CARIM Newsletter November 2020

View this email in your browser

This newsletter contains information on the following subjects:

ZonMW-projecten
Vidi Jordi Heijman
CARIM Symposium 2020
Professorship Judith Sluimer
Magna Cum Laude award Rob Holtackers
Péleris publieksprijs Michiel Henkens
Alliantie Funds 2020 MUMC+/Radboudumc
Call for research projects Biomedical Sciences
Paramount Papers
National Survey on Research Integrity
Grants Grace
Grants for Individuals training
Academic events
Annual Scientific Meeting The Maastricht Study
Cardiovascular Grand Rounds Maastricht
Lectures, symposia & events
Who's New?!
Media Moments

CARIM newsletter

Contributions for the newsletter (e.g. news of events and grants, important publications, societial impact related topics and research results related to CARIM's research) can be sent to carim-office@maastrichtuniversity.nl. Please submit the text in English and include a short title. The text should be max. 200 words. If applicable, include high resolution pictures and other documents.

If you have a top publication or a translational development worth mentioning, please contact CARIM Office.

The CARIM office is located on the 5th floor UNS 50 (North), rooms F5.101-5.111. The secretary is in room F5.101.

ZonMw-projecten altijd bij UM

Het bestuur van Maastricht UMC+ en FHML zijn overeengekomen dat de zogenaamde 2e geldstroomprojecten – zoals die van ZonMw/NWO – ondergebracht dienen te worden bij de Schools van FHML binnen de Universiteit Maastricht. We zien helaas nog te vaak aanvragen en beschikkingen voorbij komen op naam van Maastricht UMC+. Het Maastricht UMC+ (formeel de juridische entiteit azM) en de Universiteit Maastricht zijn namelijk twee verschillende rechtspersonen. Als een beschikking op naam staat van Maastricht UMC+ kan CARIM (als onderdeel van de UM) het beheer van deze projectgelden niet uitvoeren. De gelden zijn in dat geval namelijk toegekend aan het ziekenhuis (MaastrichtUMC+/azM). Derhalve hierbij de oproep om al jullie aanvragen voor (klinische) onderzoeksprojecten bij ZonMw en NWO in te dienen namens de Universiteit Maastricht en niet langer gebruik te maken van Maastricht UMC+.

Vidi grant for Jordi Heijman

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded a Vidi grant worth 800,000 EUR to Jordi Heijman (Dept. of Cardiology). Jordi receives the grant for his project "Time traveling to treat heart rhythm disorders". Heart rhythm disorders remain a major cause of death. To identify improved therapies, Jordi and his team will use advanced computer models to determine the mechanisms through which heart rhythm disorders become more stable over time, a process involving changes in numerous components of the heart’s electrical system occurring over milliseconds to days. In 2015, Jordi already received a Veni grant for his research.

CARIM Symposium 2020

This year’s CARIM Symposium will take place in a different format than usual. Unfortunately, due to the corona measures, it will not be possible to have the entire CARIM community together. But in spite of all measures, we offer you an interesting programme that can be followed online via livestream for everyone: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84239882265.

Our recent laureates will present their research and a session on diversity and inclusivity will be organised. In addition, Harry Büller, MD, PhD, will give the Robert Reneman Lecture. Finally, the poster session will be held in a different format. Nominated PhD students and/or researchers have been asked to record a short video in which they present their research. The recordings will be judged by a committee and the winners will present their research on 25 November. The postervideos are available on: https://www.carimmaastricht.nl/symposium-2020

Harry Büller, MD, PhD is a professor of Internal Medicine at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam. He is specialised in Vascular Medicine. Dr Büller earned his MD and PhD at the University of Amsterdam. After graduating, he completed his research fellowship in hemostasis and thrombosis in the Departments of Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1981 and 1982. In 2008, he was appointed Honorary Professor of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. He authored and co-authored more than 740 scientific articles of topics in his field. He supervised 52 PhD students as a promotor. In December 2019 he retired.

Click here to download the invitation.

Professorship Judith Sluimer

As of 1 October 2020, Judith Sluimer (Dept. of Pathology) has been appointed Professor “cardiovascular pathofysiology”.

