Christine Mohrmann Stipend for two PhD students from Radboud university medical center

Dilemin Yildiz and Femke van Hout from Radboud University Medical Center receive a Christine Mohrmann Stipend. They belong to the group of ten female PhD students who receive this grant from Radboud University. The aim of the stipend is to encourage PhD students to continue their scientific career after completing their dissertation.

The stipend worth 6,000 euros gives PhD students the opportunity, for example, to spend a period at a university abroad or to deepen their research in another way.

The Executive Board of Radboud University has awarded the Christine Mohrmann Stipendia (until 2015: Frye Stipendia) annually to promising female PhD candidates since 1990. The ten laureates of 2024 are: Maria den Hartog, Dilemin Yildiz, Dian Schrauwen, Tjits van Lent, Anna Oldeman, Gisela Otto, Femke van Hout, Judith van der Knaap, Tessa Ubels and Lucy Spoliar.

Dilemin Yildiz – research into rare kidney diseases

Dilemin Yildiz conducts research into rare kidney diseases in which the kidney filter is damaged. During her PhD research, Dilemin developed an organ-on-a-chip model. In this kidney filter model, two different types of kidney cells, which play a role in filtering the blood, can communicate with each other in a microenvironment. She investigates, among other things, which communication signals have been disrupted and how those signals can be reactivated. The stipend makes it possible to learn an advanced technique from her collaboration partners in Boston (Harvard University) to further refine her kidney filter-on-a-chip. Ultimately, the model that Dilemin develops can be used in the future as a replacement for animal testing.

Femke van Hout – research into virus transmission by mosquitoes

Femke van Hout studies the mechanisms that determine virus transmission by Aedes mosquitoes. These mosquitoes are notorious for spreading diseases such as Zika and Dengue. Femke aims to understand why these mosquitoes are so good at spreading viruses. She is currently developing methods to understand the response of mosquitoes to viral infection, specifically at the level of gene expression. During her visit to KTH Stockholm, Femke will use the stipend to expand the use of these methods from cell culture models to actual mosquito tissues.