Prizes & Awards

Awards 2014

Roel de Haan (Amsterdam) • Poster Prize winner

Roel has received his bachelors in bio-medical sciences and his masters in neuroscience (cum laude) at the University of Amsterdam. During and after his masters he has done research on the electrophysiology of motion vision in a fly model system at Uppsala University. There he found and defined a novel visual interneuron with surprising response properties. Roel is currently working at the Integrative Neurophysiology department at the Vrije University in Amsterdam, where he does in vivo recordings from neurons in the rat medial prefrontal cortex to better understand how network computations in this area contribute to behaviour.

Carlos Fitzsimons  (Amsterdam) • Top Paper awardee

Carlos P. Fitzsimons obtained his PhD from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. After a postdoctoral experience at the Leiden-Amsterdam Center for Drug Research, aimed to study the behavioral consequences for cognition of gene knockdown using RNA interference, he received a VIDI grant from NOW and joined the Center for Neurosciences, SILS, UvA as Assistant professor, within the group Structural and Functional Plasticity of the Nervous System. Carlos studies the regulation of neural stem cells by hormones and microRNAs. He, together with colleagues from Amsterdam, Leiden, Utrecht and the USA demonstrated a role for the glucocorticoid receptor as key regulator of neural stem cells in the adult brain. They used viral tools to knockdown the glucocorticoid receptor selectively in the newly born neurons in vivo and characterized subsequent changes in structure, migration and function of these newly born neurons in the hippocampus and their role in fear-motivated behavior.

Marloes Henckens  (Rehovot, Israel) • Thesis Prize winner

Marloes Henckens (1984) studied Natural Sciences at the Radboud University Nijmegen. She graduated in 2008 (cum laude) and received a Toptalent grant from the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) to conduct her own PhD research into the time-dependent effects of the stress hormones corticosteroids on brain function. In a translational effort, she combined human functional neuroimaging work in the lab of Prof. Guillén Fernández at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, in Nijmegen, with electrophysiology and neuroimaging in rodents in the lab of Prof. Marian Joëls at the Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience at the University Medical Center in Utrecht. This work resulted in her thesis ‘Imaging the stressed brain. Elucidating the time- and region-specific effects of stress hormones on brain function; a translational approach’, which describes how both acute and chronic exposure to stress hormones affect brain function in terms of neural activity and connectivity. The acquired insights enhance our understanding of how stress affects the brain and contribute to our discernment of the mechanistic underpinnings of stress-related mental disorders, such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She defended her thesis in 2013 (cum laude) and continued her work on stress as a postdoctoral fellow in the group of Prof. Alon Chen at the Weizmann Institute for Science, in Rehovot, Israel. There, she is studying the role of corticotrophin-releasing factor signaling on the functioning of amygdalar subnuclei using viral vectors and optogenetics. For this work she received a Niels Stensen Fellowship and a Dean of Faculty Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Feinberg Graduate School of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Josta Kevenaar (Utrecht) • Poster Prize winner

Josta Kevenaar is currently a PhD student in molecular and cellular neurosciences at the department of Cell Biology at the University of Utrecht.  After successfully finishing her Bachelor’s degree in Psychobiology at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), she obtained her Master’s degree Neurosciences cum laude at the VU University, Amsterdam. Driven by her interests in the fundamental and molecular basis of brain function, she started her PhD in the research group of Prof dr. Casper Hoogenraad where she mainly focusses on understanding the regulatory mechanisms of intracellular neuronal transport and synapse function. In addition, she obtained several funds to realize scientific outreach projects dedicated to translate scientific research to society and received a number of scientific awards, including the ENP Poster Prize.

Marijn Kuijpers  (Utrecht) • Top Paper awardee

Marijn Kuijpers (1983) studied Biology at the Utrecht University and in 2008 obtained her Masters degree in Experimental and Clinical Neuroscience. During her Masters she studied the effect of chemokine exposure on hippocampal neurons at the Scripps research Institute in San Diego. In 2008 Marijn started her PhD research project, supervised by Prof dr. Casper Hoogenraad and dr. Dick Jaarsma, on intracellular trafficking in neurons in relation to neurodegenerative disorders. During her research she particularly focused on VAPB, a protein mutated in patients with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). She published multiple papers on this subject discussing the role of VAPB in neurons and characterizing the mutant VAPB accumulations in ALS. In 2014 she obtained her PhD degree and moved to Berlin to work as a post-doc.