Another magna cum laude award for MRI physicist Rob Holtackers

During the 2020 online congress of the European Society of Cardiovascular Radiology (ESCR), Rob Holtackers won the Magna Cum Laude award for the second year in a row. His latest research focussed on the improved visualisation of subendocardial scar patterns in patients with cardiac arrhythmias for which he developed a novel 3D MRI scan technique. A close collaboration between the Departments of Radiology and Cardiology of MaastrichtUMC, department of cardiology of the Antwerp University Hospital, and Philips Healthcare proved crucial to achieve this excellent result.

Pélerin publieksprijs Michiel Henkens

Michiel Henskens (Cardiologie) heeft dit jaar de Pélerin publieksprijs in ontvangst mogen nemen. Woensdag 7 oktober vond de 25ste editie van het Pélerin arts-assistenten symposium plaats. Gezien de speciale omstandigheden werd er dit jaar samengewerkt met de Arts-Assistenten Vereniging en de Centrale Opleidingscommissie Maastricht, en werd er gekozen voor een digitaal alternatief.

Project Academische Alliantie Fonds 2020 MUMC+/Radboudumc

Het Academische Alliantie Fonds (AAF) van Radboudumc

en Maastricht UMC+ is bedoeld om innovatie en/of (klinisch) wetenschappelijk onderzoek te stimuleren in de Academische Alliantie en zichtbaar bij te dragen aan een verdere versterking van deze strategische samenwerking tussen beide organisaties. Klik hier voor een beknopte toelichting op het strategisch kader, de criteria en het tijdpad. Eveneens is het aanvraagformulier voor het indienen van een projectaanvraag bij het Academische Alliantie Fonds opgenomen. Tevens treft u de bijbehorende formats voor het projectplan, begroting en biosketch.

Call for research projects for the master and bachelor Biomedical Sciences

Dear colleagues

You are kindly invited you to submit research internship projects for the second year master students of the Biomedical Sciences (MBS) and/or for the third year students of the bachelor BBS. ⚠ The internship in the master MBS (f.k.a. SPT) now spans the whole second year (± Sept-July) because the in the new MBS curriculum the JPT & SPT have been merged into one larger internship. The bachelor internship is 10 weeks (± April-July).

You can upload / update your projects at https://fhmlweb.unimaas.nl/Stage/Aanbieder/Default.aspx. When creating a project, you can specify (by checking the appropriate boxes in the pink area on the left) for which programmes your project should be made available. ⚠ If you already uploaded one or more projects last year(s), they will still be present, but may be marked as INactive (ALL projects were inactivated as of October 1st). You only have to check the 'Active' checkbox in order to make them available again, but please check if the content needs to be updated anyway.

For master MBS internships (f.k.a. SPTs): Please read the MBS information and detailed specific upload instructions: http://fhmloisrv1501.unimaas.nl/pul/docs/call-for-MBS-Research-Internship-Projects-2021-2022.pdf

It is also still possible to upload or activate existing projects for the HFIM master (± 24 wks Jan-Jun) in case food/nutrition-related research. More information: http://fhmloisrv1501.unimaas.nl/pul/docs/HFIM-Call-for-Projects.docx

⚠ The deadline for uploading/reactivating projects is November 30, 2020 ⚠

Note: You may receive this call for projects via other ways and from other programmes as well. The advantage is that all programmes make use of the same project database, so you only have to upload the project once and you can (de)select suitability for other programmes at any time – you might need to enter some additional info however for certain programmes, for which separate sheets will appear within these projects.

Thank you very much for your collaboration!
Harry Gosker (internship coordinator of masters MBS & HFIM)
Johan Jocken (thesis coordinator bachelor BBS)

Paramount Papers

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support in COVID-19: an international cohort study of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization registry

Background: Multiple major health organisations recommend the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support for COVID-19-related acute hypoxaemic respiratory failure. However, initial reports of ECMO use in patients with COVID-19 described very high mortality and there have been no large, international cohort studies of ECMO for COVID-19 reported to date.

