Two FHML researchers receive Vidi grants
The Dutch Research Council (NWO) announces today which researchers will receive a Vidi grant. These are personal grants aimed at researchers who are in the process of transitioning into leadership roles. Two researchers at the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences (FHML) are granted a Vidi: Matthijs Cluitmans (CARIM) and Erik Vrij (GROW).
In total, the NWO has awarded Vidi grants to 109 scientists. Each researcher will receive a maximum of 850,000 euros.
Predicting sudden cardiac death
Every year, thousands of people in the Netherlands die suddenly from dangerous heart rhythm disorders after a heart attack. Doctors currently struggle to predict this risk.
Matthijs Cluitmans will use detailed heart scans to investigate how scar tissue and disrupted electrical signals together cause cardiac arrest. In his project, researchers will build digital copies of the heart in which artificial intelligence rapidly tests millions of scenarios, uncovering patterns that previously remained hidden.
The goal is to create a personal risk profile for each patient, so that doctors can deploy life-saving treatments for exactly the right individuals.
Monozygotic twins
Identical (monozygotic) twinning remains one of the great mysteries of human development. When identical twins share a single placenta, they face high risks of severe complications, including unequal growth and loss of one twin. Because early implantation cannot be directly observed, the causes of these imbalances remain unknown.
This project will uncover how identical twins arise and how early placental imbalance begins. Using stem cell-based twin blastoids and a bioengineered, perfusable womb-on-chip, Erik Vrij will recreate twin implantation in the lab.
These insights may support safer IVF and earlier identification of high-risk twin pregnancies.
