Grants given to young academics have a multi layered effect; they can bring innovative research results in the exact direction the institute is aiming for; they often bring new, multidisciplinary research collaboration, and can give young aspiring academics the push they want in their career.
Below are some testimonials from AMS laureates, which show what the AMS grants have brought them.
Tenure development grant 2022
Kaj Emanuel
The aim of the grant was to launch a new research line on the etiology of osteochondral defects (bone and cartilage damage) of the ankle. This topic is one of the clinical focus points of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine. By combining the expertise from different groups within AMS, we hope to unravel the disease process, and use this knowledge to improve the treatment of the patients.
Personally, this grant has allowed me to migrate back to Amsterdam to take on a full-time position at our department, running this project. My role has been to bridge the gap between clinical practice and research, utilizing the biological and biomechanical expertise available both within and outside of AMS.
To achieve this, we started research projects with the Bone and Calcium Metabolism laboratory of Nathalie Bravenboer, to analyze the biopsies from osteochondral defect patients. I also initiated a gait analysis project with the department of rehabilitation medicine, led by Wouter Schallig and Marjolein van der Krogt. Together, we will study how the biology and biomechanics interact in the development of osteochondral defects. In addition to these projects, I initiated several consortium grant applications, including the NWO open competition with AMS partners and Maastricht University, and an NWA KIC call with several national partners. Several other applications are on the role for the remainder of the grant period (until the end 2023).
More on Kaj Emanuel.
Early career grant 2018
Melissa Hooijmans
In 2018, I received a personal grant from Amsterdam Movement Sciences to develop Imaging technologies to map post-traumatic muscle fibrosis and its functional impact. This grant is an interdisciplinary cooperation between the departments of Biomedical Engineering & Physics, Department of Radiology & Nuclear Medicine and the Faculty of Human Movement Sciences. Currently, we are still working on the implementation of these innovative techniques.
On a more scientific note this grant also initiated a new collaboration with the department of Human Movement Sciences at VU University, focused on comparing two advanced imaging modalities for measuring muscle architectural features. In addition, the research findings are currently serving as input for a larger grant application. Hopefully, it will lead to even more interdisciplinary collaborations and grant applications in the future.
More on Melissa Hooijmans.
Tenure development grants 2018
Marjolein van der Krogt
In 2018, the AMS Innovation Call for Tenure Development financed the project PREdictive SimulaTion of Impaired Gait Evaluations (PRESTIGE), aiming to develop and validate simulations that predict the effect of impairments on gait. With the funding, a part-time post-doc was hired (Niels Waterval), a joint PhD trajectory in collaboration with Griffith University in Australia was set up (Kirsten Veerkamp), and dedicated research time for the PI (Marjolein van der Krogt) was made possible. In collaboration with the TU Delft (Thomas Geijtenbeek), we studied the effect of weakness, contractures and spasticity on gait.
The first two publications are now submitted, evaluating the effect of different cost functions for predictive simulations, and predicting the effect of calf muscle weakness on gait, compared with experimental patient data. Work on simulating the effects of contractures and spasticity, and comparing this with experimental patient data, is ongoing.
Furthermore, Niels Waterval acquired additional funding from the Innovative Medical Device Initiative (IMDI) ‘Break Through Projects’ (1,5 y full-time postdoc), to develop precision simulations and predict the effect of individual optimal ankle foot orthoses for patients with calf muscle weakness. Ultimately, we aim to further develop this simulation framework, in order to predict the effect of different treatments on ait for our patient populations.
More on Marjolein van der Krogt.
Jaap van Netten
Thanks to the AMS grant for our research project DIALOAD, and with additional funding obtained elsewhere, we are now in the middle of two prospective studies.
With these studies, we aim to unravel biomechanical and behavioural mechanisms of the development of foot ulcers in people with diabetes (study 1), and the healing of these ulcers once developed (study 2). These studies contribute to the development of a new and comprehensive load-capacity model for people with diabetic foot disease.
Stimulated by this grant, we have been able to increase our inter-disciplinary and inter-departmental collaborations within AMS, but also collaborations with other Dutch hospitals and research groups in Australia and the US.
More on Jaap van Netten.
Tenure development grant 2017
Dimitra Micha
Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) is a genetic disease of osteoporosis and skeletal dysplasia, resulting in numerous bone fractures during the patients’ lifetime. The molecular cause is defects in collagen type I. Despite being classified as a rare disease, OI is the most common genetic disease of decreased bone mineral density; in the Netherlands only, at least 1,000 patients exist.
