Best PhD thesis

Research Principles of research Grants and awards

Acknowledging excellence

To acknowledge the excellence of our scientists and to stimulate them to further their career, Radboudumc and its research institutes annually grant several awards and subsidies. Furthermore, our scientists also receive prestigious national and international awards and subsidized grants.

A selection

With over 4,000 researchers at Radboudumc, there is so much happening. Here a selection of the grants and subsidies awarded to our researchers.

News Grants and awards

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Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research NWO

European Research Council ERC

Spinoza Prize

The NWO Spinoza Prize is known as the "Dutch Nobel Prize". It is a mark of honor and a stimulus for further research. see laureates

Other external grants and awards

Charity foundations

Radboud Institute for Health Sciences

John Graunt Award

Since 2016, the Radboud Institute for Health Sciences honors an outstanding scientist every two years for their extraordinary achievements in one of the population sciences.

Richard Grol Visiting Scientist Award

The Radboud Institute for Health Sciences honors a foreign researcher or teacher with the Richard Grol Visiting Scientist Award.

4 year PhD positions

To stimulate innovative health sciences research, a number of PhD positions are annually available within RIHS. In 2020 funding will be made available for 6 Junior Researcher projects.

RIHS PhD Award

The RIHS PhD Award is annually awarded to the best thesis within the RIHS.

RIHS Science Award

The RIHS Science Award is annually awarded to the best peer-reviewed scientific publication within RIHS.

RIHS Patient Involvement Award

Since RIHS values patient engagement in research we launch the new RIHS Patient Involvement Award.

RIHS Societal Impact Award

The RIHS Societal Impact Award is annually awarded to a RIHS research product with a high impact on society.

RIHS Supervisor of the year

From 2018 onwards RIHS awards the supervisor of the year.

Best Master thesis

Every year, RIMLS gives an award to the most outstanding Master's dissertation.

Best Master thesis

The Master's thesis is a proof of the ability of a Master's student to perform scientific research and to present his/her findings in a clear and concise manner. Yearly RIMLS gives an award to the most outstanding Master's dissertation.

The winner of the RIMLS Master Thesis 2020: Mara Nicolasen Major Histocompatibility Complex- class I drives polarisation of the microtubule organizing center in dendritic cell synapsesMara

Previous winners:

Year	Winner	Title of report
2020	Mara Nicolasen	Major Histocompatibility Complex- class I drives polarisation of the microtubule organizing center in dendritic cell synapses
2019	Julia Verhoef	CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing of pantothenamide resistance genes in Plasmodium Falciparum
2018	Eline van Houtum	Glycoengineered molecules to target the sialic acid-siglec axis in tumor immunology
2017	Anouk Becker	Novel strategy for targeted nanovaccines for cancer immunotherapy
2016	Marilen Benner	Differential effects of microbes on endometrial lymphocytes. Analysis of endometrial and placental lymphocytes and the possible role of the local microbiome
2015	Felix Fennemann	Site-directed antibody functionalization for targeted vaccination
2014	Bart van Beusekom	Re-refinement in protein structure validation
2013	Sarah Weischer	Blocking Aberrant Sialylation in Cancer Cells -A Sweet Way to Augment Anti‐Tumor Immunity
2012	Margo Dona	Dissecting the function of ninl and c20orf12 using Danio Rerio as a model organism. Two players of the Usher protein network
2011	Pascal Miessen (shared) Christian Büll (shared)	A novel microRNA inhibitor in mouse cytomegalovirus is veiled as microRNA target Acute Inflammatory Response to Mannan Provides an Activating Environment for Arthritogenic SKG T-cells
2010	Veronika te Boekhorst	Control of cancer cell invasion and nuclear deformability by nuclear lamins
2009	Anna Haeger	The role of (local) cellular NAD+-levels during glioma growth and migration
2008	-	-
2007	Hanneke Wittgen	Application of a rapid, reversible and tunable protein regulation method to regulate the expression of the Ca²⁺ channel TRPV5
2006	Anneke Navis	Characterisation of RPGRIP1 interacting proteins
2005	Elisa Börger	The development of signet ring cell differentiation in mucinous carcinomas
2004	Stanley Hato	Not available
2003	Sophia Bruggeman	Not available
2002	Mike de Bruijni	Not available
2001	-	-
2000	Pascal Duijf	Not available
1999	Christiaan de Kock	Not available
1998	Manon Zweers	Not available
1997	Erik Vossenaar	Not available

Best PhD thesis

Every year, RIMLS gives an award to the most outstanding PhD dissertation.

