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Two Rubicon grants for UM research

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has awarded two promising young scientists a Rubicon grant. The Rubicon grant helps newly qualified Dutch Scientists gain research experience in other countries.

The grant owes its name to the Rubicon river. Julius Caesar crossed this river before going on to claim his victories, where the saying 'veni, vidi, vici' originated from. Rubicon is considered a good step for a Veni. The amount of the grant depends on the selected destination and the duration of the stay (maximum is 24 months). The stricter requirements resulted in fewer requests this year. From the 75 requests, 19 were awarded and from those 19 two were from Maastricht University.

• Veerle Bieghs: Chronic liver diseases: the cell-specific approach 
  24 months to RWTH University Hospital of Aachen (DE) 
  Chronic liver diseases are an important cause of death in western society. The disease is often only diagnosed at a very late stage and this makes treating it very difficult. The researchers shall tackle it cell-specific to obtain new molecular targets for treating chronic liver diseases.
  
  
• Johan Verjans: Live imagery of the biology of coronary arteries
  12 months to Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Cardiology/Center for Molecular Imaging Research (US) 
  A coronary is caused by constrictions of the coronary arteries, which eventually causes an obstruction. The seriousness of a constriction does not predict whether it will result in a coronary. The researchers use advanced imaging techniques to detect molecular characteristics of the most critical constrictions.

NWO is the national science funding body. Through its national competition, NOW spends over 500 million Euros each year on grants for top research and top researchers, on innovative instruments and equipment and to institutes where top research is performed.