The AMS innovation grant gave us the opportunity to address the diagnosis and treatment of OI. By screening OI patients with no mutations in the known causative OI genes, we identified the gene KDELR2 as a new genetic cause for OI revealing a new pathological mechanism for the disease (AJHG, 2020). This gene is now being used in the molecular diagnosis of OI patients.
AMS also enabled us to proceed with the preclinical validation of collagen-upregulating compounds as therapy for osteoporosis. These compounds have been shown in an in vitro model, to stimulate collagen production in osteoblasts derived from OI patients with collagen deficiency. Their current analysis in osteoporosis models will address their effectiveness in the treatment of OI and other forms of osteoporosis to hopefully justify their transition to clinical trials.
More on Dimitra Micha.
AMS Laureates 2024
| Name researcher | Type grant | Project title | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sports program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Musculoskeletal Health program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Tissue Function & Regeneration program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Ageing & Vitality program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Rehabilitation & Development program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Tom Kerkhoff | Tissue Function & Regeneration: Talent grant | Auto-immunity and muscle dysfunction: the effect of antibodies on muscle fiber contractility in myositis | €45.000 |
| Wenchao Zhong | Tissue Function & Regeneration: Talent grant | Mechanoresponse and mechanoadaption in Pls3 knock out mice tibia | €30.000 |
| Marike van der Leeden and Robert Hemke | Investment grant | High End GPU | €29.651 |
| Ivo Lutke Schipholt | MSH Grant writing call | Leveraging machine learning to predict persistent musculoskeletal pain: a novel approach for developing predictive biomarker signatures | €10.000 |
| Eddo Wesselink | MSH Grant writing call | Leveraging Advanced Machine Learning for Quantifying Lumbar Paraspinal Muscle Health in people with LBP: Enhancing Human-Technology Interaction using MRI | €10.000 |
AMS Laureates 2023
| Name researcher | Type grant | Project title | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sports program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Musculoskeletal Health program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Tissue Function & Regeneration program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Ageing & Vitality program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Rehabilitation & Development program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Richie Goulding | Ageing & Vitality grant | Exercise as a countermeasure against the effects of ageing on muscle mitochondria, diffusive oxygen transport and muscle volume | €80.000 |
| Marike van der Leeden | Ageing & Vitality grant | Can AI-based prediction modeling with time series data on physical activity and protein intake support clinical decisions in patient recovery after oncological surgery? | €40.000 |
| Nathalie Bravenboer | Investment grant | Complete Organ-on-Chip platform | €35.733 |
| Braeden Charlton | Musculoskeletal Health: PhD candidate talent grant | The contribution of ADP-sensitivity to mitochondrial dysfunction in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis | €10.000 |
| Meghan Koop | Musculoskeletal Health: PhD candidate talent grant | The EXercise HypoALgesic Effect of Aerobic and Resistance Training in persistent low back pain and pain-free individuals: The EXHALE ART study | €10.000 |
| Minke Boeijenga | Musculoskeletal Health: MA student grant | In-vitro and in-vivo analysis of elbow instability using 4D-CT imaging | €5.000 |
| Cain Rutgers | Musculoskeletal Health: MA student grant | Determining the accuracy and reliability of synthetic CT-images created through MRI-images in comparison to conventional CT-images for the evaluation of osteoarthritis severity and surgical planning | €5.000 |
| Jules Cool | Dream-Big PhD grant | The use of MRI-based synthetic CT in the surgical treatment of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis using 3D printed drill guides | €5.580 |
| Giulia Frazzei | Dream-Big PhD grant | A mechanistic, open-label intervention study to investigate the effects of filgotinib in individuals with ACPA-positive arthralgia | €5.000 |
| Marina Jimenez Martinez | Dream-Big PhD grant | Can NAD+ levels predict the development of rheumatoid arthritis in at risk individuals? | €5.000 |
| Yiyuan Li | Dream-Big PhD grant | Does low-back pain change the contributions of proprioceptive and vestibular information to trunk stabilization during walking | €5.000 |
| Wenchao Zhong | Dream-Big PhD grant | Establish an aged PLS3 knockout mice model for exploring disease mechanism and novel therapy | €5.000 |
| Veerle van Harmelen | RMA-student grant | A new analysis method: using algorithms to derive muscle composition from US in children with CP | €3.000 |