Supervisor of the year

Excellence is shown in many ways, and excellent supervision is something we should all strive for!

Supervisor of the year

The supervisor of the year award is organized by the RIMLS PhD Council. For 2020 Jeroen de Baaij, Ellen van den Boogaard and Frank Hoentjen were the three nominated supervisors. All RIMLS PhD candidates were invited to vote for these nominees. After an exciting neck-to-neck race Frank Hoentjen, theme Inflammatory Diseases, was elected as Supervisor of the Year 2020!

Previous winners:

Year	Winner	Theme
2020	Frank Hoentjen	Inflammatory Diseases
2019	Iris Nagtegaal	Tumors of the digestive tract
2018	Matthijs Kox	Infectious diseases and global health
2017	Ronald van Rij	Infectious diseases and global health

Best publication

RIMLS awards a prize for the best peer-reviewed publication annually. The publication should relate to a major scientific "breakthrough" that advances scientific understanding.

Best publication

RIMLS awards annualy a prize for the best peer-reviewed publication. The publication should relate to a major scientific "breakthrough" that advances scientific understanding.

The winner of the RIMLS Breakthrough Publication 2020: Rebecca Halbach et al. (link) A satellite repeat-derived piRNA controls embryonic development of Aedes

Previous winners

Year	Winner	Title of publication
2020	Rebecca Halbach, et al.	A satellite repeat-derived piRNA controls embryonic development of Aedes
2019	Bas van der Schoot, et al.	Functional diversification of hybridoma-produced antibodies by CRISPR/HDR genomic engineering.
2018	Florian Wimmers, et al.	Single-cell analysis reveals that stochasticity and paracrine signaling control interferon-alpha production by plasmacytoid dendritic cells.
2017	Tania Crişan, et al.	Uric acid priming in human monocytes is driven by the AKT-PRAS40 autophagy pathway.
2016	de Winde, C.M. et al	Tetraspanin CD37 protects against the development of B cell lymphoma.
2015	Weren, R. et al	A germline homozygous mutation in the base-excision repair gene NTHL1 causes adenomatous polyposis and colorectal cancer
2014	Cheng, S.C. et al	mTOR- and HIF-1α-mediated aerobic glycolysis as metabolic basis for trained immunity
2013	Habibi et al	Whole-Genome Bisulfite Sequencing of Two Distinct Interconvertible DNA Methylomes of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells
2012	Bronkhorst, E. et al	The DNA virus Invertebrate iridescent virus 6 is a target of the Drosophila RNAi machinery
2011	van de Veerdonk, F. et al	STAT1 mutations in autosomal dominant chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis

RIMLS Image Award

Images made with a MIC microscope.

RIMLS Image Award

The winners of the Best RIMLS Image award 2020: Daan ‘t Hart en Valentina Palacio-Casteneda

Previous winners:

Travel grant

RIMLS “travel” grants are available for a work-related event (e.g. online events, conferences, workshops, work placements, etc) expenses.

Travel grant

RIMLS “travel” grants are available for a work-related event (e.g. online events, conferences, workshops, work placements, etc) expenses.

RIMLS Travel Grants:

