It concerns:
Size matters: physics under a laser-magnifying glass of physicists Kjeld Eikema & Hendrick Bethlem
Advanced lasers and atomic clocks now enable measuring the size of atomic nuclei by carefully looking at the colours that atoms absorb or emit. Eikema and Bethlem do measurements in helium and compare these to measurements in an exotic variety “muonic helium” which is created with particle-accelerators. The outcome should be the same, but does it? Recently, deviations were found. The researchers want to investigate these further by strongly improving measurements in normal helium with the potential to find clues for new physics and improve the accuracy of the fundamental constants of nature.
Turning on the light: Efficient Simulations of Light-Matter interactions of theoretical chemist Arno Förster
A major problem in chemistry and biology is to understand how large molecules interact with light. Theoretical simulations can help unravelling the underlying mechanisms but the currently known simulation techniques are either not accurate enough or too computationally involved for practical applications. Here Förster suggest to include certain effects into the simulations which have not been considered before, but at the same time exclude other effects which would otherwise lead to prohibitively high simulation costs. Providing more accurate results at reduced computational cost, this technique will help researchers to describe the interactions of complex molecules with light.
Steering sweet synthesis of organic chemist Thomas Hansen
Bacterial glycans possess intriguing biological properties, including antimicrobial, antiviral, and antitumor effects. However, synthesizing sufficient quantities of these often deoxygenated carbohydrates for detailed studies is still a challenging and time-consuming process due to the difficulty in controlling glycosylation reactions. The absence of oxygen groups precludes the use of well-established strategies commonly used for the synthesis of traditional mammalian carbohydrates. In this project, Hansen will address this issue by using modern organocatalysis to control glycosylations. The synthetic approach developed will provide new routes to the vast diversity of bacterial glycosides for glycobiological and glycomedical research.
The effect of stress hormones on memory-encoding brain cells of neuroscientists Harm Krugers (UvA) & Michel van den Oever
Stressful experiences are generally remembered well, but such memories are often less precise, which results in memory generalization (recall of the stressful event when this is not relevant). This effect is mediated by stress-hormones. Krugers and Van den Oever will investigate how stress-hormones enhance memory generalization by studying the properties of the specific cells in the brain that store a memory. For this, they examine their specific cellular properties, their connections, and how we can reverse effects of stress hormones to prevent memory generalization.
TRANSLATION: Tuned Receptor ActivatioN by Same Ligand stimulATION of chemist Christopher Schafer
GPCRs are cell surface receptors responsible for interpreting external signals into cellular responses. These receptors react to a variety of stimuli and produce signaling responses that drive processes including cell migration, proliferation, and immune responses. In some cases, the same signal leads to separate effects from similar receptors. How GPCRs translate external signals into specific responses is the subject of extensive research. In this study, we will determine the mechanisms evolved to translate the same signal into separate signaling pathways. These results will provide insights into GPCR activation and biased signaling.
Read about the other awards on the NWO website