Methods: We used data from the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) Registry to characterise the epidemiology, hospital course, and outcomes of patients aged 16 years or older with confirmed COVID-19 who had ECMO support initiated between Jan 16 and May 1, 2020, at 213 hospitals in 36 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital death in a time-to-event analysis assessed at 90 days after ECMO initiation. We applied a multivariable Cox model to examine whether patient and hospital factors were associated with in-hospital mortality.

Findings: Data for 1035 patients with COVID-19 who received ECMO support were included in this study. Of these, 67 (6%) remained hospitalised, 311 (30%) were discharged home or to an acute rehabilitation centre, 101 (10%) were discharged to a long-term acute care centre or unspecified location, 176 (17%) were discharged to another hospital, and 380 (37%) died. The estimated cumulative incidence of in-hospital mortality 90 days after the initiation of ECMO was 37·4% (95% CI 34·4-40·4). Mortality was 39% (380 of 968) in patients with a final disposition of death or hospital discharge. The use of ECMO for circulatory support was independently associated with higher in-hospital mortality (hazard ratio 1·89, 95% CI 1·20-2·97). In the subset of patients with COVID-19 receiving respiratory (venovenous) ECMO and characterised as having acute respiratory distress syndrome, the estimated cumulative incidence of in-hospital mortality 90 days after the initiation of ECMO was 38·0% (95% CI 34·6-41·5).

Interpretation: In patients with COVID-19 who received ECMO, both estimated mortality 90 days after ECMO and mortality in those with a final disposition of death or discharge were less than 40%. These data from 213 hospitals worldwide provide a generalisable estimate of ECMO mortality in the setting of COVID-19.
Ryan P Barbaro, Graeme MacLaren, Philip S Boonstra, Theodore J Iwashyna, Arthur S Slutsky, Eddy Fan, Robert H Bartlett, Joseph E Tonna, Robert Hyslop, Jeffrey J Fanning, Peter T Rycus, Steve J Hyer, Marc M Anders, Cara L Agerstrand, Katarzyna Hryniewicz, Rodrigo Diaz, Roberto Lorusso, Alain Combes, Daniel Brodie, Extracorporeal Life Support Organization

Click here for the full publication.

NK cells in human visceral adipose tissue contribute to obesity‐associated insulin resistance through low‐grade inflammation.

Background: Obesity-associated insulin resistance is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes. Experimental evidence in mice suggests that natural killer (NK) cell accumulation in visceral adipose tissue (VAT) leads to adipose tissue inflammation and concomitant insulin resistance. In humans, however, the involvement of NK cells in insulin resistance is unknown.

Methods: Circulating NK cells from lean and obese donors were analyzed with flow cytometry and co-cultured with human primary macrophages. Next, blood and adipose tissue biopsies from lean and obese men were collected and measured with flow cytometry. In addition, lean and abdominally obese men underwent extensive metabolic phenotyping using MRI and a euglycemic insulin clamp and blood was used for flow cytometry. Finally, we performed flow cytometry on 839 fresh blood samples from a large cohort study, i.e. the Maastricht Study.

Results: We show that blood NK cells from obese individuals produced more TNF and induced inflammatory macrophage polarization. Moreover, NK cell accumulation in human VAT was associated with inflammatory polarization of VAT macrophages and was reflected by CD11B expression on circulating NK cells. Additionally, CD11B on blood NK cells was associated with VAT volume, low-grade inflammation, and insulin resistance. Moreover, in pathway analysis, CD11B expression on circulating NK cells partially explained the association between VAT, inflammation, and insulin resistance. In a population-based cohort, CD11B on NK cells was associated with VAT volume, low grade inflammation and insulin resistance.

Conclusions: These data support the involvement of NK cell accumulation in VAT to macrophage polarization, inflammation, and insulin resistance in humans.

Kristiaan Wouters, Yvo H.A.M. Kusters, Mitchell Bijnen, Suzan Wetzels, Xiaodi Zhang, Pauline B.C. Linssen, Katrien Gaens, Alfons J.H.M. Houben, Peter J. Joris, Jogchum Plat, M. Eline Kooi, Carla J.H. van der Kallen, Ronald P. Mensink, Kenneth Verboven, Johan Jocken, Dominique Hansen, Ellen E. Blaak, Femke A.I. Ehlers, Lotte Wieten, Jan Willem Greve, Sander Rensen, Coen D.A. Stehouwer, and Casper G. Schalkwijk

Click here for the full publication.