Year	Winner	Journey
2021	Cansu Yanginlar	€ 445,- to visit a conference Tübingen/Germany
2021	Daan Vieringa	€ 1000,- to visit a conference in San Diego, CA, USA
2021	Gijs Franken	€ 900,- to visit a conference in Andover, NH, USA
2021	Lotte Tholen	€ 475,- to visit a workshop in Santander, Spain
2021	Elke Muntjewerff	€ 500,- for a work placement at Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
2021	Teodora-Veronica Grigore	€ 500,- for a work placement at Karolinska Institute Stockholm, Sweden
2020	Inge Wortel	€ 1,000 to visit a conference in Montreal, Canada
2020	Farid Keramati	€ 300 to visit symposium in Lyon, France
2020	Charlotte Hoogstraten	€ 950 to visit a Toxicologie meeting in Aneheim, California
2020	Quan Xu	€ 250 to visit a bioinformatic conference in Leuven, Belgium
2020	Noa van den Brink	€ 1,000 to visit a symposium in Pennsylvania, USA
2020	Mariya Chernyavaska	€ 500 for a work visit Zürich, Switserland
2020	Sofie Tolmeijer	€ 950 for a work visit in Vancouver, Canada
2020	Sanne van Lith	€ 1,000 to visit a conference in Buffalo, USA
2019	Cenna van Manen	€ 500 for a work placement at Karls university of Tuebingen, Germany
2019	Remco van Cruchten	€ 450 to visit the International Myotonic Dystrophy Consortium meeting, Sweden
2019	Lisanne Gommers	€ 1,000 to visit the conference Keystone Symposia Microbiome: Chemical Mechanisms and Biological Consequences, Canada
2019	Elke Muntjewerff	€ 1,000 to visit th annual Meeting of the American Association of Immunologists in May 2019, San Diego, USA
2019	Daan Panneman	€ 1,000 to visit the Gordon Conference on Mitochondrial Dynamics and Signaling, USA
2019	Eva-Leonne Göttgens	€ 465 to visit the 38th ESTRO meeting in Milan
2019	Georgina Flórez-Grau	€ 400 for a work placement at the Immunology Institute in Marseille, France
2019	Jorge Dominquez Andres	€ 500 to visit the Conference: 2nd Human & Translational Immunology, Greece
2018	Edyta Swider	€ 500,- to visit the ISMRM conference in Paris, France
2018	Jos Smits	€ 1000,- to visit the International Investigative Dermatology meeting in Orlando, Florida, USA
2018	Vera Dunlock	€ 700,- to visit the conference “Tetraspanin scaffolds in cancer and infectious disease” in Arizona, USA
2018	Nicole Visser	€ 1000,- for a work placement at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, USA
2018	Daphne Lobeek	€ 400,- to visit the 8'n international Symposium Sentinel Node Biopsy in Head and Neck Cancer - Consensus Meeting in London, UK
2018	Hanna Niehues	€ 1000,- to visit the International Investigative Dermatology meeting in Orlando, Florida, USA
2018	Martijn van den Bosch	€ 500,- to visit the OARSI 2018 World Congress in Liverpool, UK
2017	Marilen Benner	Keystone symposium: "Maternal‐Fetal Cross" Washington D.C., USA
2017	Carlijn Bruggeling	Work placement at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institution, Baltimore, USA
2017	Amelieke Cremers	Work placement at the Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
2017	Andreas Kompatscher	Experimental Biology Meeting 2017, Chicago, USA
2017	Svenja Mennens	Symposium EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany
2017	Nelleke Spruijt	Keystone Conference: Hematopoiesis. Banff, Alberta, Canada
2017	Laurens van de Wiel	European Human Genetics Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark
2016	Brooke Latour	Keystone Symposium: Ubiquitin Signaling (X3), Whistler Conference Centre, Whistler, Canada
2016	René Marke	The American Society of Hematology (ASH) conference 2016 in San Diego, USA
2016	Pascal Miesen	Keystone symposium. Small RNA silencing: Little Guides, big biology, Keystone Resort, Colorado USA
2016	Wouter Touw	Work visit, Imperial College, London, UK
2016	Lotte de Winde	7th European Conference on Tetraspanins, Sheffield University Medical School, UK
2016	Jenny van der Wijst	60th Biophysical Society Annual Meeting (in combination with a work visit to the lab of Dr. Yifan Cheng), Los Angeles, USA
2015	Christian Büll	Glyco23, 23rd International Symposium on Glycoconjugates, Croatia
2015	Alex Garanto Iglesias	Work placement, Iowa, USA
2015	Kirsten Kuipers	Pneumococcus congress, Oxford, UK
2015	Marije Sloff	TERMIS World Congress, Boston, USA
2015	Sophieke van der Steen	19th Biennial Meeting of the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology, France
2015	Florian Wimmers	EFIS/EJI Immunology Summer School, Porto Cervo, Italy
2014	Michele Fedecostante	IRB-PhD retreat, Barcelona, Spain
2014	Tessa van der Geest	IRB-PhD retreat, Barcelona, Spain
2014	Lisanne van Oppen	IRB-PhD retreat, Barcelona, Spain
2014	Rocio Acuna	Conference European Society for Human Genetics, Milan, Italy
2014	Jeroen de Baaij	ISN Forefronts, Boston, USA
2014	Ellen van den Bogaard	8th Georg Bajka Int symp on atopic dermatitis (ISAD), Nottingham, UK
2014	Arthur Kuipers	Gordon Conference Barga Lucca, Italy

RIMLS award

An award as recognition for the extra dedication for RIMLS.