| Rosa Korpershoek | RMA-student grant | Liver-skeletal muscle crosstalk in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease | €3.000 |
| Koen Zwetsloot | RMA-student grant | Fibre-type specific analysis on anabolic resistance in inactive muscles | €3.000 |
AMS Laureates 2022
| Name researcher | Type grant | Project title | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sports program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Musculoskeletal Health program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Tissue Function & Regeneration program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Ageing & Vitallity program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Rehabilitation & Development program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Mylene Duivenvoorden | Musculoskeletal Health grant: International collaboration | Diagnostic delay of Giant Cell Tumors of the Bone | €10.000 |
| Julian Hollander | Musculoskeletal Health grant: International collaboration | Cartilage lesions of the ankle: individualized treatment using artificial intelligence | €14.000 |
| Madhu Soares Filho | Musculoskeletal Health grant: International collaboration | A multifactorial approach on the treatment of anterior shoulder instability | €14.000 |
| Yuge Zhang | Musculoskeletal Health grant: International collaboration | Standardized and daily life gait stability measures to evaluate healthy and pathological ageing | €10.000 |
| Kaj Emanuel | Tissue Function & Regeneration grant | Forming a multi-disciplinary research line to unravel the etiolopgy of osteochondral defects in the ankle | €60.000 |
| Zhong Wenchao | Tissue Function & Regeneration grant | Characterisation of the underlying mechanism of PLS3-mediated osteoporosis | €4.000 |
| Marijke de Leeuwerk | Ageing & Vitality grant | Computer Tomography determined sarcopenia and physical functioning in lung cancer patients | €20.000 |
| Marike van der Schaaf | Ageing & Vitality grant | Rehabilitation After Critical Illness and Hospital discharge- Optimizig Units of nutrition and Exercise Therapy; REACH-OUT pilot feasibility trial | €20.000 |
| Joost den Dool | Rehabilitation & Development grant | Associations between CPET and Talk Test in patients with Central Neurological Disorders - A clinimetric pilot study | €10.000 |
| Fieke Koopman | Rehabilitation & Development grant | Balancing energy expenditure and energy intake in people with neuromuscular diseases; next steps towards individualized nutritional advice | €40.000 |
| Wouter Schallig | Rehabilitation & Development grant | FABIO: Foot and Ankle Biomechanics and Imaging to improve Orthopedic foot interventions in children with cerebral palsy | €40.000 |
| Juultje Sommers | Rehabilitation & Development grant | Novel approach for assessment of metabolic load during ICU rehabilitation; evaluating the lactate response. | €10.000 |
| Eric Voorn | Rehabilitation & Development grant | Unraveling reduced exercise capacity in neuromuscular diseases using state-of-theart magnetic resonance imaging | €40.000 |
| Niels Waterval | Rehabilitation & Development grant | Gait exploration training, a prerequisite to benefit from ankle-foot orthoses? | €10.000 |
| Carel Meskers | Investment grant | Proposal Shoulder-Elbow Pertubator (SEP) | €40.000 |
| Ronald van Vollenhoven | Investment grant | FLIR T 560 thermograph with lenses | €34.000 |
| Moritz Eggelbusch | Dare-to-Dream PhD grant | Neuromuscular electrical stimulation to enhance the exercise benefits for muscle functions during spaceflight | €5.000 |
| Niels Klop | Dare-to-Dream PhD grant | Statistical growth modelling of the mandible for forensic, orthodontic and clinical purposes | €5.000 |
| Kevin Kooi | Dare-to-Dream PhD grant | Creating a machine learning algorithm to predict revision surgery for trapeziometacarpal arthritis. | €5.000 |
| Sietske Luijten | Dare-to-Dream PhD grant | TIPAS – alternatives for data analysis | €5.000 |
| Faezeh Mohammadi Sanjani | Dare-to-Dream PhD grant | Developing nonlinear measures of variability in martial arts | €5.000 |
| Babette Mooijekind | Dare-to-Dream PhD grant | Application of US-transparent EMG electrodes to simultaneously measure muscle-tendon behavior and activation of the medial gastrocnemius during gait in children with cerebral palsy | €5.000 |
| Susanne Rauh | Dare-to-Dream PhD grant | Improved diagnosis and characterization of muscle injury and disease using advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods | €4.300 |
| Tim Veneman | Dare-to-Dream PhD grant | Novel approach for indirect assessment of the anaerobic threshold in neuromuscular diseases: building a predictive model using easy-to-obtain exercise testing parameters | €5.000 |
| Lukas Verweij | Dare-to-Dream PhD grant | Influence of postoperative Hill-Sachs occupancy and glenoid bone loss on glenoid track measurements and clinical outcome following the arthroscopic Bankart repair with remplissage and open Latarjet | €5.000 |
