Eleven Open Competition Domain Science XS grants for Leiden researchers
Eleven researchers from Leiden University have been awarded an Open Competition Domain Science ENW XS grant by the Dutch Research Council for their research projects. They are researching how to make software faster and greener, improve cancer detection and reduce anxiety by manipulating the biological clock.
The Open Competition Domain Science XS grants of up to € 50,000 are intended to support promising ideas and to facilitate innovative and more speculative initiatives. The proposed research is groundbreaking and high-risk. What counts is that all results, be they positive or negative, help advance science.
The researchers from Leiden University who have been awarded a grant explain what they will be investigating.
Faster and greener software
Ben van Werkhoven - Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science
This project aims to make powerful computing applications run faster and greener, such as those used in Artificial Intelligence (AI), climate modelling, astronomy and self-driving cars. By mining extensive data sets on the specific interactions between software and hardware, we will use explainable AI and transfer learning to develop intelligent tools that learn from past software optimisations to improve future software optimisation sessions and automatically adjust software to run more efficiently. The result: better performance, lower energy use and reduced carbon emissions from the world’s fastest computers.
Simple blood test for early cancer detection
Agustin Enciso Martinez - LUMC
Ovarian cancer is the deadliest gynecologic cancer because most women are diagnosed too late. We discovered that tumours release tiny particles into the blood, known as tumour-vesicles, that carry a unique sugar not found on healthy vesicles. We aim to turn this insight into a simple blood test for early cancer detection. Our test uses novel probes that capture tumour vesicles via this sugar, and special nanoparticles that convert invisible light into a bright signal. Our approach will enable highly sensitive detection, crucial to detecting tumour vesicles when tumours are still small. If successful, the test could help save lives through earlier diagnosis.
Can we reduce anxiety by manipulating the biological clock?
Christian Tudorache - Institute of Biology Leiden
Imagine we could reduce anxiety by simply enhancing our internal clock. This project dives into the fascinating possibility of doing just that, using zebrafish as our model. Just like humans, zebrafish exhibit different personalities – some are bold and adventurous, while others are more cautious. These personality traits are closely linked to the oscillation of their biological clocks. By using a groundbreaking small molecule called CEM3, which strengthens the clock, we aim to transform shy zebrafish into more confident explorers. Our findings could revolutionise mental health research, offering new insights into the intricate link between personality and our internal timekeeping mechanisms.
Inhibiting the growth of brain tumours
Madeline Kavanagh - Leiden Institute of Chemistry
Brain cancers are among the most challenging cancers to treat. Patients survive, on average, a little over a year post-diagnosis. This project aims to provide proof of concept for a novel strategy to inhibit the growth of brain cancer cells by targeting a key regulator of cancer-associated GTPase proteins. This is a high-risk project, as no drugs have previously been developed that exploit this mechanism. However, if successful, we could launch a drug discovery campaign that pioneers the development of new cancer treatments. Furthermore, all outcomes from this research will improve our understanding of the biological mechanisms driving cancer development.
Breathing problems in newborns
Janneke Dekker - LUMC
Breathing problems are the leading cause of intensive care admission in term newborns, particularly after caesarean delivery. Without labour, lung fluid present before birth is not effectively cleared. Current treatment uses continuous positive airway pressure to push fluid from the lungs into surrounding tissues, causing temporary oedema. While this clears the lungs, the pressure compresses the surrounding tissues and hinders fluid redistribution throughout the body, thereby extending respiratory problems. We propose the opposite: continuous negative pressure around the chest. This strategy may enhance fluid clearance by expanding the lungs without compressing surrounding tissue and transform respiratory support in term newborns.
Rapid personalised treatment for anaplastic thyroid cancer
Margo Dona - Institute of Biology Leiden
Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is one of the most aggressive human cancers with poor patient survival. This project will use transparent zebrafish larvae to create patient-specific ATC ‘avatars’. By transplanting patient tumour cells into zebrafish, we can visualise how the cancer grows, spreads and interacts with the immune system in real time. Within ten days, this model allows for the rapid testing of potential treatments, including advanced drug delivery with nanoparticles that target tumour cells. Ultimately, this knowledge will help us accelerate therapy development for the currently incurable ATC with the potential to extrapolate this platform to other cancers in future.
A new approach to Alzheimer’s disease
Martina Huber - Leiden Institute of Physics
Alzheimer’s disease is a growing health threat for the ageing population, but there is no cure, largely because the disease mechanism is not yet known. We do not understand how brain cells become damaged in the disease. A recent finding links the protein apoE4, a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, to brain-cell damage caused by iron overload. We will investigate, in vitro, if an interaction between the main iron-storage protein in the organism, ferritin and the apoE4 protein could lead to ferritin damage. Such damage could lead to iron overload and nerve-cell death and therefore be disease related.
Producing rare substances for medicines
Sandra Irmisch - Institute of Biology Leiden
Plants produce some of our most important medicines and synthesise even more metabolites with the potential to become important, life-changing drugs. However, due to their rare occurrence and chemical complexity, their availability to the health industry is often restricted, hindering new drug development. Engineering simpler organisms, such as yeast, to produce these valuable metabolites, offers a promising solution but is limited by low production yield. We will overcome yield limitations by engineering a co-culture production system for the complex metabolite montbretin A, a promising anti-diabetic compound. This will pave the way for large-scale production of therapeutically important plant-derived metabolites.
Paving the way for safer gene therapies
Frank Staal - LUMC
Rare genetic diseases collectively affect over one million people nationally, causing life-threatening diseases that cannot be cured. Fixing genetic defects using stem cell-based gene therapy can provide a lifelong cure for these diseases. This can be done by delivering a healthy gene into stem cells using a virus. However, this leads to uncontrolled activity of the therapeutic gene, which may cause cancer. This project aims to develop a safer solution: using ‘DNA switches’ that turn on genes only in cells intended to treat. If successful, this breakthrough could pave the way for safer gene therapies for rare genetic diseases.
Physics at the smallest scale of time and space
Alexandru-Ionut Babeanu - Leiden Institute of Physics
The laws of nature explain our Universe, but our understanding breaks down on the smallest scale of time and space. At this level, physics might consist of a kind of computer system: a network in which information is processed according to precise rules, like computer algorithms. I will examine whether this speculative idea can be reconciled with what we do know: the quantum ‘fuzziness’ inherent to molecules, atoms and elementary particles – a quantum particle does not have one exact position but a cloud of possible ones. This could enable a radically different way of thinking about physical reality.
Does HCO⁺ defy the rules of chemistry?
Joan Enrique Romero - Leiden Institute of Chemistry
The molecule HCO⁺ plays an important role in the chemistry of star- and planet-forming regions, but one of its key destruction pathways – the reaction between HCO⁺ and carbon – appears inactive in space. under interstellar conditions unless quantum spin effects intervene. This proposal explores whether this ‘forbidden’ reaction can proceed via a quantum effect, where electrons change their spin. Using advanced quantum simulations, I aim to assess this mechanism’s viability, shedding light on the role of quantum phenomena in space chemistry and potentially redefining our understanding of molecular evolution in the coldest regions of the universe.