NMC scientist Johan Westerhuis receives EAS Award
During the 2010 Eastern Analytical Symposium & Exposition, Johan Westerhuis (University of Amsterdam) will receive the prestigious EAS Award for Outstanding Achievements in Chemometrics. Johan Westerhuis is principle investigator in several projects of the Netherlands Metabolomics Centre.
Jeroen Hugenholtz joins Coca Cola Germany
Jeroen Hugenholtz has resigned his post as Vice Director and programme leader at the Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation (Kluyver Centre) as of 1 April. He is now taking charge of Coca Cola's Biosciences department in Germany, which is engaged in the development of sustainable production processes. Jeroen Hugenholtz was one of the Kluyver Centre’s founders in 2002, and has since made considerable contributions to the consortium’s scientific and social success. He will retain his position as part-time professor at the University of Amsterdam. The role of Hugenholtz as programme leader of Programme 3 (Lactic Acid Bacteria) will be taken over by two Kluyver Centre scientists: Oscar Kuipers (RUG) and Peter Bron (Nizo/TIFN).
Cees van den Hondel appointed Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau
On the day of his retirement, Cees van den Hondel was appointed an ‘Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau’. Mr Van den Hondel received this royal honour on 29 March 2010 from the Mayor of Noordwijkerhout, during the European Conference on Fungal Genetics, which he co-organised. Van den Hondel headed the Fungal Programme since the Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation was established in 2002, and was the founder of the spin-out ‘Hitexacoat’, which became a member of the Industrial Platform in 2009. Following his retirement, Mr Van den Hondel is to remain active both in the field of education and as CEO of Hitexacoat.
DGMS Award 2010 for Albert Heck
Albert Heck, director of the Netherlands Proteomics Centre (NPC),
has been awarded the DGMS Award 2010 (Deutschen Gesellschaft für Massenspektrometrie) for his scientific contributions to mass spectrometry. Heck received his award at the 43rd Annual Conference in Halle (7-11 March 2010).
Antoine van Kampen leaves NBIC
After 4 years, Antoine van Kampen has ended his position as science director of the Netherlands Bioinformatics Centre (NBIC). He has committed himself during this period towards the development of NBIC as a bioinformatics expertise network. Now, he will focus his attention on the bioinformatics group of the Academic Medical Centre and the Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences (SILS). Antoine's departure coincides with that of emeritus professor Bob Hertzberger as deputy science manager. NBIC will in the coming months redefine its scientific management.
Luc Rietveld joins AWT
Luc Rietveld has accepted a position at the Advisory Council for Science and Technology Policy (AWT) and will be leaving NGI on 15 March.
He has been involved with NGI since 2002, initially as coordinator of
the Horizon programme and as Genomics Centres manager since 2006. Last year he participated in the writing of the FES Health proposal and the “Partners in the Polder” book. Luc will be succeeded by Tonnie Rijkers, who also has a biomedical background and has actively monitored a number of NGI Genomics Centres while working for Agentschap NL (previously SenterNovem), as well as IOP Genomics projects.
CBSG PhD graduate awarded VENI grant
Peter van Esse, who earlier this year received an award from the Centre for BioSystems Genomics (CBSG) for the most productive CBSG PhD research project, has recently also been awarded a prestigious VENI grant. He will investigate the soil-borne pathogen Verticillium dahliae that causes wilting in Arabidopsis and several other important crop species. The Verticillium genome encodes 780 proteins that are potentially secreted during host colonization. The objective of Peter’s Veni project is to determine if, and how, these "secretome" components suppress host immunity.
Annemiek Nelis leaves Centre for Society and Genomics (CSG)
As of 1 March 2010, Annemiek Nelis will leave the Centre for Society and Genomics (CSG). She has accepted a position as research manager at the Dutch Safety Board in The Hague. Annemiek Nelis joined CSG, based at the Radboud University Nijmegen, in 2004 as deputy-director. In 2007, as general director, she secured the funding for the current CSG-next programme. CSG has over 50 research projects at ten universities and institutes. In addition, CSG manages the DNA-labs on the Road and a public website on genomics. This year, Annemiek Nelis was one of the initiators of a Nijmegen-based science-hub for primary school teachers.