National Survey on Research Integrity

As you likely know, Maastricht UMC+/FHML

supports the National Survey on Research Integrity (NSRI). The NSRI is a survey intended to gather information about the way we conduct our research across all disciplines and all academic ranks, gathering information on topics such as open science, peer review, competitiveness, trust in published studies, work pressure, questionable and responsible research practices.
All academic researchers in the Netherlands (spending at least 8 hours per week on research tasks) should have received an invitation to this survey by email. In case you have missed it, please check your spam folder or search for an email from the following address (Kantar Public): webint@tns-nipo.com. In case you still cannot locate the survey, please ask for a new invitation at info@nsri2020.nl.

Because the way we practice research is important to us all, we would like to ask you to please take 20-25 minutes over the next week to complete the survey.

You may follow updates on Twitter (@SurveyIntegrity) and visit the NSRI website for more information and results.

Grants Grace

For information related to calls or to discuss (other) funding possibilities in the future (e.g. funding roadmap), please contact Willem Wolters for support. If you decide to prepare a proposal, please inform Wouter Hankel well in time for the budget, especially when matching is required.

Please note that UM has a license with the searchable funding database: www.researchconnect.eu. This is available for all UM and Maastricht UMC+. You can set alerts to receive the latest information on opportunities in your area of research. If you cannot access the database, please contact Willem Wolters.

The online tool Impacter addresses all items for a good impact chapter of your draft proposal. Moreover it gives you feedback on the societal impact section of your research proposal, such as the knowledge utilization paragraph in all NWO proposals. In short, Impacter helps to write a better application.

In recent years, the attention for social impact has increased and so has the wish to measure it. Examples of proposed indicators include references in patents, policy documents, textbooks and news papers. This new type of indicaors is named "altmetrics". The UM has a license for the use of Altmetric Explorer. Altmetric is a platform that tracks and analyses the online activity around scholarly research outputs. It gathers data on outreach activities through (social) media, user statistics from reference managers, and mentions in patents and policy documents.

Check out the CARIM website and our monthly funding alert for an overview of the current and upcoming funding opportunities.

Grants for Individuals – Spring 2021

Although thinking about or even planning a postdoc abroad may feel strange at this time, applying for a Rubicon, Marie Curie or related personal grant proposal in 2021 can give you an opportunity for gaining valuable international research experience in the next year.
If you would like to apply for one of these grants in 2021 and want to know how to best structure and frame your proposal and how funding proposals are reviewed, then we encourage you to register for the Spring 2021 training ‘Grants for Individuals’!

The Grants for Individuals training is for young researchers in the last year of their PhD research until five years after completion of their PhD degree. The aim of the training is to prepare you for competitive individual grant schemes, including Marie Curie, Rubicon and other (lesser-known) schemes for this target group. The next training course takes place from January until April 2021.

Click here for more information.

Academic Events

PhD Conferral Ploingarm Petsohonsakul, 2 November, 13.00 hours (MBB 4-6)
Supervisors: Prof. L.J. Schurgers Prof. C.P.M. Reutelingsperger
Co-supervisors: Dr B.M.E. Mees
Title: Role of vascular Remodeling in Atherosclerosis and Aortic Aneurysm; Vascular calcification as a hallmark of increased vascular smooth muscle cell oxidative stress

PhD Conferral Kanchi Muralidhar, 10 November, 13.00 hours (online)
Supervisors: Prof. J.G. Maessen, Prof. L. Vincent (Narayana Health City, Bangalore)
Co-supervisor: Dr Y. Ganushchak
Title: Renal protection off pump coronary artery bypass grafting

PhD Conferral Yaqui Sang, 11 November, 10.00 hours (MBB 4-6)
Supervisor: Prof. H. ten Cate
Co-supervisors: Dr B. de Laat, Dr M. Roest
Title: Innovation and stadarization of near-patient platelet function assays

