Participating Research Institutes

Food4smiles: The first 1000 days of life are a crucial period in which the foundations for a healthy growth and development are established. A healthy lifestyle plays a foundational role, but is not self-evident for every child. It is however, largely unknown, how parents can be facilitated to give their child the best start. Therefore, the aim of Food4Smiles is to provide insights in the success and failures during this unique period of life by conducting participatory action research. Together with parents and other stakeholders we develop actions to promote a healthy lifestyle for children in Amsterdam Nieuw West.

From birth to death, the heart beats nearly 3 billion times, with electrical current conducted in a highly orchestrated manner through the heart. Using induced pluripotent stem cell technology, human blood or skin cells can be reprogrammed and turned into heart cells, switching identity. When cultured in a petri dish, these heart cells start to beat spontaneously. They connect to other heart cells, communicating and synchronizing their rhythm. By comparing “hearts in a dish” generated from healthy versus diseased individuals, we investigate why some people develop potentially life-threatening heart rhythm abnormalities while others don’t, and how best to treat them.

Our center is the national referral center for treatment of unborn children (fetus) with life-threatening diseases while they are still in the womb. We operate them using small needles or a small camera which also holds a laser fiber. We treat around 200 fetuses per year, for a variety of diseases such as Rhesus disease, lung tumors, bladders obstructions, heart valve constriction or problems with placental blood vessels in identical twins. Our research focuses on inventing better and safer techniques, and on finding treatments for more fetal diseases. Although the fetus are having severe diseases, we are intrigued by the promise of a beautiful life. On the same time, we feel like voyeurs, intruders into the sacred black box of the womb.

The brain is at the centre of our ability to think, reason, and imagine the world, yet, slights alterations in its intricate organization lead to devastating consequences. Brain imaging technologies are at the epicentre to understand mechanisms underlying brain disorders with the prospect to improve healthcare. We combine genetic recombinant technologies and high-field magnetic resonance imaging in experimental models of brain disorders to reveal the function of the brain. Our work has unmasked the neuronal dynamics supporting depressive disorders and Alzheimer's disorder. To foster interactions within and beyond the scientific community to take an open science stance with an emphasis on reproducibility and openness.

Do we need laboratory animals for future medicine testing? In our aging society, dementias like Alzheimer’s are an increasing socio-economic burden and will drive high demand for laboratory animals. For this, we took a novel alternative approach by converting human stem cells into functional brain cells and grow them in three-dimensional structures. This ‘brain in a dish’ allows us to reduce laboratory animals and study Alzheimer’s processes in order to treat this debilitating disease, for which there is currently no cure.

Humans have white adipose tissue (WAT) that stores sugar and fat as lipids. In the beginning of this millennium, it was discovered that humans adults also have brown adipose tissue (BAT) that combusts sugar and fat into heat, thereby importantly contributing to energy expenditure. As such, BAT has great promise as a therapeutic target for prevention and treatment of obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In order to discover novel therapies to comBAT these diseases, our research group investigates novel (pharmacological) tools and targets that modulate BAT activity including specific proteins, the biological clock, the gut microbiome and exercise.

The Institute of Environmental Biology of Utrecht University focusses on future food and the circular economy. The microbiology group for instance works on the use of fungi to detoxify polluted water and solids and to produce food and materials from waste streams.

Pristine ecosystems are often characterised by a bewildering array of spatial patterns at different scales. Examples include mussel beds in the wadden sea, or ancient biofilms on tidal flats. Humans are great in destroying these patterns, but whenever nature has a chance, they re-emerge to propel the growth of the organisms that build them. We have studied how the processes that drive these patterns interlock to create resilience ecosystems, and how to describe the patterns using simple (and sometimes not so simple) mathematical models.

Antibiotics have saved millions of lives. Before the invention of the first antibiotic in 1928 (penicillin), infectious diseases like tuberculosis, syphilis and “blood poisoning” were leading causes of death. Currently, we risk losing the battle with bacteria. Old fashioned pathogens like gonorrhoea make a comeback and outsmart us with inherent antimicrobial resistance mechanisms. On an evolutionary scale, bacteria out beat us by 3,5 billion years compared to our experience with antibiotics of less than 100-year. Staying ahead requires global action, including new treatments, antibiotic stewardship and a paradigm shift in how humans can co-exist with other species, including pathogens.

Plastics are the triumphant materials of our technoexuberant age, but what are all the unintended consequences of this stuff? We study plastic pollution (including micro-, nanoplastics and plastic additives) in the global environment, consumer products and the human body. Our state-of-the-art laboratory analyses samples to determine actual pollution levels, and we address the questions: what damage does plastic pollution do to the environment, to us and to society, and what can we do about it? Such questions at the interface of science, politics and society benefit from transdisciplinary approaches, such as artist-scientist collaborations. 

The Rios group develops and applies advanced imaging technologies to visualize childhood cancer in an innovative fashion. Our research generates stunning multi-colored and high-resolution 3D images of entire tumors, as well as the organs they originate from. This enables us to characterize the features and dynamic behaviour of individual tumor cells in great detail. In doing so, we aim to create a better insight into the progression of pediatric cancer and might uncover novel leads for improved treatment strategies. With our state-of-the-art imaging data we also create artistic visualizations to engage the public into our fight against cancer.

In our department we use genome sequencing, proteomics and metabolomics approaches to unravel enzymatic pathways (mostly in plants) that lead to the production of desired components in food. These can be taste or flavor components, but also particular proteins. Advanced analytical equipment is used to characterize food components and to characterize the effects that processing can have on food. This knowledge is used to develop novel food sources or new food applications. In the perspective of future food supply attention is addressed to new protein sources for alternatives to meat. Will we eat grass, seaweed or duckweed in the near future?