2025
AGEM Grant Award Ceremony - May 22nd
Since 2024, AGEM introduced the AGEM Grant Award Ceremony. As of this year, we consider the festive event a tradition. The success of the event was largely thanks to our wonderful 2025 grant winners, 2024 Best Publication Battle, previous grant laureate presentations, and delicious snacks and drinks.
The event took place in the Orange Box at Amsterdam UMC, AMC. What usually functions as a networking lunchroom was converted into a platform for the stories of great, talented researchers. Our AGEM directors opened the event by welcoming the roomful of enthusiastic AGEM members (and AGEM member relatives!) and showing an animation about the history of AGEM grants. This summary of how many grants were awarded and what the grant meant for the projects was received well by the audience and set the mood for a fun rest of the event. We started by letting our grant laureates take the stage to tell us – what did they do with their grant? What did it mean for them?
Koen Dreijrink, winner of the clinical research matching grant in 2020, was the first to explain to us what his work was about. Initially, Koen was asked to talk about another grant he was awarded, but following his enthusiasm to speak about this matching grant instead, we were thrilled for him to share his research on assessing the effects and safety of progesterone for breast development in trans women. The results of his study are not yet open for sharing, but what he could share with us was that this novel treatment was in part possible due to the funding that AGEM provided.
The announcements of the Innovation Grant winners of 2025 followed. Maria Tretowicz was unfortunately unable to attend the ceremony, and therefore one of her team members received the cheque. Lucky for us, Maria had prerecorded a short video of herself explaining her project on drop-of-blood metabolomics, highlighting how this innovative method will reduce the burden on patient care, and how future implications could extend to all sorts of blood analysis.
Kitty Latupeirissa was able to receive her award in person, with a whole support crew of family watching her attentively, as she enlightened us on her valuable project that may result in a more inclusive thyroid screening across the Netherlands.
Rimke de Kroon was up next, and she gave a very well-supported talk, breaking down the narrative to justify each step she will take to hopefully develop a novel amniotic fluid-based diagnostic tool. By profiling the amniotic fluid of her study group, she hopes to determine the role of amniotic fluid in gut development and initiation of gut microbiota, as well as identify biomarkers that may lead to postpartum interventions.
The last of our four 2025 Innovation Grant winners was Romy de Kroon, who spoke about her project on improving the diagnostics of a hormone disorder (non-classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia), by investigating the specificity of 21-deoxycortisol. This refined diagnostic method can lead to a more accurate, faster, and cheaper diagnosis.
To split the event up we had a talk by Geert D’Haens, celebrating his valorizations (a new segment in the ceremony), and our 2024 Best Publication Battle. Geert spoke about three case studies — three studies that have had important impact on patient care, or research aiming to improve patient care. The Best Publication Battle was between three AGEM researchers: Felipe Correa da Silva, Heleen Jansen, and Lotte Slooter. Candidates for the Best Publication Battle are first submitted by the Research Board, and then selected before they attend the pitch workshop and take the stage at the Grant Award Ceremony.
This year all three presentations were strong, but only one researcher could take the prize: Heleen Jansen!
Following that excitement, Dirk Jan Stenvers told us about the Talent Development Grant he received in 2021 to investigate the role of the central brain clock in the pathophysiology of insulin resistance. His engaging talk on chronobiology had everyone’s attention, and his recognition of AGEM’s contribution to the work was wonderful to see.
Our 2025 Talent Development Grant announcements were the final part of the event before our vegetarian buffet would be delivered and our award attendees could raise their glass to all the successes that AGEM has to celebrate! Our two winners of this category showed exceptional talent in their proposals and interviews, managing to win this financial boost to their careers. This year’s winners were Sofie Bosch and Marte Molenaars!
Sofie Bosch presented her research on the development of an electronic nose (eNose). Sofie is contributing an important step in the field of using stool gases as an early detection method for colorectal cancer (CRC). Currently, research already shows the potential of stool gases for CRC diagnostics, but Sofie wants to bridge the gap between biomarker discovery and clinical application by developing a low-cost eNose that can be used by the public. An exciting project, with a clear vision of how AGEM’s funding can support the research’s trajectory.