| Ellen Breedveld | RMA-student grant | Microclots accumulation and viral persistence in skeletal muscles of patients with post COVID-19 condition | €3.000 |
| Tijn van Rietschoten | RMA-student grant | Oxygen uptake kinetics in moderate and heavy exercise in upright and supine position | €3.000 |
| Thalia Zamora Gomez | RMA-student grant | Can physical inactivity stimulate the production and release of FGF21 and GDF15 in skeletal muscle in mice? | €3.000 |
AMS Laureates 2021
| Name researcher | Type grant | Project title | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sports program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Musculoskeletal Health | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Tissue Function & Regeneration | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Ageing & Vitality | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Rehabilitation & Development | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €80.000 |
| Stephan van der Zwaard | Musculoskeletal Health program grant: Revanche | The adaptive body: assisting humans to train and improve their exercise tolerance | €44.800 |
| Aart Nederveen | Investment grant | Tesla MR system | €32.000 |
| Braeden Charlton | RMA-student grant | Viral infections and muscle metabolism: low NAD+ as possible new avenue for therapeutic intervention in patients with PASC | €3.000 |
| Matthijs van der Laan | RMA-student grant | The ins and outs of cardiopulmonary exercise testing | €3.000 |
| Britt van Hees | RMA-student grant | Mind the Gap: Measuring Electromechanical Delays of the Pelvic Floor | €3.000 |
| Anne Strating | RMA-student grant | Why your workout is not working: Skeletal muscle mitochondrial cristae impairments in people with type 1 diabetes mellitus | €3.000 |
AMS Laureates 2020
| Name researcher | Type grant | Project title | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sports program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €50.000 |
| Musculoskeletal Health program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €50.000 |
| Tissue Function & Regeneration program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €50.000 |
| Ageing & Vitality program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €50.000 |
| Rehabilitataion & Development program | Program investment | Program strengthening activities | €50.000 |
| Marike van der Leeden | Investment grant | Activity Monitors | €12.000 |
| Elke Vlemincx | Investment grant | NeXus-10, Mind Media Capnostream 35 Portable Respiratory Monitor | €30.161 |
| Meghan Koop | PhD talent grant | INHALE study | €5.000 |
| Moira van Leeuwen | PhD talent grant | Foot placement control can be trained | €5.000 |
| Sander Oorschot | PhD talent grant | Optimizing protocol selection for cardiopulmonary exercise testing | €5.000 |
| Quinten Rikken | PhD talent grant | Ultra-Long_Term Clinica Success of Treatment for Cartilage Lesions in the Ankle | €5.000 |
| Wouter Schallig | PhD talent grant | Multi-segment foot kinetics | €5.000 |
| Ivo Lutke Schipholt | PhD talent grant | Different trajectories for people with acute neck pain | €5.000 |
| Andi Shi | PhD talent grant | TGF-β super family in muscle regeneration | €5.000 |
| Lisa Worner | PhD talent grant | Valgus stress overload | €5.000 |
| Sanne Ettema | RMA-student grant | Effect of prolonged moderate-intensity walking | €3.000 |
| Esther Goudzwaard | RMA-student grant | HIIT-the track | €3.000 |
| Jorien Langstraat | RMA-student grant | Genetic Analysis of Café-au-Lait skin cells | €3.000 |
| Max Keller | RMA-student grant | Influence of prolonged walking | €3.000 |
| Isa Mast | RMA-student grant | Dynamic Arterial Spin Labeling MRI | €3.000 |
AMS Laureates 2019
| Name researcher | Type grant | Project title | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marike van der Leeden | Co-financed PhD position grant | Development and evaluation mof an accelerometer based feedback and coaching intervention for patients at rist for functional decline admitted to the hospital | 50% of a 4 year PhD position |
| Robert Wüst | Co-financed PhD position grant | Metabolic dysfunction and anabolic resistance during inactivity and systemic inflammation | 50% of a 4 year PhD position |
| Nathalie Bravenboer | Investment grant | Mechanical loading device / Instron electropulse E1000 | €37.370 |
AMS Laureates 2018
| Name researcher | Type grant | Project title | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jaap van Netten | Tenure development | Biomechanical activity and adherence profiles of people with diabetes in a comprehensive load-capacity model of foot ulceration | €150.000 |
| Marjolein van der Krogt | Tenure development | Comprehensive neuromusculoskeletal modeling to predict the effect of impairments on gait in children with cerebral palsy | €135.000 |
| Harald Thune Jørstad | Tenure development | Elite sports addressing the heart of the matter | €70.000 |