Silvie Ruigrok (Amsterdam) • Poster Prize winner

I am Silvie Ruigrok and I am a first year master student Neurobiology (track Psychopharmacology and Pathophysiology) at the University of Amsterdam. During my bachelor Psychobiology I became interested in neurodegenerative diseases and therefore I did my bachelor internship in the lab of Paul Lucassen studying neurogenesis in Alzheimer’s Disease mouse models. Currently I am doing my first master internship at the VU in the group of Wiep Scheper, where I study the effects of diabetes mellitus type 1 on the brain in relation to Alzheimer's Disease, with a focus on tau phosphorylation. In the upcoming year I will write my literature thesis and do a second master internship to further improve my research skills. After finishing my master, I hope to obtain a PhD position.

Judith ter Horst (Amsterdam) • Poster Prize winner

Judith ter Horst is currently working as a post doc at the University of Amsterdam, partly at the department of Clinical Psychology and partly at the Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences. In 2008 she received her PhD in Dublin, Ireland, on the subject of genes changing in the medial prefrontal cortex in an animal model for schizophrenia. After that she returned to the Netherlands where she started to work in 2009 as a post doc at the University of Leiden with Ron de Kloet studying the effect of a mineralocorticoid receptor knockout on behavior in male and female mice. In 2012 she started to work in Amsterdam where she now studies the effect of propranolol on reconsolidation of trauma memories in male and female mice. Here, she takes into account the trait anxiety of the mice and precedes to study early life stress in combination with adult trauma.

Christiaan Vinkers (Utrecht) • Young Talent awardee

Christiaan Vinkers studied Pharmacy (2005), Law (2009), and Medicine (2009) at Utrecht University. In 2009, he finished his PhD thesis on fundamental neurobiological research and the GABA system (cum laude). Subsequently, he started my clinical training to become a psychiatrist and continued to carry out clinical research related to risk and resilience for psychiatric disorders and the role of the GABA system. In 2014, he became a psychiatrist and researcher at the Rudolf Magnus Brain Center. His overall research objective is to investigate the neurobiological background of stress resilience and vulnerability including (epi)genetic, neuroendocrine, and brain circuitry factors, with a special interest in the GABA system. Traumatic stress, especially during early life, is a major risk factor for the development of almost all psychiatric disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder, and schizophrenia. However, considerable inter-individual differences exist in outcomes after trauma exposure. Despite decades of research, we still cannot predict which individuals are at risk and which individuals are resilient. His goal is to shed more light on the neurobiological basis of stress susceptibility. His work is sponsored by grants of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO, VENI), Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, the Dutch Brain Foundation, Neuroscience & Cognition Utrecht. Moreover, Christiaan is co-founder of the independent website www.dejongepsychiater.nl which aims to disseminate findings from fundamental research to the general public and health care professionals. Moreover, he is very happy to have joined the 2015 ENP Programme Committee.

Dutch Neurofederation Ph.D. Thesis Prize 2014

The Dutch Neurofederation Ph.D. Thesis Prize was created by the board of the Dutch Neurofederation at the suggestion of the Friends of the Dutch Neurofederation and is meant as an encouragement for young neuroscientists. The prize is presented during the upcoming Endo-Neuro-Psycho (ENP) Meeting.

The Prize

The winner receives 1000 euro.

Nomination of candidates

The competition is open to candidates with a doctorate degree from a Dutch university dating 2013, with a neuroscientifically-oriented Ph.D. thesis. Candidates must be members of the Neurofederation and may either propose themselves or be proposed by their (co-)supervisor. A letter of recommendation by the candidate's (co-)supervisor is required as well as 4 printed copies of the thesis, each accompanied by the letter of recommendation.

Evaluation criteria

The quality will be assessed along the following criteria:

• The significance of the research
• New insights obtained by the research
• Originality of the approach
• Scope and depth of the thesis
• The overall presentation of the thesis, including the general introduction and discussion as signs of scholarship.