Marte Molenaars followed with an excellent talk on how the AGEM grant will help her study iron metabolism. A problem you are probably familiar with in one way or another: iron deficiency. Marte hopes to improve iron status by optimizing iron intake according to one’s circadian rhythm. This promising research into a novel association has the potential to improve the field of iron metabolism, hopefully leading to more positive clinical outcomes than those we see today.
Lastly, we had a short closing note from our directors, closely followed by the Dutch vegetarian bittergarnituur and a large selection of drinks. Thank you to the Amsterdam UMC catering! Chit chats here and there could be heard about the interesting topics that were presented during the event. Questions from the audience, answers from our researchers.
This festive event already has us looking forward to next year, and even more so, to seeing where our 2025 AGEM Grant winners take their research next!
Young AGEM "Experiences Abroad" - May 15th
On May 15th, the Young AGEM board organized their final event of the 2024–2025 academic year. This event took place in-house at Amsterdam UMC, AMC, and was combined with a Young AGEM lunch event. It was well-attended by about 30 early-career researchers, including one master’s student, who were interested in pursuing research abroad.
A panel of three Amsterdam UMC researchers, each of whom had spent part of their career outside the Netherlands, presented their journeys in short presentations and then answered questions from the Young AGEM board as well as the attendees.
The audience was particularly interested in the grant procedures, how the researchers chose a research group to apply to, and how they experienced settling into a new country. The answers varied widely—from one researcher who followed lab traditions and joined a lab in Switzerland as a postdoc, to another who wanted to live in New York City for a period of her life and built the rest of her research plans around that goal.
As always, the vegetarian lunch was delicious—although AGEM will be sure to request extra tissues next time!
Young AGEM "Alternative Careers" - January 14th
On January the 14th Young AGEM organized and hosted an event at the Volkshotel in Amsterdam, titled Alternative Careers, aimed at researchers who are considering taking career steps outside of academia.
The discussion compared the experiences of the panelists both inside and outside of academia, bringing to light both the pros and the cons that each industry brings with them. Their personal stories as well as their advice elicited interested questions and chuckles from the audience. What made for an especially insightful twist in the discussion was the fact that one of the speakers returned to academia after a meaningful time outside of it, demonstrating that leaving academia does not have to be a permanent decision.
After the panel discussion, all participants of the event gathered around tables, enjoyed a vegetarian meal and refreshing drinks, and listened to each other’s stories and reflections on the talk.
2024
Young AGEM career lunch - April 11th
This year, the Young AGEM board was officially appointed and they started out great with their first event, the Young AGEM career lunch on April 11. Presentations were given and plenty of questions were asked, all accompanied by delicious sandwiches.
AGEM PI event "Advanced Diagnostics" - April 25th
On April 25 AGEM organized the second AGEM PI event: again around 20 AGEM principal investigators met up at the Volkshotel, this time to discuss their research related to "Advanced Dianostics".
AGEM Grant Award Ceremony - May 23rd
Thursday May 23 AGEM organized their very first Grant Award Ceremony! It was a fun event where the winners of the Innovation grants and the Talent Development grants were officially awarded their prizes. The program was further filled up by the Best Publication 2023 Battle and talks by three AGEM grant laureates: Eveline Bruinstroop, Joep Grootjans and Georges Janssens.
🏆 Innovation grant winners: Eefje Belt-van Zoen, Daniël Docter, Sofieke de Jonge, and Patrick van der Zande
🏆 Talent Development grant winners: Anne van der Spek, Mohammed Ghiboub and Tim de Meij
🏆 Best Publication 2023 winner: Sebastian Hendrix. Other nominees: Katy van Galen and Heleen Jansen.