| Helga Haberfehlner | Post-doc / Early Career | Objective assessment of dystonia and choreoathetosis in children and adolescents with dyskinetic cerebral palsy based on machine learning | €72.700 |
| Melissa Hooijmans | Post-doc / Early Career | Imaging of post-traumatic muscle fibrosis and its functional impact (fibrofit) | €75.000 |
| Ruud Wellenberg | Post-doc / Early Career | Quantitative weight-bearing CT for musculoskeletal disorders | €70.000 |
| Roland Rössler | Post-doc / Early Career | Finding the right balance: determining safe and healthy physical activity load | €66.000 |
| Heleen Beckerman | Feasibility studies | Cardiorespiratory fitness in newsly diagnosed patients with Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis compared to matched healthy controls: already lagging behind from the start? | €50.000 |
| Renate de Jongh | Feasibility studies | A feasibility and pilot study of non-invasive diagnostic techniques in renal osteodystrophy: 18F-fluoride positron emission tomography and serum non-oxidized PTH | €50.000 |
| Eric Voorn | Feasibility studies | The development of an easily applicable measurement tool for systematic prescription and evaluation of aerobic training in adults and children with slowly progressive neuromuscular disease | €50.000 |
| Onno Baur | Feasibility studies | Making dynamic imaging of the ankle possible | €49.500 |
| Richard Jaspers | Investment grant | S-Chiaro-ST Optics11 including Dynamic module and support | €38.000 |
| Alessandro Chiarotto | Grant application | Developing a new method to assess the perceived importance of the effects of health interventions for patients with musculoskeletal anad rheumatic conditions | €25.500 |
| Erwin van Wegen | Grant application | Do-iT Parkinson: Effects of Dose and type of exercise Training on exercise-induced neuroplasticity in human Parkinson's disease | €25.000 |
| Huub Maas | Stimuleringsmiddelen H2LS | Mechanica, de Achilleshiel van de pees | €25.000 |
| Robin Blom | PhD talent grant | 3-Dimensional Quantification of Operative Reduction for Posterior Malleolar Fragments in Rotational Type Ankle Fractures to Improve the Long-term Clincal Outcome | €5.000 |
| Jetske Viveen | PhD talent grant | The sensitivity to change of daily-life gait quality characteristics in older adults | €5.000 |
| Guido Weide | PhD talent grant | Knowledge transfer from a VUmc developed 3D-ultrasound approach to measure in-vivo morphometry of skeletal muscle at the AMC | €5.000 |
| Sabine Schootemeijer | RMA-student grant | The sensitivity to change of daily-life gait quality characteristics in older adults | €3.000 |
| Mareille Post | RMA-student grant | Safety and effectiveness evaluation of pre-bended rods in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis | €3.000 |
| Babette Zwaard | RMA-student grant | The evaluation of gait and dynamic balance performance before and after Gamma Knife Thalamotomy in patients with severe Essential Tremor | €3.000 |
AMS Laureates 2017
| Name researcher | Type grant | Project title | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dimitra Micha | Tenure development | Old drugs with new indications ease the path to the clinic for rare bone disorders | €120.000 |
| Marike van der Schaaf | Tenure development | Exercise physiology in critically ill patients | €120.000 |
| Alessandro Chiarotto | Post-doc career | Optimizing physical functioning measurement in low back pain | €60.000 |
| Kaj Emanuel | Post-doc career | The effect of knee osteoarthritis on passive natural knee kinematics | €60.000 |
| Guus Reurink | Post-doc career | Innovative tools and interventions to prevent muscle injuries, optimise treatment of injured athletes and increase (elite) sports performance | €60.000 |
| Nathalie Bravenboer | Grant application | A novel cell culture platform | €25.000 |
| Sicco Bus | Grant application | The prevention of foot ulceration and amputation in diabetes | €25.000 |
| Merel Brehm | Infrastructure | C-Mill (Motek-Forcelink) instrumented treadmill | €50.000 |
| Harald Thune Jørstad | Infrastructure | MRI-compatible ergometer (Cardiac MRI during physiological exercise: a new gold standard for stress imaging) | €50.000 |
| Carel Meskers | Infrastructure | PROFITS - DPM: PRecision prOFiling to Improve long-term ouTcome after Stroke: Dynamic Prognosis Module / GEMSTRACKER platform | €50.000 |
| Evert Verhagen | Infrastructure | Opti-Form Database | €50.000 |
| Carel Meskers | Investment grant | Activity monitors & license | €8.077 |
| Erwin van Wegen | Investment grant | Sensory feedback for Grail VR system | €8.213 |
| Vera Meekes | RMA-student grant | The use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess skeletal muscle characteristics | €3.000 |
| Marit Zandbergen | RMA-student grant | The effect of different foot models on the simulated muscle-tendon lengths of the gastrocnemius medialis and lateralis in both children with spastic cerebral palsy and typically developing children | €3.000 |