Two RMCU researchers receive NWO grants for groundbreaking and high-risk research
Silvia Mihăilă and Martijn Koppens have been awarded NWO Open Competition ENW-XS grants for their innovative and high-risk research projects. They are among nine Utrecht-based researchers funded in the 25th round of this competition, which supports small-scale, innovative and risky initiatives across the seven ENW disciplines. Each grant provides up to €50,000, with a total of €2.4 million awarded. Mihăilă’s project explores how cancer cell survival mechanisms can be used to protect kidneys from chemotherapy damage, while Koppens is developing a method to trace mitochondrial DNA mutations in cells to improve the treatment of mitochondrial diseases.
Dr. Silvia Mihăilă (Faculty of Science)
Cracking the code of cellular resilience: learning from cancer how we can protect the kidneys
Chemotherapy is a well-established method for attacking cancer cells, but some tumours develop resistance and manage to survive, making treatment less effective. At the same time, healthy kidney cells are highly vulnerable to these drugs and often suffer lasting damage after treatment. Bioengineer Silvia Mihăilă aims to uncover what cancer cells do to survive chemotherapy, and whether similar protective mechanisms can be triggered in kidney cells. By analyzing gene activity and cell metabolism, her team hopes to identify key processes and test compounds that could shield the kidneys from drug-induced injuries. This research could pave the way for therapies that both improve the effectiveness of cancer treatment and reduce kidney damage.
Dr. Martijn Koppens (UMC Utrecht)
Tracking DNA to solve the unpredictable genetics of mitochondrial disorders
Recent technological advances enable us to repair mutations in DNA, offering the potential for curative therapies for genetic disorders. While most genetic disorders involve nuclear DNA and require repairing just one or two mutations per cell, mitochondrial disorders involve thousands of copies of a mutation per cell. Variations in the fraction of mutant copies complicate predicting prognosis and long-term effects of gene-repair. I will address these challenges by developing a new approach to track mitochondrial mutations in live cells. Monitoring these mutations over time may provide transformative insights in mitochondrial genetics and facilitate development of gene-correction therapies for mitochondrial disorders.
Read about the other projects here.