AGEM PI event "Liver disturbances" - November 7th
On November 7th AGEM organized the third AGEM PI event! This time the theme was “Liver disturbances”, which resulted in six very diverse and interesting pitches by Anita Boelen, Noam Zelcer, Stan Van De Graaf, Zhixiong Ying (for P. Bosma), Bart Takkenberg and Joris Erdmann. Our goals to increase the awareness of research done by AGEM, network, and increase the AGEM community feeling were met and facilitated by the delicious walking dinner supplied by the Volkshotel!
2023
The year started out great with a kick off at the AMC in February for the second round of the ImmunoMetNet series. The afternoon was filled with very interesting scientific discussions around the 4 topics presented. Once again, the stage was reserved for young researchers. The day ended with a chance to network and have some drinks.
On October 5 we organized the first ever AGEM PI event; twenty AGEM researchers came together to discuss their research related to “Food for Life”. The aim of the evening was to find thematic connection and synergies specifically within AGEM. Researchers that were invited to present, informed the others on the existing research through various pitches that could be loosely grouped into three themes: Food for Adults, Food for Children and Food in Hospitals. After these presentations, more in depth discussions and networking were facilitated during a walking dinner with delicious bites that paired perfectly with the theme of the evening.
2022
On November 7, twenty Principal Investigators from the AGEM institute and Amsterdam Institute for Infection and Immunity (AII) joined the second edition of the AGEM - AII meet & greet. Several PIs presented their research in a short pitch. A mix of diseases with immunological, metabolic and malignant basis and how our collaborative efforts can contribute to further understanding pathogenesis as well as improve diagnosis and treatment of these diseases was discussed.
In order to work on a research environment that promotes and guarantees responsible research practices, AGEM and Amsterdam UMC Research Policy Office (RPO) launched a new event on December 7, 2022: the Responsible Research Dinner Debate (Diner Pensant). We invited three experts, who pioneered with specific responsible research practices, to share their experiences in the scientific integrity field with 30 AGEM researchers, from PhD candidates to Principal Investigators.
After a short introduction by AGEM director Stan van de Graaf, the 30 participants found their way to either of the three tables for the first course. Each of these tables was hosted by an expert, who first shared insights about best practices in creating a responsible research environment, drawing from their own experience and using tangible use cases. Subsequently, there was plenty of time for open debate between the experts and participants.
After the first course, during which fruitful discussions were held, participants switched tables and groups for the next course. This way, during the three-course dinner, participants were able to broaden their horizon on three different themes of responsible research practices, and join in knowledge and experience sharing with varying peers. The atmosphere was relaxed, allowing for open and honest discussions. The diverse group of participants, from different fields of expertise and different career stages, helped create interesting conversations.
Participants mentioned the event got them inspired and ready to bring ideas to foster responsible research practices to your own research group. Ever since, the first initiatives on responsible research practices have already been implemented at different departments. Thus, the first edition of this Responsible Research Dinner Debate was a great success!
2021
On November 2, 2021 (in the short timeframe where it was possible to organize meet and greets on location) the first AGEM - AII Meet and Greet took place. In this meeting, Principal Investigators from the AGEM institute and the Amsterdam Institute for Infection and Immunity (AII) met in CASA Amsterdam. The aim of this meeting was to get to know each other and to explore possible cooperation between AGEM and AII research groups, focusing on unraveling basic immunological principles of chronic diseases.
2020
Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in the Netherlands in the beginning of 2020, AGEM moved its symposia online. Even though this hindered the possiblity of networking to some extent, there were also several added benefits from organizing online symposia. AGEM was now able to attract a wider variety of well-known key speakers from faraway countries such as the US, and lectures and symposia could be organized on a more regular basis since there was less travel time involved for speakers as well as participants. The webinar series on "Owning Obesity & Negating NASH", for instance, included weekly online lectures every Thursday afternoon in November 2020. In the webinar series, (inter)national speakers shared their research and views on NAFLD and obesity, ranging from lectures on fundamental research to more clinically aimed presentations. The online setting also allowed for many international participants attending the series, with over 100 attendees during the first session.