Selection procedure

Selection committee

The members of the selection committee are Prof. dr. Paul Luiten, Prof. dr. Casper Hoogenraad, and Prof. dr. Eveline Crone. It is the committee's task to advise the board of the Friends of the Dutch Neurofederation regarding the winner.

Award procedure

Based on the advice of the selection committee, the Board of the Friends of the Dutch Neurofederation ultimately decides the winner. The selection procedure is confidential and the results are not open to debate. The name of the winner will be announced at the ENP Meeting.

Time frame

• Deadline for submission of the nominations is 14 March 2014.
• The winner will be notified in the beginning of May and will be asked to prepare a lecture for the ENP Meeting.
• The award ceremony will be held on 22 May 2014, during the annual ENP Meeting.

Contact and address to send the proposals

Prof. Dr Elly Hol, secretary of Friends of the Dutch Neurofederation
e.m.hol-2@umcutrecht.nl, 088-7550181
Translational Neuroscience, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, UMC Utrecht, Str. 4.205, Universiteitsweg 100, 3584 CG, Utrecht

Dutch Neurofederation Top Papers Award 2014

The ENP Meeting will continue its tradition of putting Top Science in the spotlight.
The aim is to present recent work performed by scientists, preferably in The Netherlands.
The work must have been published in 2013 in a top journal and be of interest to a broad (ENP) audience.

Important information regarding eligibility of the article and description of importance

• The paper should be an original research article published in an international peer review journal between 01.01.2013 – 31.12.2013 (no "ahead of preprint").
• The first author should have a Dutch affiliation, or the motivation should state clearly what the link is to The Netherlands.
• Maximum of 1 page summary addressing the significance of the work.
• PDF of the article.
• A signed statement by the first and last authors of the article (and the corresponding author if this is not the first or the last) confirming their support for the nomination and that they agree with the selection of the nominee and, in case of multiple first authors, the selection of the speaker at the ENP 2014 Meeting in Lunteren.
• Members of the selection committee may not be a co-author on the submitted paper.

Selection procedure

Selection committee

A small committee will examine all proposals received. Papers will be selected using the provided information describing the importance of the research and the interest for a broad audience.

Award procedure

The first authors of the two best articles will be invited to present their work at the Top Science session scheduled on Thursday, 22 May 2014. This session will be followed by an awards ceremony.

The Prizes

There will be 2 prizes of 250 Euro.

Time frame

• Deadline for submission of the nominations is 13 April 2014.
• The winners will be notified in the beginning of May and will be asked to prepare a lecture for the ENP Meeting.
• The award ceremony will be held on 22 May 2014 during the annual ENP Meeting.

Contact address to submit your nominees

You are strongly encouraged to submit your nominees to the Chair of the ENP Top Science Committee, Prof. Dr. A. Kalsbeek, by e-mail (a.kalsbeek@nin.knaw.nl) before 13 April 2014.

ENP Poster Prize Awards 2014

The ENP Organising Committee always appreciates high-quality and well-designed posters. Therefore the ENP Organizing Committee will hand out two poster prizes per poster session: a total of 4 poster prizes.

The Prizes

There will be 4 prizes of 250 euros each.

Selection procedure

Selection committee

The ENP Poster Award Committee will examine all posters during lunch time. Posters will be judged on scientific content as well as on their quality of presentation.

Award procedure

For the poster session on Thursday 22 May 2014, the poster prizes will be presented during dinner. For the poster session on Friday 23 May 2014, the poster prizes will be presented before the last plenary lecture of the day.

ENP Young Talent Prize 2014

The ENP Organising Committee finds it important that young talents will also have the opportunity to share their research with all the ENP participants. Therefore the ENP Organising Committee made a plenary session available for one young talented scientist. The selected young talent will be honored with the ENP Young Talent Prize 2014.

The Prize

The winner receives 500 Euro.

Selection procedure

Selection committee

The Young Talent Award Committee selected 3 potential candidates based on the following criteria: receiving a VENI (or similar) grant, publication record, experience abroad and being awarded by other prizes. These candidates were proposed to the ENP Programme Committee, who finally decided on the winner of the Young Talent Prize 2014.

Award procedure

The Young Talent Prize winner will be invited to make a presentation at the Young Talent session scheduled on Friday, 23 May 2014. This session will be followed by an award ceremony.