NBIC: BioAssist reinforced by engineering team
A dedicated, centrally managed, but distributed software engineering team has been added to the BioAssist programme of Netherlands Bioinformatics Centre (NBIC). The engineering team supports the BioAssist platforms in their development activities relating to professional software and content services. The team consists of Barend Mons, who is also the new BioAssist programme leader; Rob Hooft, chief technology officer, who is responsible for 'code' and manages and supports the centrally located software engineers as well as those within the support platforms and Christine Chichester, who is responsible for all activities relating to 'content'.
Michel Ferrari wins the Spinoza prize
Michel Ferrari has received the NWO Spinoza Premium 2009 for his groundbreaking migraine research. He was the first to identify migraine genes, he developed new medicines to treat attacks and assumes the roles as ambassador for headache patients. He is professor of Neurology at the LUMC and member of the Centre for Medical Systems Biology.
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‘Rank Prize for Nutrition’ for Frits Koning
Frits Koning will be awarded the Rank Prize for Nutrition on 8 February 2010. Koning, Director of the Celiac Disease Consortium, will receive this prize together with his Norwegian colleague Ludvig Sollid in recognition of their outstanding work on the mechanism and treatment of celiac disease. Linked to the prize is an amount of £ 80,000. The Rank Prizes were initiated by Lord Rank in 1972. The purpose is the advancement and promotion for the public benefit of knowledge, education and learning.
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Hermen Overkleeft wins Golden KNCV Medal
The Golden KNCV Medal 2008 was awarded by unanimous vote to Prof.Dr Hermen Overkleeft. The NPC theme leader and Executive Board member received the award on 16 April 2009 during the KNCV Spring meeting. According to the Jury, he has profiled himself as an expert in the field of organic synthesis, while also making his creations suitable for medicinal use. The KNCV medal is regarded as the most important Dutch prize for young researchers who have excelled in the area of chemical research.
Bert Poolman elected as new KNAW member
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) has appointed 28 new members, including Netherland Proteomics Centre (NPC) theme leader and NPC Executive Board member Bert Poolman. The over 200 normal members of the Academy are leading scientists, active in all fields of scientific research. The election is based on scientific achievement.
Review: NGI Fellowship of Dolf Trieschnigg
Thanks to an NGI fellowship, Dolf Trieschnigg (Twente University) has been able to conduct research in 2008 at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) in Cambridge, UK. His research involved a comparison of different text classification methods, which can be used for linking biomedical data (such as literature to databases with MicroArray experiments) and improving literature search. The fellowship resulted in a publication in Bioinformatics (June 2009). Moreover, the fellowship gave rise to new collaborations between Twente University and EBI. Dolf is currently completing his PhD study in biomedical search systems.
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CBSG director Willem Stiekema to Amsterdam
Prof. Dr Willem Stiekema will soon take leave of the Centre for BioSystems Genomics. After 26 years and various positions at Wageningen UR, he will as of 1 May 2009 join the Vrije Universiteit and the University of Amsterdam as Professor of Bioinformatics and quartermaster/director of Education of the yet to be founded Amsterdam Graduate School of Science (AGSS).
Patricia Osseweijer, Kluyver Centre appointment as professor
On 3 March 2009, Dr Patricia Osseweijer was appointed professor in "Science communications” at the Technical University of Delft. This position is supported by KIVI/NIRIA and the Faculty of Technical Natural Sciences of the Technical University of Delft. In this capacity, she will further develop the new department and Science Education and Communication programme of the TNS Faculty. Additionally, she will work as programme leader and managing director of the Kluyver Centre for Genomics of Industrial Fermentation, and of course continue her role as Principal Investigator at the Centre for Society and Genomics.
Frans van der Ouderaa - director Business Development, NCHA
With a view to realising its valorisation objectives, the Netherlands Consortium for Healthy Ageing (NCHA), which was started in the past autumn, has attracted a highly experienced director: Dr Frans van der Ouderaa, former vice-president of Unilever Corporate Research in Colworth (UK). He assumed the position of Director of Business Development in February. For many years he was closely involved in the Healthy Ageing programme at Unilever. The NCHA studies the biology of ageing and vitality at advanced age, seeking possible applications of this knowledge, under the motto: a longer healthy life!