People and mosquitos vs the dengue virus
Dr Mayra Diosa-Toro is transferring to the National University of Singapore, Duke-NUS Medical School, where she will research the dengue virus. Millions of people wordwide are bitten by mosquitos. Many of them are taken ill with dengue fever, because the cells in the human body are unable to kill the dengue virus. Dr. Mayra Diosa-Toro, who hails from Colombia, is going to study how this virus manages to evade the antiviral arsenal of our cells.
Design of the Best Chemistry Sandwich
Dr Machteld Kamminga from the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials is transferring to the Inorganic Chemistry Lab of the University of Oxford. Here she will conduct research into superconductors. Some layered compounds can become superconducting when the right elements are squeezed in between the layers. Kamminga will investigate how this works and how the properties relate to the structure, to determine the best ‘sandwich structure’ for high-temperature superconductors.
Crowding around the Cell Cycle
PhD Alexandros Papagiannakis will be transferring to the Microbial Sciences Institute of Yale University for 24 months to continue his research into molecular systems. To this day it remains unknown how DNA replication, cellular growth and division are coordinated during the bacterial cell cycle. Papagiannakis will investigate molecular crowding dynamics in bacteria, in search for a cell cycle orchestrator, a primordial time-keeper still ticking in humans.
About the Rubicon programma
A total of 88 applications for Rubicon grants were submitted to NWO in this round, of which 20 were approved. The awardees can use their Rubicon grant to finance up to 24 months of research. The amount of the grant depends on the chosen destination and the duration of the stay. The Rubicon programme was named after the river that Julius Caesar crossed before embarking on the series of victories that eventually led to the motto ‘veni, vidi, vici’.
