals cooperate to form breeding colonies in social species, at some point individual cells started cooperating to form multicellular organisms, like humans. In this project, the researchers will investigate whether the evolution of cellular cooperation changed the ageing rates of cells.