RIMLS award

The Annual RIMLS Award for 2020 is for Otto Boerman

The RIMLS award is an annual prize for people who have contributed a lot to the RIMLS institute. Since 2017 Otto Boerman is the Director of the Radboud Animal Research Facility and transformed this facility into a financial healthy institute. More importantly customer and staff satisfaction has increased enormously, giving the Radboud Technology Center (RTC) a new future. In addition as chair of the RTC board he further improved the organization of the RTC's. We are proud to have Otto Boerman as our colleague.

Year	Name	Theme
2020	Otto Boerman	Director of the Radboud Animal Research Facility
2019	Jack Fransen	Nanomedicine
2018	Bert van der Reijden	Cancer development and immune defense

Hans Bloemendal Medal 2019 for Alison Noble

* Early work

Alison Noble obtained her doctoral degree in computer vision from the University of Oxford in 1989. She subsequently worked as a research scientist at GE Corporate Research and Development Center for five years. In 1995 she was appointed University Lecturer Department of Engineering Science in the University of Oxford, where she became a professor in 2002. From 2012-2016 she was the Director of the Oxford institute of Biomedical Engineering. As of 2017, she is the Senior Scientific Advisor of Intelligent Ultrasound Limited, an Oxford University spin-off in medical imaging, which she cofounded. Professor Noble has made significant contributions to medical image computing, where her research interests combine knowledge of medical imaging and computational science to support decision-making in clinical medicine. Her research activities focus on image analysis in cardiovascular diseases, cancer, women’s health and microscopy. She has made major contributions to methodology development of ultrasound image analysis, for example in fusion echocardiography, multi-modality cardiac image analysis, elasticity and slip imaging for breast cancer diagnosis, and fetal ultrasound image analysis. In 2013, Alison Noble was appointed Order of the British Empire for her services to Science and Engineering. She was the first recipient of the Laura Bassi Award of the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering in 2015 and she was elected as Fellow of the Royal Society in 2017. Alison Noble inspires the next generation of biomedical scientists and engineers by combining her academic and industrial network and experience to translate new engineering methodologies to clinical practice.

* About the Medal

The Hans Bloemendal Medal is bestowed on very prominent scientists active in a wide variety of research fields.

> read more about the medal

Hans Bloemendal Medal

The Hans Bloemendal Medal is bestowed by the Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences on very prominent scientists active in a wide variety of research fields. read more

Funding and support

Are you a researcher at Radboudumc and do you wish to obtain a grant, national or international, for your research group or as an individual? To help you get started, we offer an overview of some of the available grants including some funded by Radboudumc. see overview

Year	Winner	Title of thesis
2020	Rik Lindeboom	Investigating gene regulation in development and disease using integrative omics approaches
2019	Guido van Mierlo	Viewing pluripotency from a multi-omics perspective.
2018	Mani Diba	Development of composite biomaterials with self-healing properties.
2017	Pascal Miesen	Untangling the piRNA pathway in the arbovirus vector mosquito Aedes aegypti.
2016	Kalijn Bol	Dendritic cell-based immunotherapy in melanoma
2015	Jeroen de Baaij	The Distal Convoluted Tubule: the Art of Magnesium Transport
2014	Ellen van den Bogaard	From skin development to disease pathogenesis and therapeutics - The power of 3D skin models
2013	Jurjen Tel	Plasmacytoid dendritic cells & immunotherapy of cancer
2012	Theo Plantinga	Modulation of inflammation by genetic variation in innate immunity
2011	Jenny van der Wijst	New patches in the molecular understanding of renal magnesium handling
2010	Joost Lesterhuis	Dendritic cells in cancer immunotherapy
2009	Camiel Boon	Hereditary retinal disease, Clinical and genetic studies on the role of the peripherin/RDS gene, the BEST1 gene, and the CFH gene
2008	David Koolen	Opy number variation and mental retardation
2007	Lisenka Vissers	Molecular karyotyping by array CGH. Linking gene dosage alterations to disease phenotypes
2006	Tom Neijenhuis	Epithelial Ca2+ and Mg2+ channels in health and disease
2005	Manon Zweers (shared) Toni Gabaldon (shared)	Tenascin-X. Clinical and biological aspects Origin and evolution of the mitochondrial proteome: applications for protein function prediction in the eukaryotes
2004	Edwin Janssen	Not available
2003	Ole Madsen	Not available
2002	Anneke den Hollander	Not available
2001	Jan Koenderink	Not available
2000	Joost Hoenderop	Not available
1999	Anne Lenferink	Not available
1998	Albert de Roos	Not available
1997	Lex Bakker (shared) Marcel Verbeek (shared)	Not available Not available