National ZonMw “Pearl”-prize for NIN research  project

A few research projects per year financed by the national scientific Dutch health organisation ZonMw attract special attention because the results are above-average, coincide with current health care developments, or seem to provide a solution for health care bottlenecks. Projects meeting these criteria are given a so-called Pearl-status and the Pearl sculpture, presented along with the award since 2009, has added lustre to the occasion.

 

On 30 January 2010, Prof.dr. A. Bergen of the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience was awarded the ZonMw pearl by the Minister of OCW, Ronald Plasterk, for his research on genetic  eye diseases.

Financed by a relatively modest grant from the Virtual Institute for Diseases in the Elderly (RIDE) of ZonMw, researchers of the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN-KNAW), AMC  Amsterdam and the Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam  identified genes involved in age related macular degeneration. In addition, a human molecular and cellular model was developed for the onset and course of this disorder, which will help follow-up research and could also contribute to research into other neural disorders that tend to afflict the elderly, notably Glaucoma and Alzheimer's disease.

 

Foto: FotoBureau Service