With their research project they will also create a bridge between clinic and scientific research.
Explanation of the 3 researchers
Below, the three researchers talk about their research.
Jelmer Prins: Research on the role of the immune system in preterm birth and complications
Worldwide, more than 1 million babies die each year from being born prematurely, and at least 5 million babies born prematurely each year experience long-term health problems. In particular, problems in neurodevelopment are in the foreground. Unfortunately, the causes of preterm birth and impaired neurodevelopment are not known. This makes it difficult to develop drugs to prevent premature birth and its consequences. The mother’s immune system appears to play an important role in the development of preterm birth and the disrupted neurological development of the infant. In this project I examine the role of a specific group of immune cells in these pregnancy complications. We’ll look at what factors influence these cells and how that relates to the child’s development. The knowledge gained from this project will help develop therapies to prevent these problems.
Peter van Dijk: Research on the effects of innovative glucose sensor technology in diabetic patients
In people with type 2 diabetes (T2D), too high a blood glucose level leads to worse outcomes than a (planned) hospital stay, including more complications (infections), worse surgical outcomes, longer hospital stays, and more deaths. There is currently no method to accurately measure and subsequently improve metabolic control pre-hospitalization (“prehabilitation”) in people with T2D. Glucose sensors provide information about the impact of lifestyle and medications on glucose levels; this is a proven method of behavior modification leading to improved glucose levels. But maybe also improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol and weight. This project aims to design, implement and evaluate the effects of glucose sensors in T2D patients prior to admission for a planned surgical procedure. It is hypothesized that this will lead to improved glucose levels before and during hospitalization, resulting in better hospitalization outcomes, lower costs, and ultimately sustainable improvements in T2D care.
Janesh Pillay: Early detection of patients with a lung that is not healing due to scarring
Severe acute pulmonary failure such as pneumonia requires hospitalization and ventilation in the intensive care unit. This is a radical and expensive treatment that isn’t effective for everyone. Getting off the ventilator requires the lung to recover. We cannot predict whether this recovery will take place. An important cause of pulmonary insufficiency to recover is scarring. This study focuses on the early diagnosis of patients with a non-healing lung by measuring the healing substances in the blood. With this information from the blood along with patient characteristics, we want to predict at an early stage which patients are at risk for a lung that doesn’t recover. Being able to predict which lungs will and will not recover is necessary to provide greater clarity on the expected course in the ICU and to test new therapies in these patients at an early stage of healing.
What is a Clinical Fellowship?
A clinical fellowship is a personal incentive grant for a doctoral and specialist clinician who wishes to continue to combine clinical work with scientific research. With this, the clinician can begin to set up his or her first line of research. The program is aimed at doctors who are still more or less at the beginning of their scientific career.