PhD Conferral Franciscus C. Bennis, 13 November, 14.00 hours (MBB 4-6)
Supervisors: Prof. T. Delhaas, Prof. B.W. Kramer
Co-supervisor: Dr P. Andriessen (Maxima Medisch Centrum, Veldhoven)
Title: Machine learning in medicine - Big picture require small, but crucial strokes

PhD Conferral Indira Vonhögen, 17 November, 16.00 hours (online)
Supervisors: Prof. L.J. de Windt, Prof. P. da Costa Martins, Prof. M.E.A. Spaanderman
Co-supervisor: Dr M. Muri (Malága, Spain)
Title: Bridging the gaps of microRNAs in Obesity

PhD Conferral Pascale Notten, 26 November, 10.00 hours (MBB 4-6)
Supervisors: Prof. H. ten Cate, Prof. M.J.H.M. Jacobs
Co-supervisor: Dr A.J. ten Cate-Hoek
Title: Ultrasound-accelarated catheter-directed thrombolysis for the prevention of postthrombotic syndrome

Annual Scientific Meeting of The Maastricht Study

Date: Thursday 5 November 2020

Time: 13.30 and 17:00 CET
Location: Virtual meeting
Theme: ‘The Maastricht Study 2010-2020: A decade of deep-phenotyping’.

https://maastrichtuniversity.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0ode-hrTMuH9wGERiTl17JRvn_CHGy4UUx

Note that after registration you will receive a response mail from zoom with access information for the meeting. Depending on the settings of your inbox, this mail may be identified as SPAM, so please make sure to check your SPAM folder.

Click here to download the full programme.

The aim of this scientific meeting is to connect with researchers within and outside the Maastricht University Medical Centre and share our plans, insights and recent results. We will continue last year’s successful format with duos of senior and junior researchers highlighting several research lines within The Maastricht Study. The senior researcher will outline the topic and the junior researcher will present recent results.

Cardiovascular Grand Rounds Maastricht

Due to COVID-19 and all its restrictions an old-fashioned Cardiovascular Grand Rounds is unfortunately not possible. However, this does not mean that there is no exciting cardiovascular research going on in Maastricht! To keep you informed about some interesting local projects, we would like to invite you to join our new hybrid CVGR lectures via ZOOM.

The presentations will take place at the usual timeslot of the CVGR: Friday at 8 am and will be 30 minutes long, followed by discussion of questions submitted via the chat. A number of excellent speakers from different departments have agreed to present their most recent results:

13-11: Pieter Goossens (PATH) – “Imaging myeloid heterogeneity”

27-11: Aurore Lyon (BME) – “Cardiac electromechanics from cell to system dynamics: insights from a novel computer model”

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact Jordi Heijman or Lilian Skiba

Join Zoom Meeting
https://maastrichtuniversity.zoom.us/j/91283519402?pwd=UWFmWi8xUUFJTWw1bVBqMDNJVllEQT09
Meeting ID: 912 8351 9402
Password: 516594

Lectures, symposia & events

Cardiorenal seminar Prof. An De Vriese - 12 November 2020
Online NUTRIM Symposium 2020 - 18 November 2020
GROW Science Day - 19 November 2020
The Maastricht Young Academy online intercultural training - 24 November 2020
CARIM Symposium 2020 - 25 November 2020
6th World Congress of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society (TERMIS 2021) - 31 May to 4 June 2021

KNAW agenda

Who's New?!

My name is Dominique Verhaert and I studied medicine at Radboud University in Nijmegen from 2010-2017. After working as a resident (ANIOS) in cardiology, I started my PhD research on the invasive treatment of atrial fibrillation in January 2019. My research comprises the ISOLATION study and the RACE-8-HF trial. I work in both the Radboudumc and Maastricht UMC+, and my projects are supervised by Prof. Uli Schotten, Prof. Kevin Vernooy, and Dr Dominik Linz.

Hello everyone, I am Melania Buonocunto,

I'm 24 years old and I come from Napoli, Italy. I recently graduated in biomedical engineering at university Federico II in Napoli with a thesis written during an Erasmus traineeship at the univrsity of Coimbra in Portugal. I'm starting a PhD at CARIM on the project called "Empathy" about creating a computational model that aims to study, investigate and prevent the Sudden cardiac death desease.

