News

News

• The repercussions of slavery continue to this day Feb 25, 2021

  To what extent were Rotterdam and Amsterdam and the local authorities involved with slavery? Commissioned by the present authorities in both cities, two Academy institutes, the IISH and the KITLV, have separately conducted research on this issue.

• Faster muscle recovery through hugging cells Feb 11, 2021

  Researchers from the groups of Jeroen Bakkers (Hubrecht Institute/UMC Utrecht) and Peter Currie (Monash University, Australia) discovered a factor that triggers muscle stem cells to proliferate and heal. In a mouse model of severe muscle damage, introduction of this naturally occurring protein led to the complete regeneration of muscle and the return of normal movement after severe muscle trauma. The discovery may lead to faster recovery from muscle injury and wasting diseases.

• STRIP-1 test robot developed for SARS-CoV-2 testing Jan 27, 2021

  The Hubrecht Institute and Genmab have developed a new robot, the STRIP-1 – test robot, that can process up to 20,000 samples for SARS-CoV-2 testing per 24 hours. This makes the STRIP-1 much faster than all other systems used to date. On Wednesday the 27th of January, Minister Hugo de Jonge from the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, visited the robot at the PAMM medical microbiology laboratory in Veldhoven, the Netherlands. 

• Beijerinck Virology Prize for research on hepatitis C and Beijerinck Premium for research on viral evolution Jan 26, 2021

  The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences  has awarded Ralf Bartenschlager the M.W. Beijerinck Virology Prize for his efforts to combat hepatitis C. He will receive the €35,000 prize and a medal at the Dutch Annual Virology Symposium on 5 March 2021. Virologist Sebastian Lequime will receive the Beijerinck Premium (€ 25,000) for young virologists at the same event.