Summer greetings from René Bindels

16 July 2020

When the pandemic hit this March, our normal way of living and working was suddenly seriously affected. The impact of the coronavirus crisis on our scientific work is far-reaching. From one day to the next, most of our experiments were stopped and all events were cancelled or offered online, and working from home and social distancing was forced.

Despite these restrictions, our researchers obtained many successes with their scientific achievements in the past months. To highlight just a few: the many publications in leading international journals, numerous prestigious subsidies including:

• Vici grant for Sander Leeuwenburgh
• EU-IMI Consortium grant for Irma Joosten, Elke de Jong, Ellen van den Bogaard, Frank Hoentjen, and Hans Koenen
• Plugging the gap ZonMw/Health Holland grant for Willeke Daamen and colleagues
• Our COVID-19-related publications were broadcasted on (inter)national television

In June, Lionne Ekers - Borrenbergs, management assistant and web editor of RIMLS, received the Radboudpluim.  She was awarded for her special merits for the Radboudumc and being a born ambassador for our institute.

From 11 May onward our research activities restarted in a controlled manner and are now back to an acceptable level, while the strategy of working at home unless…. remains in place. We were all highly relieved to come back to campus, see colleagues and perform experiments, all within the 1,5 meter measures. We have all worked incredibly hard in the past months. Personally, I’m proud how everybody adapted to this difficult situation and did what was needed. The resilience and solidarity, witnessed during the past months, is perhaps a "gain" from the COVID-19 crisis. Let's all try to hold on to this.

Particularly relevant of this absurd period, the summer time is ideal for a break, for a moment for reflection and to renew your energy for the upcoming period. On behalf of our management team, I wish you a beautiful summer and I hope you enjoy a well-deserved holiday and stay healthy.

René Bindels, 
Scientific director RIMLS