My name is Jolijn Lubrecht and I am a Medical Engineer specialised in cardiovascular biomechanics.
I studied at the Eindhoven University of Technology, during which I attended medical education at Maastricht UMC+. After graduating in collaboration with Maastricht UMC+ on cardiac modelling, I worked as a researcher in the field of cardiac electrophysiology at the Università della Svizzera italiana in Lugano, Switzerland. Currently, I am following a PhD track at Maastricht University, during which I will be focussing on a novel laser doppler vibrometric analysis of heart sounds in patients with heart failure.

Hi everyone! My name is Afrah Malik and I recently

started my PhD at CARIM. I obtained my MSc degree in Biomedical Engineering from Erciyes University in Kayseri, Turkey. My MSc research project focussed on signal processing, machine learning, and deep learning for valvular disease diagnosis using heart sounds. My PhD research focusses on ‘Multi-modality and multi-parameter approaches to screening for central arterial disease’. I am enthusiastic about this opportunity and look forward to the training of becoming a researcher who makes valuable contributions to BME research worldwide.

Media Moments

http://dailym.ai/3okunBF 16/10 Deskundigen van over de hele wereld kwamen afgelopen week digital bijeen om the spreken over het voedsel van de toekomst. Zij deden dat ter gelegenheid van World Food Day, als onderdeel van het Oxford Science and Ideas festival. Een van de sprekers was Mark Post (CARIM). De Britse krant Daily Mail doet verslag van de bijeenkomst. Het artikel werd eveneens verspreid via onder meer het Indonesische dagblad Kompas, de Turkse krant Cumhuriyet (https://bit.ly/3jpGqdg), de Arabische editie van de internationale nieuwszender Russia Today en de Russische editie van het Amerikaanse populairwetenschappelijke magazine Popular Mechanics.

https://bit.ly/3jaYurj 16/10 In de rubriek Het Consult van dagblad Trouw beantwoorden experts wekelijks vragen van lezers op het vlak van gezondheid en ziekte. In deze aflevering behandelt Dominik Linz (CARIM) het zogenoemde holiday heart syndrome.

https://s.nikkei.com/3oOY3Hn 1/11 Het kweekvleesproject van Mark Post (CARIM) wordt in verschillende toonaangevende internationale media aangehaald als startpunt van deze innovatie. Bijvoorbeeld in de zondagse editie van de Duitse kwaliteitskrant Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (zie bijlage), maar ook kort in het Japanse zakenblad Nikkei Asia.

https://bit.ly/2TIzBsX 29/10 Of je nu honing neemt, kristalsuiker of agavesiroop: het bevat allemaal suiker. Als alternatief voor suikers worden zoetstoffen ingezet, zoals sorbitol, aspartaam en Stevia. Ook zit er suiker in fruit en melk. De redactie van nieuwswebsite NU.nl vraagt zich af welke zoetmaker nu eigenlijk het minst ongezond is. Bastiaan de Galan (CARIM) geeft antwoord.

https://bit.ly/2HtqWYX 26/10 Chahinda Ghossein-Doha (GROW/ CARIM) presenteerde haar boek ‘Queen of Hearts. De kracht van kwetsbaarheid’ in de talkshow Jinek (RTL 4) en sprak ook over haar onderzoek naar de voorspelkracht van de placenta met betrekking tot de ontwikkeling van hart- en vaatziekten bij de moeder. Zowel de Maastrichtse cardioloog in opleiding als presentatrice Eva Jinek zelf vertelden in de uitzending openhartig over ingrijpende gebeurtenissen tijdens en na hun eigen zwangerschap (https://bit.ly/34wsOss). Eerder op de dag ontving Rianne Letschert (CvB) het eerste exemplaar van het boek. Ook de website van RTL Nieuws besteedde aandacht aan het onderzoek van Ghossein-Doha (https://bit.ly/324T9fC). In lichtvoetiger media als RTL Boulevard, Story of Privé ging nadien vooral veel aandacht uit naar de persoonlijke ontboezemingen van de presentatrice.

Forward

This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences
CARIM · Universiteitssingel 50 · Maastricht, Li 6229 ER · Netherlands